Founding cohort capped at 100 operators. When it fills, founding pricing ends and the Field Instructor program is $1,297. Claim your seat →
An Open Letter from Sifu Edward & Sifu Julliana Armstrong

Run a Six-Week
Light Sword Cycle
on Your Floor.

$797, four sabers included. Cycle 1 pays for the program. (An illustration built on our founding operations, not a guarantee; individual results vary.)

The four-module program LSTA’s Commanders ran before they ran anything else. Finish it and you carry the title LSMA Field Instructor.

14-day refund · $797 credited toward any license tier within 12 months
LSTA · Operating since 2015 · a federation-registered network across the U.S. and internationally · Featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox · 60+ five-star reviews · Delivered U.S. military contracts at Joint Base Langley AFB and Fort Eustis
Watch This First

The Six-Week Program, Explained.

What the Field Instructor Program Is

A Six-Week Specialty Cycle.
You Run It. We Built Everything.

A working specialty cycle you launch on your floor: or a rented rec center, school gym, community space. The cycle is built for 8 to 12 students at $300 to $500 per registration, the numbers our founding floors ran (an illustration, not a guarantee). We send you everything you need. You execute. Run the six weeks and you hold the title LSMA Field Instructor: Level 1 of the LSTA instructor path, the rung every tier on this page credits from.

The Field Instructor kit: combat sabers, curriculum, uniform and the Academy Launch System dashboard
Module 01
Your Local Market in Dollars
~30 min · analysis worksheets

A worksheet that produces one number: what one cycle is worth in your zip code, this quarter. Small? Refund and walk. Big? Run cycle 1.

Module 02
The 30-Day Cycle Launch Playbook
Week-by-week · templates included

Week 1 announce. Week 2 free Saturday open mat (scripted). Week 3 collect money. Week 4 you have data. Every email, post, and conversion script written.

Module 03
The Coach-Ready Curriculum
LSMA Foundation + Modules 1–3

Everything you teach across the six weeks. The LSMA Foundation (Basic Principles plus the 5 target & body zones) and Modules 1–3: Lower, Mid & Upper Blocks & Attacks. Each comes with master-demo videos and complete session plans built on the 60-minute format. Made for a coach who’s never held a saber.

Module 04
The Tech Stack, Set Up Live
Guided walkthrough · Academy Launch System included

I record myself setting up your Academy Launch System live for your cycle, the marketing engine and the academy-operations side. You follow along. It’s live by the end of the video. The whole system (normally $197/month), bundled free for 60 days.

The Six Weeks

What the 6-Week Cycle Actually Looks Like.

First you fill the cohort with a free intro/open-mat session (scripts included). That’s how you enroll before the cycle starts. Then each paying student trains six full weeks and graduates ranked. Here’s the LSTA difference: every 60-minute session ends with 25 minutes of live sparring. They spar on day one, and every day after, not after months of waiting. That’s what their $300–$500 buys.

Every Session · 60 Minutes
5m Warm-Up 15m Technique 15m Drills 25m Sparring 5m Sacred Circle
A mixed-age class sparring with glowing LED sabers
Week 1 · LSMA Foundation
Basic Principles & First Spar

The LSMA Foundation, Understanding LSMA, the S.A.B.E.R. Code, safety, the weapon, and the 5 target & body zones. And like every session, it ends in sparring: they duel on day one.

Week 2 · Module 1
Lower Blocks & Attacks

The lower line, the attacks and the blocks that stop them. Technique, drills, then live sparring to make it stick.

Week 3 · Module 2
Mid Blocks & Attacks

The mid line, the core exchanges most duels live in. Each layer sharpens the sparring they’ve done since day one.

Week 4 · Module 3
Upper Blocks & Attacks

The upper line, head and shoulder work, the most dramatic exchanges. By now their sparring looks like the real thing. Taught from master-demo videos, so you lead it even if you’ve never held a saber.

