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Peter Freer
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Peter Freer
Member - United States Ju-Jitsu Federation (USJJF) ®
Member - US Taiho Jutsu Committee
Member - National Technical / Promtion Committees
Member - US Ju-Jitsu Senior Masters Caucus
Freer began his martial arts training at the age of 10. After being bullied at school, Freer’s father enrolled him in Aikido classes. After four years of instruction, he decided that Aikido was just the tip of a very large iceberg of martial arts. He sought out any kung-fu, boxing, kickboxing, Thai boxing, grappling, and karate instructors who would teach him.
Boxing interested Freer and he began an amateur career with the Canton and Cherokee boxing clubs. During this period, the TKE fraternity at Western Carolina University (WCU) held yearly matches for college students in the Grand Room of the university center. Freer, a mere sophomore at a local high school, entered the matches by telling the TKE fraternity he was a freshman at the university. He won the championship three years consecutively with stunning knockouts. This garnered him a substantial reputation within the university student body and surrounding community. In subsequent years, no one would fight in his weight class due to his reputation. The fraternity made him referee.
Freer was to win the Detroit based Tough Man Lightweight championship a few years later in Asheville, NC.
Freer was fortunate to meet Ralph Andrews who had retired from his military career to Freer’s hometown. Andrews was one of the developers of the military commando training during World War II. He later began teaching his military commando tactics to federal agencies and law enforcement. He revealed many of his field proven techniques to Freer.
Andrews had a prolific library of martial texts. His widow gave many of his texts covering judo, boxing, fencing, bayonet training, jujitsu, karate, catch wrestling, commando training, and more to Freer upon Andrew’s death. Some of the texts are close to 100 years old. Freer read, studied, and practiced the texts as a sedulous student of martial arts. It became his passion.
Within a few years, Freer met Dan Inosanto, Larry Hartsell, and Tim Tackett with Jeet Kune Do (JKD) lineage. While enjoying Insosanto’s kali and escrima, Freer truly excelled in Hartsell’s version of JKD trapping, grappling, and kickboxing. Hartsell was known Bruce Lee’s top fighter.
At this venue, Freer was introduced to Thai boxing master Surachai Sirisute, commonly known as Chai Sirisute or Ajarn Chai. Master Chai is the founder and president of the Thai Boxing Association of the USA and responsible for introducing Muay Thai to the United States.
Freer asked Hartsell if the Thais had any grappling techniques. He said they had a few that were good when one is locked up tightly in close quarter combat. Freer told Hartsell he was going to ask Master Chai to demonstrate. Hartsell’s response was, “Be careful. You’ll find he’ll test your dedication quite quickly.” Hartsell was correct.
Freer approached Master Chai, and offered a traditional Thai bow with palms pressed together in front of his face.
“Master Chai, does Thai boxing have grappling techniques?”
Master Chai answered, “Yes,” though he seemed somewhat annoyed.
“Would you show me?” “Yes,” now grinning.
Freer and Master Chai were standing on rough concrete pavement outside the training facility. Master Chai and he locked into a traditional Thai plum or Thai clinch. Master Chai immediately moved to a Snapmare position. The Snapmare is a wrestling move were the wrestler turns his/her back to the opponent as he/she pulls the opponent’s head down over his/her shoulder and applies a three-quarter facelock (also known as a cravate). And by either kneeling down or bending over, snaps the opponent forward, flipping them over his/her shoulder down to the ground, back first. Freer knew what was coming as Master Chai prodigiously flung him across the cement. Freer simply rolled across the cement and stood up to turn and face Master Chai.
“Great!” Freer extolled. “Got anything else?” “Yes. Come.”
Freer had proved his dedication by taking the throw on cement with ease and asking for more. The years of rolling out of Aikido throws had paid off and earned Master Chai’s respect. The two worked for another 20 minutes on Thai plum and transitioning to grappling.
