Lebanon
LeBrun’s American Combatives last month became certified by the World Headmasters Sokeship Council, a nonprofit that aims to make various elite martial arts programs more well known.
LeBrun, 62, was nominated for the certification by a friend, and was surprised to receive a call from renowned Grandmaster Glenn Perry, founder and president of WHSC.
“(Perry’s) name showed up on my phone and I said, ‘What the heck?’ ” LeBrun recalled in an interview at River Valley Club, where he is a master trainer and fitness facilities manager. “He’s a highly respected Grandmaster and shidoshi. He started telling me about how he had looked at my program and wanted it to become certified, and I immediately started getting goose bumps. It was overwhelming.”
LeBrun received his certification on April 22 at a ceremony in Rutland. It’s signed by other dignitaries who help lead the WHSC, including martial arts movie actor Ron van Clief.
“He’s a Bruce Lee-type icon for a lot of people; a legend,” LeBrun said. “Just to be endorsed by someone of that stature means a lot. It’s very humbling.”
LeBrun’s American Combatives amalgamates techniques and principles derived from Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the Philippine Arnis discipline and Wing Chun, a Chinese martial art.
American Combatives’ emphasis on grappling, submission maneuvers and using an opponent’s momentum draw from those disciplines, while the method’s tight, close-quartered stance — during a demonstration, nearly all of LeBrun’s execution came within a three-foot imaginary circle extending from his chin and upper torso — stems largely from LeBrun’s favorite sport: boxing.
“You could say that LeBrun’s American Combatives comes from those three martial arts, but the stance is taken directly from boxing,” said LeBrun, a former competitive boxer and weight lifter. “One of the main strengths of my self-defense system is the ability to switch from one art to another instinctually, based on attack stimulus.”
A Lebanon native, LeBrun spent a portion of his childhood in upstate New York before returning to the Upper Valley and attending now-closed Sacred Heart Catholic school. He ran track and field at Lebanon High, where he graduated in 1974.
While pursuing competitive weightlifting — he once placed second in an all-ages “strongest man” event in Massachusetts — LeBrun began studying judo at Lebanon College and trained with White-River-Junction-based karate master Pete Porter in the 1980s.
“Sensei Porter gave me a great foundation for self-defense,” LeBrun said.
In 1988, LeBrun founded Night Hawk Security, a personal protection business. Through contacts in the entertainment industry, he was on the security teams for a number of musical touring acts in the 1990s, he said, including New Kids on the Block and Whitney Houston.
“New Kids on the Block was actually awesome, because it was a world tour,” LeBrun said. “We were all over Europe and Asia.”
LeBrun then produced a photo of himself alongside Bill Gates on a city street. “I was on his corporate team for a year. I was called his executive protector,” LeBrun said.
More important to LeBrun than his connections to fame is the continued advancement of his craft and furthering his education. In 2005, he earned a degree in philosophy from the College of Advanced Education and Martial Arts Studies in Pittsburgh.
“I’ve never been one to rest on my laurels,” LeBrun said. “My academics are every bit as important as the physical part of my system. Along with techniques, I work with students to understand situational awareness and reactionary distance issues as well as body language and pre-attack indicators.”
Those methods have also aided LeBrun while working one-on-one with area law enforcement officials, he said, employing “force continuum” principles he says can help subdue noncompliant suspects without unnecessary violence.
“You can use things like ‘verbal judo,’ — non-threatening language — to try to subdue them before exercising things like joint locks,” LeBrun said. “It’s all about doing what’s necessary without causing undue harm.”
LeBrun hopes his World Headmasters Sokeship Council certification will help his program earn more exposure and clients. Though he’s theoretically at retirement age, the Enfield resident’s physical condition remains strong and he feels as though his training is still just beginning.
“It’s the start of a new journey now,” he said.
Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3225.