Week 5 · Skirmish
A Taste of a Real Tournament

A friendly in-house skirmish run like an actual LSTA/LSMAF event, open format, everyone fights everyone, with brackets and live scoring. They feel real competition for the first time and leave wanting the next one. You run it on the Academy Launch System’s competition module: auto-brackets, tablet scoring, and a live scoreboard, a premium feature, locked into your program, free.

Week 6 · Graduate
Rank Test & Showcase

A rank test across the Foundation and all three modules, plus a showcase with families watching. They graduate ranked, and you re-enroll them into the next cycle or an ongoing membership.

The Math

$4,570 of Real Value.
$797 to Run It. Four Sabers Included.

The Light Sword Field Instructor Program (4 modules above)$997
Four combat-rated sabers, polycarbonate blade with internal LED (Trading Post floor $150 each), shipped to your door$600
60-Day Academy Launch System. Complete marketing + academy software ($197/mo after trial)$394
Competition Module. Auto-brackets, tablet scoring & live scoreboard (a premium feature, locked in free)$300
Legal & Liability Starter Kit. Student waiver templates & we reveal the liability coverage we actually use that fits perfectly for this type of activity$297
Operator Growth Vault. 5 Response-Marketing modules (Vol 10): Seven Channels, Path of the Prospect, Compelling Materials, Referral Systems & Enrollment Systems$1,485
Private 1:1 45-Minute Strategy Session with Sifu Armstrong$497
Total Real Value$4,570
The Founding Field Instructor$797

You save $3,773. The math doesn’t require a calculator.

Recommended
Field Instructor + Sabers
$797
Founding price for the first 100 operators. $1,297 after.

The Founding Field Instructor: everything below plus four combat-rated sabers, lifetime access to the Field Instructor curriculum and the operator room, and the LSMA Field Instructor title when you finish. Run a class the day the box lands.

Become a Field Instructor, $797 →
Founding cohort capped at 100 operators. When it fills, founding pricing ends and the Field Instructor program is $1,297.

Own the Academy Launch Kit? Your $197 credits in full: the Field Instructor program is $600 for Kit owners, through your Club Sabernet account.

Prefer to talk it through first? Book a 15-Minute Fit Call →
No pitch: fifteen minutes on whether this fits your floor, your schedule, and your market.
Your Bonuses

The Bonuses, What They Actually Do.

Not filler to pad a price. Each one removes a specific reason operators stall on launching.

Legal & Liability Kit
Run Full-Contact Without Lying Awake

Ready-to-use student waiver templates, plus we reveal the exact liability coverage we carry. The kind that actually fits a contact-combat activity (most generic policies don’t). Day one you operate like a professional instead of improvising. Templates & guidance, not legal advice, your attorney reviews.

Operator Growth Vault
How You Actually Fill the Cycle

Five marketing modules from our Business Academy (Vol 10): the seven channels students come from, the funnel that turns a curious parent into a paid registration, done-for-you materials, referral systems, and the enrollment conversation that closes. This is how you get the 8–12 students that make Week 3 pay for everything.

Private 1:1 · Founding cohort
45 Minutes With the Man Who Built It

A real one-on-one with Sifu Armstrong, not a group webinar. Bring your market, your floor, your questions; leave with a launch plan built for your zip code. Included for the founding cohort.

Competition Module · Locked In
Run Tournaments Like a Pro, Free

The Academy Launch System’s competition engine, auto-seeded brackets, live tablet scoring, and a public scoreboard, is normally a premium upgrade. For Field Instructors it’s locked into your account at no extra cost, so your Week-5 skirmish (and every event after) runs like a real LSMAF tournament.

The Partnership Playbook · Included
A Floor Without a Lease

Twelve modules on how an instructor finds, qualifies, pitches, demos and signs six kinds of partner: martial arts academies, YMCAs, parks and recreation, schools, colleges and entertainment venues. How the revenue share works, and how sponsors and fundraising fit in. Unlocked in your Club Sabernet account the day you enroll. Not sold on its own.

The Part Nobody Else Includes

The Academy Launch System. Set Up Live, Runs on Rails.
$197/Month After 60 Days, One Student Covers It.