It was then time to take Master Chai’s full class in his style of traditional Thai boxing. His classes were brutal, grueling, and exhausting.
Freer approached Master Chai during the evening break. Master Chai, in broken English, mentioned that he also held a second dan in traditional karate.
“You ever have teeth to bone?” He grinned. “Can you explain?” Freer asked.
Master Chai pointed to his mid-shin which appeared to have two scars resembling upper jaw incisors. Master Chai told of a championship match in which he knocked the mouthpiece out of his opponents mouth with a left hook. He quickly followed up with his missile-like right shin Thai kick that landed on his opponent’s mouth rendering him unconscious. When he looked down at his shin., portions of the opponents upper incisors were lodged in his shinbone. He said it was quite painful and even more painful to have them extracted.
During this time, Freer’s reputation as a formidable teacher and fighter spread. He trained many local law enforcement officers including police, state troopers, and federal law enforcement officers.
The National Park Service had but two national training centers to teach police defensive tactics. One of them was in Freer’s hometown. Freer received intensive training under their program and he, in turn, intensively trained national Park Service rangers in combatives. After his first year as assistant instructor, they promoted him a full instructor and he taught the defensive tactics program including body searches, cuffing, felony arrests techniques, situational awareness, environmental awareness, and police combatives.
Freer traveled to study with various boxers and wrestlers including phenomenal Lancashire/Celtic catch wrestler Dr. James Timothy Geoghegan who introduced him to submission grappling. Geoghegan was also a noted osteopath who also treated Freer on several occasions. Dr. Geoghegan was a scholar, the former strongest man of Ireland, carnival boxer, and gentleman. One seldom finds a truer martial artist.
Never seeking rank, Freer’s goal was to absorb as much as he could and test his proficiency while fighting. While later attending Western Carolina University, he met a black belt who claimed to be a second dan in ninjutsu. Their sparring in the university gym in front of large crowd humiliated the ninja as he couldn’t hit Freer and received a substantial beating. To compensate, the ninja began telling his students that he’d put Freer in the hospital. Upon hearing this, Freer stormed into the ninja’s class and demanded a bare-knuckled fight on the spot. The ninja refused and requested they fight for money in a public winner take all match. The venue was set at a local elementary school. Larry Hartsell would be in town and acted as Freer’s corner man. Walter Seeley and his top fighter, Reggie Holland also served as Freer’s corner men. Seeley, a professional American Super Featherweight boxer from Sayville, Long Island, was a great boxer who had often fought in Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The ninja had agreed to bring two of his top fighters to face two of Freer’s students as Freer had begun teaching mixed martial arts in the late 1970s. The ninja’s two fighters refused to fight. As an audience of about 300 people had paid to see three fights, Freer had to prolong his fight with the ninja. Hartsell had graciously offered to fill time by demonstrating JKD. Another black belt demonstrated traditional Shotokan, Shitoryu karate.
The ninja was mistaken to think that the light sparring he had experienced in the university gym was full contact. Freer immediately rocked him with a left hook to the body followed immediately with a left hook to the head – a classic boxing combination. Freer could have immediately knocked him out as it was blatantly obvious the ninja had never been hit full contact. However, Freer knew that the audience would feel cheated if he knocked out the ninja in round one. He’d have to play a little. A right Thai kick to the body with an immediate left round kick to the head sent him down. The round ended.
In Freer’s corner, Hartsell said, “Jesus! Quit playing. Just knock him out. You’re going to kill this guy.”
Freer nodded in agreement. As soon as the second round began, he fired off a front thrust kick and closed distance launching a short fight ending shovel hook. Freer was graduated from WCU with a BSEd and MSEd with a specialization in science, math, physics, and computer programming. He began elementary school teaching.
