License the operation.
Start where the math works for you.
Two ways to license a full Light Sword operation: the Mobile League, run out of a van on weekends, and the Partner Academy, a full daily floor. No lease required for either. No martial arts background required. Both are by application, after a short fit call, not a checkout button.
Two different lives.
Two different licenses.
Each tier is a legitimate destination, not a stepping stone to the next. Neither carries a listed price on this page: both are gated by a fit call, because the right answer depends on your market, your hours and your capital.
No lease, no buildout, no staff. You run a professional competitive league out of a city rec center on Saturdays: birthday parties, corporate events, school programs, festivals. Your van is your dojo. In most markets, nobody has built one yet.
Daily classes, the Saber Tag league, and the eight-revenue-stream academy model, run on a floor you don't lease: a local recreation center supplies the gymnasium, and the biggest financial risk in any brick-and-mortar business never has to happen on day one.
Built for Operators.
Not for Martial Artists.
The Commanders running this aren't martial arts masters. They're community builders, team leaders and operators who saw a category nobody else was building in.
- You've run something before: a team, a side business, a department, and you know what it takes to make a thing go.
- You think in words like "build," "movement," "people." Community isn't a marketing concept to you.
- You can dedicate real focused hours a week, and you'd rather work on something that's yours.
- You're comfortable being early: first in a wide-open category rather than the four-hundred-first in a crowded one.
- You're financially prepared for a serious business investment, and it wouldn't create real strain.
- You want a passive investment with no operator role. This requires showing up.
- You want a proven fifty-year-old franchise with case studies in every market. This is a focused, growing network, not a legacy franchise chain.
- You don't enjoy being around people. The product is community.
- You want to change the curriculum to fit an existing school. Commanders run the LSTA system as designed.
Built by Champions.
Licensed to Operators.
You're not licensing a name. You're licensing a system designed by world champions, a national titleholder, a military contractor and a Hollywood stunt director, then proven at the founding academy in Virginia Beach before it was offered anywhere else.
Built the founding U.S. light sword academy · Entrepreneur of the Year · Featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox
3× WEKAF National Champion · NASM-certified personal trainer · U.S. military contracts delivered, Langley AFB & Fort Eustis · Team USA, GSBA World Championship, Germany 2026
"I completed the entire certification online, no travel, no in-person requirement. Within 90 days of receiving my license I had my first students enrolled and my academy was operational. The system, the curriculum, the support, everything was already built. I just had to show up and run it."
Why Not Just Buy Sabers
and Run It Yourself?
You can, and some people try. Here is what they run into.
- Equipment that looks similar but isn't tournament-grade
- No electronic scoring, no leaderboard, no competitive legitimacy
- No safety documentation, liability exposure in corporate and youth settings
- No federation affiliation: your events are meetups, not a competitive pathway
- Professional tournament-grade equipment that fits in your vehicle
- Electronic scoring creates the legitimacy that makes participants come back
- Full safety protocol documentation to run corporate and youth events confidently
- National federation affiliation: your participants compete for a national championship
The license doesn't just buy you sabers. It buys you the system that turns a one-time event into a recurring business, and the protection that keeps it yours. You're building an asset, not running a meetup.
You Don't Build Alone.
Three partner types reduce your overhead and accelerate your growth, plus a private network of active Commanders sharing what's working in real time.
Year-round programming in their existing gymnasium. They earn a share when you earn, never a flat rent bill. Zero cost, zero liability on their side. The rec center playbook is included with the license.
The school provides the gym across multiple seasons a year; you provide the curriculum. School alliance templates are included with your license, ready to send on day one.
Multiple sponsor tiers, real advertising inventory with engaged participants and long average dwell time at every event. Sponsorship pitch decks included.
Every Partner license includes access to the private Commander network: active operators across the U.S. and internationally sharing what's working, what's not, and what's coming next. You are not operating in isolation.
What People Ask Before They Apply
Two reasons
a license isn't your next step yet.
Run the six-week Field Instructor program first, or get Instructor Certified, and bring that proof to the fit call. Either credits in full toward whichever license you choose.
Both licenses are a real capital commitment. If that would create real strain right now, this isn't the right time, and the fit call will tell you that honestly.
Not ready to apply for a license yet?
Here’s the way in, priced and public.
Six weeks, four sabers included. Credits in full toward either license within 12 months.
SEE THE PROGRAM →Teach the system as a paid coach before you commit to an academy.
SEE THE CERTIFICATION →The Academy Model taught lesson by lesson, before you spend more than $197.
GET THE KIT →Not sure yet? Four questions and we'll route you to the right tier.
FIND YOUR PATH →Book the Fit Call.
Tell us which license you're considering and about your market. A member of the LSTA team reviews every application and follows up to talk through fit. The application itself commits you to nothing.
No spam, no autodialed sales pitch. A person reads every application.
You've been thinking about
owning something. This is the call.
A Light Sword license for your market. Operators across the U.S. and internationally have already made this decision. The fit call is the only way to know if your market is still open.