United Martial Arts offers mix of disciplines, dedicated instructors

By Laurie Gordon
NEWTON — A dynamic duo of instructors has reinvented their martial arts school to offer traditional disciplines along with others that aren't so easy to find. The brain child of Sensei and seventh degree black belt, Lou Popek, and his 5th degree black belt wife, Deb Popek, United Martial Arts offers karate as well as judo, weapons (including Bo, Sai, Tunfa and Knife), along with wrestling components to provide an ultimately comprehensive learning and training experience.

The school's name — United Martial Arts — is a reflection of the instructors' philosophy of being united together to offer students the best possible experience. “We teach the various martial arts disciplines but all in the context of building self esteem and self confidence,” Sensei Popek said, “Because when you have that confidence, you can do anything.”

United Martial Arts teaches all levels from beginners to black belts. Kids as young as five and six start with Deb Popek then move on to Sensei Popek or one of the schools other blackbelts when they hit age seven. From there through adult, Sensei Popek and his team focus on detail and teach with patience and years of expertise.

Sensei Popek has had karate schools in Morris and Sussex counties for several decades and has enjoyed seeing students go from beginner all the way up the ranks.

But his life could have been very different if it weren't for his father. “My mom died in 1973 and when my birthday was coming up in March, my dad got me involved in a karate school in Hopatcong,” Popek said. “It was a real turning point in my life, because of not for karate, I might have made some bad choices at that point in my life.” Karate catapulted Popek into a love of martial arts and into becoming a strong athlete.

Years later, when he had his own school, he met his future wife when she came to his school for classes. They got to talking and realized that she was being sent to the same area in Florida where Lou had a tournament and she'd have a car. Deb drove Lou and his partner from the airport to the tournament. And when her business was done, Lou said, “She came to watch the tournament and we flew back and that was it.” He said he'd always wanted a wife who was athletic and an equal, and he certainly found that in Deb.

Over the years, the Popeks have had several different locations for their school and trained hundreds of students.

“We're excited to be transitioning the school to include more comprehensive martial arts and expand what we teach to include other styles of self defense,” Sensei Popek said.

One of United Martial Arts' instructors is Pat Bodensiek who started as a student with Popek when he was a kid. In addition, other blackbelts teach classes.

“All of our instructors are dedicated and on the same page to give our students a great experience,” Sensei Popek said, “That's why we're now United Martial Arts.“