Teen & Adult MMA in Naples

Kickboxing adds kicks to your striking and changes the distance you have to manage. A kick needs balance and a position you can recover from, so the coach helps you connect hands and feet in manageable steps: slow the movement down, then work on linking it.

Co-Ed Kickboxing is the separate striking foundation without sparring. In the MMA classes, a partner closing the distance brings you into the clinch and wrestling, and the coach matches that progression to your experience.

Wrestling connects standing movement to the ground through the clinch, takedowns and control. The coach can break a clinch or a takedown into smaller pieces before adding resistance appropriate to your level, so you practice where your weight belongs and how to control a position that keeps changing.

In the experienced room, wrestling connects with striking, Jiu-Jitsu, conditioning and sparring. A takedown brings you to the ground. Jiu-Jitsu helps you work from the position you land in.

Jiu-Jitsu is the ground: positions, control and escapes, and how to improve the position you have. Your first class begins with stance, footwork, technique, defense and control. Live training comes gradually, once you have the skills to take part safely. Coaches supervise closely and match partners by size and experience where possible, and protective equipment is worn where appropriate.

The class is no-gi: comfortable athletic clothing instead of a traditional gi, and there is no gi to buy at any point. It is co-ed, and women train in it. It meets Monday through Thursday at 7:30pm and Saturday at 1:30pm, and the grappling you build there carries straight into MMA.

You do not need to arrive with your conditioning already built. Training develops it. Tell the coach your age and experience when arranging your complimentary first class so we can confirm placement. See Jiu-Jitsu in the full class guide.

A punch, a clinch and a takedown belong to the same practice. The coach explains the task, watches you try it and gives you a correction you can work on, with the progression matched to your level.

You are coached, not supervised. A Saturday beginner and an experienced student need different work, and the coach gives each what fits. The aim is the one Forge is built on: body, mind and spirit, developed together.

Nobody arrives at sparring by accident. Tell the coach what you have trained, where and for how long. Mention time away, too. The conversation is about your current level.

Experience from another school is welcome in that conversation. Meeting the training requirement does not replace it.

Co-Ed Kickboxing builds a striking foundation without sparring. Attending does not automatically qualify you for the experienced room. Discuss the next step with the coach.

For MMA with no prior training, start with Saturday. Comparing classes for your family? The MMA overview covers other ages.

Call (239) 799-KICK or text us about your training background.

If you prefer individual instruction, Forge offers adult coaching in boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu and conditioning, and private Jiu-Jitsu lessons on their own. We start with a free consultation and movement assessment before planning your sessions. Your goals, experience and how you move guide the work. Explore private MMA coaching.

At the front desk, you are welcomed, shown around and asked about your goals and experience. Then you meet the coach and join a class appropriate to your level. A beginner is not expected to know the movements on day one.

Wear comfortable workout clothes and bring water. Nothing needs to be bought before a first visit. Tell us which class you are booking so the coach can confirm anything else you need.

Nobody is thrown into sparring. Saturday introduces live work gradually under supervision. The experienced class includes sparring after its eligibility conversation. Your class and your readiness determine what you do.

After class, ask your questions. If you want to continue, we talk through the membership options then, and only if you are interested. You can also visit during a class and watch before deciding. Either way, the aim is the same: leaving better than you came in.

Beginners ages 13 and up start on Saturday. The Forge Teen & Adult MMA Starter is four coached classes in that class, with or without Forge boxing gloves. See the starter.

Coach Wil has trained in the martial arts for forty years under master-level teachers, and has taught for more than thirty. His father, a boxer since childhood in Cuba, started him in Cuban-style boxing at four. From seven to fourteen he trained Taekwondo and Judo five days a week under Grand Master Byung Ho Choi, a ninth-degree black belt in both arts and Black Belt magazine's 1979 Instructor of the Year, on an Olympic preparation track until his family moved to Naples.

In Naples he came up in kickboxing and American Karate under Robert Fletcher, the 1996 North American Kickboxing Champion, took the Arnold Classic martial arts title at seventeen and earned his third-degree black belt at twenty. He started wrestling in high school and kept building it through the years. He began Shorin-Ryu karate under Tadashi Yamashita at twenty-two and holds a third dan there as well. Jiu-Jitsu started in Miami at eighteen and has never stopped.

The MMA program teaches from all of it: striking and grappling learned from the inside over decades, shared the same way, and matched to the student in front of him.

Forge Athletics is inside Coastland Center Mall in the City of Naples: 1984 Tamiami Trail N, Space G0003, Naples, FL 34102. Enter Parking Garage D next to Twin Peaks, head toward the front, and come through the black doors. You do not need to walk through the mall.

Call (239) 799-KICK or text us.