Sifu Edward Armstrong built the Academy Launch System, that’s why your program includes 60 days free. Every other program hands you a course and says “go build your own funnel.” We set the system up live with you during Module 4, so you start your cycle on rails: your CRM capturing leads, scheduling live, follow-ups firing. Keep the whole thing after 60 days for just $197/month total (about one student’s tuition), or export your data and cancel in three clicks. No annual contract. No lock-in.

The Academy Launch System, set up live during your program
Academy Launch System · The Marketing Engine

The Marketing & Lead-Conversion Platform

Included free for 60 days · part of your Academy Launch System. A full business training library, a 500-contact CRM with scheduling, missed-call text-back, an AI chatbot builder, and pay-as-you-go SMS, email & Voice AI.

Marketing automation that captures every lead and follows up automatically
Capture
Every Lead & Booking in One Place

A 500-contact CRM holds every prospect, member, and former student. With scheduling built in, so a parent books their own trial slot. Set up live in Module 4, so the day your cycle launches, every inquiry lands in one pipeline instead of a sticky note or a missed DM.

Never Goes Cold
Missed a Call? It Texts Them Back.

Missed-call text-back fires automatically, and basic workflow automation sends your welcome series and follow-up nudges the moment someone enters their email. The leads you didn’t have time to call back get reached, without you having to remember.

AI Assist
An AI Chatbot, and Copy in Your Voice

An AI chatbot answers website visitors day or night and books them in, and pay-as-you-go AI drafts your emails, posts, and SMS in your voice, you stop staring at a blank page. Plus the full Executive Success Academy business library, included.

Academy Launch System · Academy Operations

The Academy Operations Platform

Included free for 60 days · part of your Academy Launch System. Registration, scheduling, automated billing & payments, attendance, member communications, and a branded member portal, runs your first cycle of up to 75 students. Plus the competition module (a premium feature), locked into your program, free.

Running your academy on the Academy Launch System
Capture & Convert
Stop Losing Leads to Sticky Notes

Every walk-in, free-trial attendee, and paid registrant tracked in one place, from first contact to first payment. You see at a glance who’s about to enroll, who’s stalled, and who needs a follow-up call. Nobody falls through the cracks because you forgot to write a name on a notepad.

Get Paid
Money in Your Bank in Two Days

Registration payments hit your account in two days, not ten. You own the merchant account. You set your own prices, plans, and contract terms. Branded online shop for saber resale built in. Platform fee is 0.5%, about a tenth of what most academy software charges.

Run the Cycle
Stop Being the Scheduler

Set up six weeks of classes once. Students book their own spots. Walk in with a tablet, tap names, attendance done in thirty seconds. A parent signs up themselves and the kid on one family account. Rank tracking, staff-only medical notes, and tap-card check-in built in.

Communicate
Show Up Where They Already Look

Reach members through email, text message, and phone notifications: welcome sequences, week-by-week class reminders, payment-failed nudges, cycle wrap-up emails. You write it once. It runs forever. Every new student gets the full sequence automatically. You stop wondering “did I send that email?”

Compound Marketing
Your Tools Share One Source of Truth

The operations side runs registration, billing, and attendance; the marketing side runs your follow-up and nurture. Your member data and your marketing stay on the same page. One Academy Launch System, not two disconnected apps and a spreadsheet you update on Fridays.

Look Like You
Looks Like Your Academy, Not a Platform

Members see your logo, your colors, your web address, not ours. Receipts arrive from your email. The login page lives at your URL. They never know there’s a platform behind it. You look like an established academy with custom software, not a tenant in someone else’s app.

By Day 60 you’ll have a branded landing page that pulled real registrations, a CRM pipeline of leads who didn’t convert this cycle but might next, a roster of paying members, attendance from every class, and conversion numbers you can act on. Continue the whole system for just $197/month. About one student’s tuition, keep one, or kill both. Your pages, leads, members, and data are yours, export anytime.

The Equipment

The Light Swords Fill the Room,
and Pay You Twice.

