Photo by Neal Embry.
Will and Heather Potter, owners of Birmingham Martial Arts, stand outside their new school in Liberty Park in the Publix Shopping Center off of Liberty Parkway.
Following the success of its Trussville location, Birmingham Martial Arts soon will open its second school in the heart of Liberty Park.
“We always wanted to open multiple locations,” owner Heather Potter said.
Heather runs the business along with her husband, Will, and they’ve operated their Trussville location since 2005. The plan is to open the Liberty Park location at 3215 Endeavor Lane, Suite 133, next to Publix, by Sept. 1 at the latest, Heather said.
Will said the couple felt the Liberty Park area is growing, but there isn’t a nearby martial arts school for area residents.
The school focuses on a Korean style of martial arts, along with separate courses on both character development and leadership, which is a unique aspect of their company, Will said. While many martial arts schools offer character development, it usually is not offered as a separate program, and leadership is usually not taught, he said.
“I’ve seen the impact it’s had on so many that have come through the program,” Will said.
The leadership program won’t be available when the Liberty Park location first opens, but will eventually be made available, and character classes will be offered within a year of opening, he said.
The benefits of martial arts training are plentiful for both children and adults, Heather said.
For children, they learn discipline, focus and confidence, while adults enjoy the benefits of fitness, self-defense and stress relief. Children dealing with attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and even those on the autism spectrum can “thrive” from learning martial arts because it helps them focus and learn different skills, Heather said.
“Kids that are shy … learn to have confidence in themselves,” she said.
In her own life, martial arts helped Heather develop her athletic ability, along with a great deal of confidence, which has been helpful as she embarked on a journey few women take. Most martial arts schools are owned and operated by men.
When she first began taking lessons at the age of 10, Heather said the only other girl was her instructor’s daughter. She knew she eventually wanted to open a martial arts school, and that dream survived even as she graduated from law school and practiced law for a little more than a year.
“I guess I’m just not a quitter,” she said.
The world of martial arts is so big, and there is always something new to learn, she said. Now, Heather said she enjoys training other teachers, along with practicing with her family.
“It’s kind of an artistic expression,” she said.
Four of the Potters’ children are still in school and often join their parents in martial arts, and three of them have belts of their own. The youngest, 6-year-old James, was recently adopted from Korea, and he is “phenomenal” when it comes to martial arts, Heather said.
“He was born to do what we do,” she said.
The couple met when Will decided to get into martial arts when he was just about to turn 30 years old. He became a student at the school where Heather taught, and other adults “warned” him about her. He assumed it was a joke, and when he first met her, thought she was sweet.
But when she stepped into her role as a teacher, Will soon realized that his future wife was as intense and serious about martial arts as he had heard. Still, the two became good friends and the pair started dating while she was in law school. The pair has four children together, while Will also has a 25-year old daughter of his own.
While the COVID-19 pandemic kept the Trussville location from meeting in person, the pair worked hard to host virtual classes during the first week of lockdown, and while they lost a third of their students within the first 30 days, they eventually grew back and now have 370 students at the location.
At the Liberty Park location, those interested can find out more by visiting the school’s Facebook page or website, bhammartialarts.com. Will said there is a “founder’s special” for the first 40 students who sign up, with those students receiving special gifts and more.
