30 Years of Martial Arts in the Wood River Valley

Lee started the way a lot of Idaho kids do: on a wrestling mat at Wood River High School, learning that hard work and leverage beat size.

Around 1988 he began training with the Gracie family — the family that introduced Brazilian jiu-jitsu to America. He kept going. He won the U.S. Open in jiu-jitsu, and he fought professionally in King of the Cage, Gladiator Challenge, and Extreme Fighting when those events were the toughest rooms in the sport.

Nearly 30 years ago he opened his first Hailey academy out in Woodside and started teaching this valley's kids and adults. He never left. Today that work lives at API - Anderson Performance Institute at 101 N Main St in downtown Hailey — family-run with Storm Anderson, and home to the largest grappling mat in the state of Idaho and a full-size boxing ring.

Lee's job now is simple: make sure the person walking in scared on day one is still training a year later.