Based on the poor classroom performance of ADHD (attention deficit) students and lack of educational tools to teach these students, Freer naively decided to create a program that would help these students. This required him to begin working 3 jobs six days a week. He would teach school in the daytime, teach MMA in the evenings, and drive an hour to run security for a restaurant chain until 2:30 in the morning. He’d be back in the classroom by 8 AM the following day. He thought it greatly inequitable that he’d make more money running security than teaching elementary school.
He researched NASA’s use of neurotechnology to assist astronauts in maintaining attention during states of hypo and hyper arousal. Freer enhanced NASA technology to develop Play Attention, a BCI (brain/computer interface) interactive learning system that actually allows students to control video computer exercises by attention alone teaching them to vastly improve concentration. He patented BCI use with the integration of cognitive games. Play Attention is used in over 600 school districts in the US, internationally in many thousands of homes, learning centers, hospitals, doctors’ offices, learning centers, traumatic brain injury clinics, universities, and psychologists’ offices.
NASA invited Freer to speak at the National Space Society Conference in Washington, DC to discuss how he modified their astronaut technology to work with kids and adults on earth. During this time, he’d moved to Asheville, NC to shorten his nightly drive and be able to sleep more as he was exhausted and needed money to build his neurotechnology company.
Arriving in Asheville, he sought out the most revered and respected martial artist in the area, hanshi Carl Wilcox, to exchange ideas and learn. Wilcox, a veteran martial artist with a wide scope of expertise was unlike any other traditional martial arts instructors Freer had ever met; he’d amassed a variety of techniques from many styles and was an excellent, truly formidable fighter whether in the dojo or on the street. He never stopped learning in his many years of training. His experience in a variety of styles meant that an opponent never knew what was coming. More than one found out the hard way. A more wise, honorable, experienced, and gracious man one seldom finds. The two became good friends. Freer considers Wilcox his mentor to this day and still relies on him for advice. Freer eventually began teaching MMA at hanshi’s dojo. The two often traded techniques for law enforcement. Hanshi had helped found the Police Self Defense Institute and invited Freer to join him in establishing a program for local law enforcement officers. Freer welcomed the opportunity. After years of working together, Hanshi promoted Freer to 7th Degree Black Belt under the USKA Law Enforcement Division.
One of Freer’s top students, Spencer Fisher, decided to become a professional MMA fighter. Fisher was tenacious and determined. He would take a tremendous amount of punishment to deliver his counterattack. Freer warned Spencer that fighting in that manner would come to no good, but Spencer was young and, as the young do, perceived himself as invincible. He left Freer after two years for Iowa where he trained and instructed at the Miletich Academy.
You can see his dramatic flying knee knockout of Canadian fighter, Matt Wiman (UFC 60). One profound comment on the YouTube video page says, “The glory is brief, and the consequences are forever.”
Spencer had a prolific amateur career and more professional UFC fights than the vast majority of UFC fighters. Freer helped corner Spencer at UFC 104. Spencer now suffers from traumatic brain injury.
So, the circle closes. Spencer now lives an hour away from Freer and runs Glory MMA Academy in Sylva, NC. He now uses Freer’s neurotechnology to regain executive function. Spencer now trains his students to take care of their brains – the most valuable asset they have. His lovely wife Emily, whom Freer taught in elementary school, and who is also a fine MMA fighter, is close by his side.
Mr. Freer has since developed and patented a body based brain interface (BodyWave®) that is currently used by NASA, NASCAR, US Military, Olympic teams, and universities. He has also patented and developed non-contact neurotechnology which is used by the automotive industry to monitor driver drowsiness, cognitive load, distraction, stress, and far more.
Freer has lectured at the United Nations in Vienna, Austria, regarding human performance training and its use among the nuclear power industry as a recognized expert in the field of human performance training & ADHD. He is co-author of a white paper on human performance management through the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency).
Freer has appeared twice on Good Morning America; NBC News, NY; and featured in TIME magazine, Popular Science, Woman’s World; Delta Sky Magazine; NASA Spinoff magazine; the Washington Post; Boston Globe; Associated Press; Huffington Post; Investors Business Daily, The Christian Classroom; Journal of Technology and Learning; and Teacher Magazine among others.
