Eric Lunsford, a Fayetteville native living in Jonesboro, has been involved in the martial arts since high school. Though he is the owner and main instructor of the Fayette Academy of Martial Arts and a black belt in karate, this graduate of Fayette County High School and Georgia Southern University doesn’t consider himself a master or a sensei, but rather an advanced student who knows the basics.

“I got my black belt a year or so after graduating from high school and the first time I stepped on the mat with that belt I thought to myself, there’s so much I still don’t know,” recalled Lunsford.

He most certainly knows more today, teaching classes in karate, tai-chi, kali-escrima, which is the Fillipino art of stick fighting, and kickboxing, but he continues to pursue more knowledge of the various disciplines of martial arts.

“I’m very interested in the diversity in martial arts, the difference in the angle of hands during numerous strikes, and the philosophy of why they are different interests me,” Lunsford said.

His interest in the martial arts was originally for self-defense purposes. One night a fellow student gave him a hard time at a high school football game. His father brought him to a karate school that had recently opened in town the next day and Lunsford worked out for two hours on both Saturday and Sunday. Lunsford never had to use his newly learned skills against the young man from the football game, but he started going to the karate school regularly and has been in love with the martial arts ever since.

In 1988, Lunsford got his black belt and soon began college at Georgia Southern University. He wanted to pursue his passion for the martial arts, but the one class that was offered there wasn’t what he was looking for, so he formed the Georgia Southern Martial Arts Club and served as the club’s president for two years. It was during his time with the club that Lunsford was introduced to a number of different styles and disciplines, and he began to try them all.
While in college, Lunsford married a fellow student from the karate school in Fayetteville, Margaret, and after college was over, the couple moved back to the area, living on the border of Fayette and Clayton counties.

Approximately eight years ago, Lunsford found his way back to training in the martial arts and also beginning to teach the skills he knows. The Gold’s Gym, which is now the Big Lots in Fayetteville, had a space where he could teach karate.

“I taught once a week,” Lunsford said. “Though really it was just me working out and some people working out with me.”

Still, the teaching bug had bitten him, and he and a friend began to share their dreams of opening their own studio and sharing teaching duties. When Lunsford’s friend was diagnosed with brain cancer, he decided to make his dream come true, and the Fayette Academy of Martial Arts was born.

“That was a real wake-up call,” Lunsford admitted. “We are not promised tomorrow.”
The World Gym in Fayetteville had a room available and Lunsford could keep his day job, working for an industrial supplier, while also teaching whenever he wanted. That was three and half years ago and the school now has a dedicated group of students with more people discovering the school every day.

Lunsford teaches karate and kickboxing every Tuesday and Thursday evening, while offering tai-chi and kali on Saturday mornings. The karate classes, split into youth (ages 9-15) and adult(ages 16 and up) progress through the belt system and start with kicking and progress into striking, trapping and grappling. Kali/Escrima is open to ages 16 and up and starts with students learning double and single stick strikes before working though other areas. Free style kickboxing is an advanced cardio class with the main part of the class involving work with a partner using focus mitts. The resistance provides an intense workout and the class combines boxing with Muay Thai for instruction on the proper way to strike the mitts. Tai chi is open to ages 16 and up and eaches the basic movements from the Yang style 24 posture short form.

Occasionally, Lunsford will also teach self-defense classes or seminars at World Gym locations or at his church. His wife, though she stopped short of reaching her black belt before departing for college, teaches the children’s karate classes. Their daughter, Jessica, 6, is also starting to pick up some martial arts skills.

Lunsford, ever the student, continues to study and pick up new skills. When his job takes him on the road, Lunsford will find a studio to attend and a master to study under while he is there. That is how he has been introduced to disciplines like Muay Thai. He also travels to New Jersey several times a year to continue studying kali/escrima.

Lunsford has been a student of the martial arts for close to 24 years and he will be a student for many more, while passing on that thirst for knowledge and a passion for these sports as a teacher.

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