An ignited combat-rated LED training saber

These aren’t toys. Every blade is combat-rated polycarbonate on a weighted hilt, with an internal LED bright enough to glow under gym lighting. Built for full-contact under sanctioned LSMAF rules, the same standard used at federation events. Hand one to a prospect and they feel it in the first thirty seconds: this is the real thing. That feeling is what turns a free intro into a paying cohort.

And the sabers don’t just fill your floor. They pay you a second time. You buy them wholesale, shipped to your door, and resell them to your members at retail through your own branded shop, a 35–50% margin on every one. Most operators recover their entire equipment cost from the first few paid registrations; every saber after that is profit that compounds with the cycle.

The Numbers

Cycle 1 Pays the Program Back.
The Path After Pays Your Mortgage.

10 students × $300–$500 = $3,000–$5,000 in cycle revenue. (Illustrative example, not a guarantee.)

Six weeks. Saber wholesale recovered Week 3. Program paid for in cycle 1.

What Comes After

Field Instructor Is the Front Door.
Every Rung After It Credits Your $797.

Rung 1 · The Art
LSMA Instructor Certification
$2,997 one-time

Teach the nine-form system. Form 1 Instructor Certification: award rank, run the full curriculum, teach at academies. Keep your day job. Only LSTA Corporate certifies.

└ Your $797 credits in full. Net: $2,200.
Rung 2 · The Programs
Saber Flow & Saber Chi Instructor
$2,997 each, Level 1

Teach a program on any floor. Saber Flow, the fitness format, and Saber Chi, the moving-meditation format, each with its own Level 1 instructor course; every level above Level 1 is by personal invitation only. You price the class. The venue pays nothing.

└ Your $797 credits in full. Net: $2,200.
Rung 3 · The Academy
Own a Full Academy
By conversation

The whole model. The Mobile and Partner licenses are application-gated: a fit call first, never a checkout. 8 revenue streams on the rec center model, walked line by line in the Academy Launch Kit.

└ Application first. Your $797 credits in full within 12 months.

Every rung credits your $797 in full toward an upgrade. Start where the math works for you.

Not ready for a seat? Take the Saber Life Challenge first: five days, free, one short lesson a day on putting a saber program on a floor you already have. Start Day 1

The Proof

You’re Buying Eleven Years of Operating.
Not a Federation That Just Started.

U.S. service members training with LED combat sabers on a military base
  • 2015, LSTA founded. 68 students within months. A landmark US light sword academy. Edward named Entrepreneur of the Year.
  • Featured nationally: ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox. America’s Real Deal. Total Health Magazine.
  • 2026. The federation fields a Team USA world-championship competitor (GSBA Worlds, Germany). The sport is ascending toward international recognition, and every founding operator’s position appreciates with it.
  • 60+ five-star reviews. Zero exceptions across the network.
  • Delivered U.S. military contracts: Joint Base Langley AFB and Fort Eustis. The DoD paid for this curriculum.
  • Parks & Rec contract active across multiple municipalities.
  • Pandemic-tested. Shadow Warrior online platform born during COVID lockdown. The system replicates remotely.
  • Saber Core CT, the proof point that matters most. Keith Nye opened Charter Club #1 entirely online. No travel. No founder in the room. First students enrolled within 90 days.
  • A federation-registered network across the U.S. and internationally.
  • The S.A.B.E.R. Code: Security · Aptitude · Bravery · Ethics · Resolve. The operating philosophy your members internalize, not just a curriculum.

The federation incorporated in 2026 is the latest layer. Not the foundation. The foundation is eleven years old and operating.

The Foundation

Four Masters.
One System.

Few light sword organizations bring together a credential team like this. Champions, military, and Hollywood, together, on the same standard.

