Approachable Self Defense and Community Building

Combat Krav strives to be a community stronghold, providing approachable and attainable self defense training for all, regardless of ability or financial standing. We specialize in krav maga (self defense), with offerings in MMA, jiu jitsu, and fitness. 

We aim to solve two main issues:
The theory of the third place refers to a place outside of the usual social environments of home and workplace where individuals can build relationships and have a good time. As places reopen post-COVID, these third places typically have not; there has been a shortage of such community spaces.

Additionally, the closure of the longest-running krav maga gym (due to owner retirement) left the community without an adequate place to train for self defense in the center of SF's most dangerous neighborhood. 70% of the city's violent crimes occur in the area surrounding the Tenderloin and Nob Hill, with robbery and aggravated assault occurring the most frequently. 

With over 45 years of combined experience, including combat training, we are perfectly positioned to provide for our community. Combat Krav Maga focuses on quality of teaching, as well as quality of students. We foster a positive and encouraging environment that not only allows people to find their friends, but also find their strength. Students grow their network, confidence, and health. 

Krav maga and our other intro classes are approachable and attainable regardless of age and ability, so that those in our community can get home safely and confidently.

We also offer classes to the underserved, including unsheltered teens, children, and women, to ensure they are secure regardless the situation. 

It is estimated that approximately $50,000-$80,000 in additional capital will be required for us to achieve our goals in 8-12 months. The funding will go to building renovations, gear ordering, and staff. As we expand into the space that we have (which includes 2 more training rooms and a community weight room) and purchase more equipment, we will be able to increase the sizes of our low-cost seminars, increase our class offerings, and reopen the highly-requested weight room. The building was not well maintained during COVID, and we have a lot of work required to bring it up to safe and comfortable standards. As it stands right now, we can have approximately 15-20 people per class with our gear on hand, with only one class room open.  If we can expand, we can open up a second training room, and increase that number to 30-40 per ROOM. This will allow us to better serve our community at large, as we increase fitness offerings and increase class sizes. As class sizes grow, we can bring on more staff, increasing our options to Crossfit, TRX, etc - programs that are popular, (but hard to obtain in our area without a high income bracket), that would be offered at our regular prices and attainable for the community we serve.  

(One of the gym's rooms showing the state before, and after)
 

Combat Krav Maga is owned by two individuals: Joel Brown and Cady Gooding.

N. Joel Brown is the  founder of Combat Krav Maga, and is an experienced Krav Maga instructor with over 15 years as a teacher.  His qualifications include a 4th Degree Black Belt of Krav Maga, various martial arts trainings, and military training at Chief Master Sergeant with the Airforce.  N. Joel Brown has been studying the art of Krav Maga for 45 years. 

Cady Gooding is an engineer by degree and by trade, who currently works in the aerospace field as a design and test engineer for Zipline International. In 2021, she diverted from aerospace and worked for a product operations team. She was responsible for bringing products from concept to scale, including responsibilities such as budgeting and defining unit economics. She designed a system to save the company upwards of $8 million over three years, and has taken this experience to grow a passion for business.  She has been training Krav Maga since she was 14, and it helped her find her voice and confidence, and is looking to spread that to the students she teaches. She is an intro-level instructor and will be responsible for the majority of our budgeting and operations planning going forward. 

We thank you for your time, and we can’t wait to partner with you in reviving our community post-Covid!