East Cobb Krav Maga School Celebrates One Year
MARIETTA, Ga.- A local Krav Maga school recently celebrated its first anniversary teaching martial arts in East Cobb.
Precision Krav Maga is owned and operated by attorney and martial artist Bill Pfeifer. Pfeifer practiced law for over 25 years and martial arts for over 35 years before deciding to open the school.
Pfeifer said martial arts has been a hobby since he was an early teen. He said his mother didn’t want him to learn martial arts so he wouldn’t get into fights. That changed when a bully picked a fight with him in high school. He said his parents realized Pfeifer might get into fights whether they wanted him to or not, so they wanted to make sure he had the proper training.
“I guess my martial arts training can be credited to the bully who thought he was gonna pick on me at school one day,” Pfeifer laughed.
After training in numerous martial arts, Pfeifer sought out Joe Corley American Karate when he moved to Marietta a few years ago. He earned his black belts in American Karate and Krav Maga under Corley’s instruction.
In 2019, Corley and Pfeifer began discussing Corley’s interest in focusing more on his work with the Professional Karate Association (PKA) and other projects. At the same time, Pfeifer was interested in wrapping up his legal career to move on to other interests. Those discussions led to the idea of Pfeifer opening a martial arts school himself.
“The timing on when he wanted to transition out worked out perfectly for me to jump into the business myself,” Pfeifer said.
Since then, Precision Krav Maga has focused primarily on their Krav Maga instruction. Pfeifer said they offer Karate, kickboxing, and other martial arts as well, but Krav Maga is their main focus because of its real-world applicability.
“Everything you train in Krav Maga is designed to be something you could actually use if someone attacked you,” Pfeifer said.
Pfeifer said the Krav classes focus on teaching different defensive and offensive techniques. He said the techniques have been tested in realistic settings to determine if they actually work. The techniques have been tested and adapted for different needs and body types, since not everyone is built the same way, Pfeifer said. He said one of his favorite things about teaching at the studio is getting to work with people of different sizes, skills, and abilities.
While a typical class would have students working closely together to try out their different techniques on each other, COVID has temporarily caused a shift in Precision’s Krav Maga class structure.
“We hope that before long we can get back to our old training routine, but for now we have to keep everyone’s safety in mind,” Pfeifer said.
Pfeifer said people have been training six feet apart on their own heavy bag. Instructors disinfect surfaces multiple times a day. Classes have also been calmer than usual to prevent students from breathing too heavily around each other. Pfeifer also said the studio has air purifiers running to keep the air clean and safe for students to be in.
Classes are still taking place in the studio and virtually through Zoom. For more information on Precision Krav Maga, visit http://precisionkravmaga.com/.