He continues to teach a small group of dedicated students.
Contact Info:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peter.freer.10
Email: [email protected]
Member - United States Ju-Jitsu Federation (USJJF) ®
Member - US Taiho Jutsu Committee
Member - National Technical / Promtion Committees
Member - US Ju-Jitsu Senior Masters Caucus
Freer began his martial arts training at the age of 10. After being bullied at school, Freer’s father enrolled him in Aikido classes. After four years of instruction, he decided that Aikido was just the tip of a very large iceberg of martial arts. He sought out any kung-fu, boxing, kickboxing, Thai boxing, grappling, and karate instructors who would teach him.
Boxing interested Freer and he began an amateur career with the Canton and Cherokee boxing clubs. During this period, the TKE fraternity at Western Carolina University (WCU) held yearly matches for college students in the Grand Room of the university center. Freer, a mere sophomore at a local high school, entered the matches by telling the TKE fraternity he was a freshman at the university. He won the championship three years consecutively with stunning knockouts. This garnered him a substantial reputation within the university student body and surrounding community. In subsequent years, no one would fight in his weight class due to his reputation. The fraternity made him referee.
Freer was to win the Detroit based Tough Man Lightweight championship a few years later in Asheville, NC.
Freer was fortunate to meet Ralph Andrews who had retired from his military career to Freer’s hometown. Andrews was one of the developers of the military commando training during World War II. He later began teaching his military commando tactics to federal agencies and law enforcement. He revealed many of his field proven techniques to Freer.
Andrews had a prolific library of martial texts. His widow gave many of his texts covering judo, boxing, fencing, bayonet training, jujitsu, karate, catch wrestling, commando training, and more to Freer upon Andrew’s death. Some of the texts are close to 100 years old. Freer read, studied, and practiced the texts as a sedulous student of martial arts. It became his passion.
Within a few years, Freer met Dan Inosanto, Larry Hartsell, and Tim Tackett with Jeet Kune Do (JKD) lineage. While enjoying Insosanto’s kali and escrima, Freer truly excelled in Hartsell’s version of JKD trapping, grappling, and kickboxing. Hartsell was known Bruce Lee’s top fighter.
At this venue, Freer was introduced to Thai boxing master Surachai Sirisute, commonly known as Chai Sirisute or Ajarn Chai. Master Chai is the founder and president of the Thai Boxing Association of the USA and responsible for introducing Muay Thai to the United States.
Freer asked Hartsell if the Thais had any grappling techniques. He said they had a few that were good when one is locked up tightly in close quarter combat. Freer told Hartsell he was going to ask Master Chai to demonstrate. Hartsell’s response was, “Be careful. You’ll find he’ll test your dedication quite quickly.” Hartsell was correct.
Freer approached Master Chai, and offered a traditional Thai bow with palms pressed together in front of his face.
“Master Chai, does Thai boxing have grappling techniques?”
Master Chai answered, “Yes,” though he seemed somewhat annoyed.
“Would you show me?” “Yes,” now grinning.
Freer and Master Chai were standing on rough concrete pavement outside the training facility. Master Chai and he locked into a traditional Thai plum or Thai clinch. Master Chai immediately moved to a Snapmare position. The Snapmare is a wrestling move were the wrestler turns his/her back to the opponent as he/she pulls the opponent’s head down over his/her shoulder and applies a three-quarter facelock (also known as a cravate). And by either kneeling down or bending over, snaps the opponent forward, flipping them over his/her shoulder down to the ground, back first. Freer knew what was coming as Master Chai prodigiously flung him across the cement. Freer simply rolled across the cement and stood up to turn and face Master Chai.
“Great!” Freer extolled. “Got anything else?” “Yes. Come.”