Co-Principals
Sifu Edward Armstrong
Norfolk, VA
Sifu Edward Armstrong
Co-Founder & Co-Principal

Built a landmark U.S. light sword academy · Entrepreneur of the Year · Featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox · Parks & Recreation Contract

Sifu Julliana Armstrong
Langley AFB, Virginia
Sifu Julliana Armstrong
Co-Principal · First American Int'l Referee

3× WEKAF National Champion · NASM-Certified · U.S. military contracts delivered, Langley AFB & Fort Eustis

Team USA, 2X GSBA World Champion, Germany 2026
Founding Masters & Technical Directors
Sijo Nathan Young
Hawaii
Sijo Nathan Young
Founding Master · Technical Director

2× World Champion · 2004 Olympics Performer · Black Belt Magazine Feature · 2nd-Gen JKD, Bruce Lee lineage

Sifu Nick Benseman
Los Angeles, CA
Sifu Nick Benseman
Founding Master · Choreography Director

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 · Tenet · The 5th Wave · 101 Stunt Credits on IMDb · JKD · Capoeira · Kempo · Judo

Why this organization exists

Built. Betrayed.
Rebuilt by four masters.

In 2015, Edward Armstrong built a landmark light sword martial arts academy in the United States: 68 students, Entrepreneur of the Year, featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox.

In 2016, the franchise that gave the sport its only international structure betrayed the warriors it was supposed to serve, and the operators who had trusted it.

In 2017, Edward and three other masters walked away at the top, and rebuilt from scratch, on their own terms, engineered against the exact failure modes they had collectively survived.

That organization is LSTA.

The program you’re considering was built by people who know what an organization looks like when it stops supporting its operators. The program exists so you can prove the system on your floor in six weeks, before you commit to anything bigger. That’s the structure we wish we’d had in 2015.

Field Audio · Six Minutes

You’ve Heard the Founders.
Now Hear the People They Trained.

Nobody talks about reps. Nobody talks about PRs. This is the demographic walking into your space the day you put a sign up.

Joint Base Langley-Eustis
What twelve weeks of saber training delivered that twelve years of PT didn’t.
Coached on-base by Sifu Julliana, NASM-CPT. The DoD paid for this.
In Their Own Words · Vol 1
Eight students, different cities. Not one mentions burpees, kettlebells, or PRs.
Random network students. That’s the kind of word-of-mouth that fills cycles.
In Their Own Words · Vol 2
Different city. Same pattern. The demographic isn’t a Norfolk fluke. It’s a category.
This is what “the only place in your zip code” sounds like.
Day 60

No Surprise Charges. Ever.

Your AcadevoFit software continues after the 60-day trial at $197 a month. We send reminders 30, 7 and 1 days out. Cancel any time from the dashboard in three clicks, no phone call, no retention specialist.

Program didn’t pull? Cancel the platform trial before day 60. Total spend: $797, and you keep the sabers. The modules, bonuses, Growth Vault, Legal Kit, and your 1:1 session stay yours.

◊ The Field Instructor Promise ◊

I Take the Risk.
You Take the Seat.

LSTA’s pattern: every tier carries a guarantee that the work continues until you’ve made it work. The program is no different.

1 · Fourteen days. Full refund. No questions.
Open every module. Run your zip-code numbers. Not a fit (for any reason or no reason), email support, every dollar back. Keep the Legal Kit regardless.

2 · $797 credited toward any license tier. 12 months to use it.
Advance to Instructor Certification, the Mobile License or the Partner License within a year, and the $797 you paid today comes off the tuition.

The same pattern carries through. Instructor tier has a 90-day satisfaction guarantee. If you’ve followed the playbook and aren’t generating revenue, LSTA keeps working with you. Partner tier carries the 15-Student Launch Commitment. 15 students within 90 days, or LSTA keeps working alongside you. The work continues until you make it work.

The Real Questions

Things You’re Already Wondering.

