Stan Lee’s United Martial Arts

Stan Lee’s United Martial Arts has been teaching Tae Kwon Do, kickboxing, and mixed martial arts fundamentals out of its Washington Street location in downtown Ormond Beach for more than three decades. Run by husband and wife team Stan and Sara, the school has built its reputation the old fashioned way, one belt test at a time, in a small strip of downtown a short walk from City Hall and the shops along Granada Boulevard. Superpages lists the business at thirty one years in operation, which puts its roots back to the mid 1990s, making it one of the longer standing martial arts programs in this part of Volusia County.

The school’s programs are built around age appropriate progression rather than one size fits all classes. Kids as young as three and a half years old can start in the youngest program, working on listening skills, basic coordination, and the kind of structured respect that martial arts schools are known for instilling. From there students move into the main kids martial arts curriculum, then into teen and adult classes that lean more heavily on kickboxing and fitness conditioning alongside traditional technique. An afterschool program gives working parents in the downtown corridor a supervised, active option for the hours between school dismissal and dinnertime, and a summer camp extends that same structure through the break.

What comes through in how the school describes itself, and in the way former students and parents talk about it, is an emphasis on earning things rather than being handed them. Instructors talk about teaching leadership and confidence, but they also talk plainly about kids having to earn their stripes and belts rather than receiving participation awards for showing up. That approach will not be for every family, but it is a consistent thread in how the school operates, and it is the kind of detail that tends to matter more to parents once their child has been through a full belt cycle and can point to real skill improvement rather than just a new patch on a uniform.

The Washington Street location itself is a small, no frills training space, which fits the neighborhood. Downtown Ormond Beach in this stretch is a mix of local offices, service businesses, and a scattering of restaurants, so the school draws from families who are already running errands or grabbing dinner in the area rather than pulling people off the highway. Class times are structured around the after school and early evening window, with Wednesday opening a bit earlier than the rest of the week to accommodate that midweek schedule crunch families often feel.

For anyone in Ormond Beach weighing martial arts options for a young child or looking for an adult kickboxing outlet that also happens to double as self defense instruction, Stan Lee’s United Martial Arts is worth a call. The long tenure at the same address says something on its own in an industry where studios often open and close within a few years, and the combination of traditional discipline with modern fitness elements gives it appeal beyond just the competitive martial arts crowd. Prospective students are best served calling ahead, since class times can shift by program and season.