On Saturday, March 16, two local teenagers received their black belts from Stan Lee's United Martial Arts in Ormond Beach.
Jayden Quinn, 18, and Peyton Raymond, 16, passed their black belt tests prior to that night's ceremony. The test involved demonstrating all the martial arts skills they had learned since donning their white belts. These include striking, grappling, self-defense choreography, plank splitting demonstrations, and more.
“The standards are extremely high and the time, effort and dedication put in by both parties is intangible,” Lee said. “In today's world, it's very rare to see people, even children and teenagers, who stick with the same goal for three, four, ten years. It's unheard of these days. They are special It’s the people.”
Quinn, a Flagler-Palm Coast high school student, has been training for 10 years. She started attending Lee's after-school program, but she had to stop in middle school because her family moved to Flagler County.
“Four years later, when she got her driver's license, the first thing she did was drive herself back to driving school,” Lee said.
Raymond, who is homeschooled, started training three and a half years ago. Last summer, he also began working as Lee's assistant instructor.
“He's been here every day since he got here, took all his classes and then went to work,” Lee said.
Visit ormondbeachmartialarts.com.