I already run a 100+ student martial arts academy. Is the Field Instructor program redundant?
No. You’re the highest-leverage starting point. Add a six-week specialty cycle to one timeslot. Most existing-academy operators run their first cycle to 10 students at $300–$500 per registration. The math pays for the program in week three. The program exists so you don’t make the modality bet on faith.
I’m not currently an operator. Can I still do this?
Yes, possibly more profitably. You’re building a category-of-one academy with the federation, equipment, curriculum, and platform already in place. Module 1 (~30 minutes) tells you whether your zip code supports the math.
I run an HEMA club / kendo dojo / fencing club. Does this fit?
Better than most. You have the floor, the audience, the credibility. What you don’t have. Insurance for full-contact, federation that recognizes your competition, equipment that meets safety standards, commercial framework beyond informal Saturday class, is exactly what this is.
Will my existing student base hate this?
The opposite happens: existing members sign up as cross-training, their spouses sign up, their teenagers sign up. The DoD-funded cohort at Langley sat next to standard PT, nobody was asked to choose.
What if my market doesn’t pull?
Cancel the platform trial before day 60 from the dashboard. You are out $797 and you own four sabers, written off as the cost of finding out. And the 14-day refund is still on the table for the first two weeks if Module 1’s zip-code numbers come back small.
Real sport, or dressed-up cosplay?
Eleven years of operation. The federation-registered network. A completed DoD-funded military cohort. 60+ five-star reviews. National media coverage. Virginia nonstock (nonprofit) federation, 501(c)(3) pending, sanctioned rules across three disciplines, electronic scoring backed by Century Martial Arts, active petition pathway to World Games. The infrastructure of a sport is built and operating.
Honest disqualifier

Three reasons
this isn’t your program.

$797 with four sabers is a small bet. Six weeks is short. But this still isn’t the right move for everyone, and we’d rather you know that now than at week three.

You don’t have a floor yet.

The program is designed to test Light Sword on a floor you’re already paying for: a martial arts academy, gym, dance studio, rec center, or community space. If you’re still looking for the space, you’re too early. Come back when you have keys.

You expect us to do the marketing for you.

The program includes scripts, templates, and a week-by-week playbook. It doesn’t include us running your social or making calls on your behalf. If you won’t actively recruit your first cohort, the system can’t prove itself on your floor.

You’re shopping “cool ideas” rather than committing.

$797 is the cheapest way to evaluate Light Sword, and it puts four sabers on your floor, but it still requires six weeks of focused execution. If you’re collecting curiosities (this one, jiu-jitsu, axe throwing, escape rooms), this isn’t the program for you yet. Pick one and commit, and we’ll be here when it’s us.

If any of those is you, we’ll do you a favor by saying no. The program is for operators ready to execute, not browse.

Field Instructor not the right next step?

Here’s where you might actually belong.

PARTNER · BY APPLICATION
Skip Straight to the Partner License

Already convinced and ready to launch your academy? Skip the program, book the fit call and talk to us directly.

VIEW ACADEMY LICENSE →
$2,997 · INSTRUCTOR
Side-Income Instructor

No floor of your own? Get certified, teach on someone else’s floor (academies, gyms, YMCAs).

EXPLORE INSTRUCTOR →
MOBILE · BY APPLICATION
Mobile Saber Tag League

No fixed floor, no daily operation. Saturday-only league format with federation pathway.

EXPLORE LEAGUE →
60 SEC · ROUTE
Path Finder Quiz

Not sure yet? Four questions and we’ll route you to the right tier.

FIND YOUR PATH →
In Six Months Students graduating with glowing sabers as families applaud

Someone in Your City
Will Have Built This Academy.

Founding cohort capped at 100 operators. When it fills, founding pricing ends and the Field Instructor program is $1,297.

It might be you. It might be them. The clock isn’t mine to set. It’s set by whichever other operators sign before the 100-seat cohort closes.

Recommended
Field Instructor + Sabers
$797
Founding price for the first 100 operators. $1,297 after.

The Founding Field Instructor: everything plus four combat-rated sabers, lifetime access to the Field Instructor curriculum and the operator room, and the LSMA Field Instructor title when you finish. Run a class the day the box lands.

Become a Field Instructor, $797 →
14-day refund · your $600–$797 credits toward any license tier within 12 months · founding pricing ends when the 100-seat cohort fills
Prefer to talk it through first? Book a 15-Minute Fit Call →
No pitch: fifteen minutes on whether this fits your floor, your schedule, and your market.