Freer had proved his dedication by taking the throw on cement with ease and asking for more. The years of rolling out of Aikido throws had paid off and earned Master Chai’s respect. The two worked for another 20 minutes on Thai plum and transitioning to grappling.
It was then time to take Master Chai’s full class in his style of traditional Thai boxing. His classes were brutal, grueling, and exhausting.
Freer approached Master Chai during the evening break. Master Chai, in broken English, mentioned that he also held a second dan in traditional karate.
“You ever have teeth to bone?” He grinned. “Can you explain?” Freer asked.
Master Chai pointed to his mid-shin which appeared to have two scars resembling upper jaw incisors. Master Chai told of a championship match in which he knocked the mouthpiece out of his opponents mouth with a left hook. He quickly followed up with his missile-like right shin Thai kick that landed on his opponent’s mouth rendering him unconscious. When he looked down at his shin., portions of the opponents upper incisors were lodged in his shinbone. He said it was quite painful and even more painful to have them extracted.
During this time, Freer’s reputation as a formidable teacher and fighter spread. He trained many local law enforcement officers including police, state troopers, and federal law enforcement officers.
The National Park Service had but two national training centers to teach police defensive tactics. One of them was in Freer’s hometown. Freer received intensive training under their program and he, in turn, intensively trained national Park Service rangers in combatives. After his first year as assistant instructor, they promoted him a full instructor and he taught the defensive tactics program including body searches, cuffing, felony arrests techniques, situational awareness, environmental awareness, and police combatives.
Freer traveled to study with various boxers and wrestlers including phenomenal Lancashire/Celtic catch wrestler Dr. James Timothy Geoghegan who introduced him to submission grappling. Geoghegan was also a noted osteopath who also treated Freer on several occasions. Dr. Geoghegan was a scholar, the former strongest man of Ireland, carnival boxer, and gentleman. One seldom finds a truer martial artist.
Never seeking rank, Freer’s goal was to absorb as much as he could and test his proficiency while fighting. While later attending Western Carolina University, he met a black belt who claimed to be a second dan in ninjutsu. Their sparring in the university gym in front of large crowd humiliated the ninja as he couldn’t hit Freer and received a substantial beating. To compensate, the ninja began telling his students that he’d put Freer in the hospital. Upon hearing this, Freer stormed into the ninja’s class and demanded a bare-knuckled fight on the spot. The ninja refused and requested they fight for money in a public winner take all match. The venue was set at a local elementary school. Larry Hartsell would be in town and acted as Freer’s corner man. Walter Seeley and his top fighter, Reggie Holland also served as Freer’s corner men. Seeley, a professional American Super Featherweight boxer from Sayville, Long Island, was a great boxer who had often fought in Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The ninja had agreed to bring two of his top fighters to face two of Freer’s students as Freer had begun teaching mixed martial arts in the late 1970s. The ninja’s two fighters refused to fight. As an audience of about 300 people had paid to see three fights, Freer had to prolong his fight with the ninja. Hartsell had graciously offered to fill time by demonstrating JKD. Another black belt demonstrated traditional Shotokan, Shitoryu karate.
The ninja was mistaken to think that the light sparring he had experienced in the university gym was full contact. Freer immediately rocked him with a left hook to the body followed immediately with a left hook to the head – a classic boxing combination. Freer could have immediately knocked him out as it was blatantly obvious the ninja had never been hit full contact. However, Freer knew that the audience would feel cheated if he knocked out the ninja in round one. He’d have to play a little. A right Thai kick to the body with an immediate left round kick to the head sent him down. The round ended.
In Freer’s corner, Hartsell said, “Jesus! Quit playing. Just knock him out. You’re going to kill this guy.”
Freer nodded in agreement. As soon as the second round began, he fired off a front thrust kick and closed distance launching a short fight ending shovel hook. Freer was graduated from WCU with a BSEd and MSEd with a specialization in science, math, physics, and computer programming. He began elementary school teaching.
Based on the poor classroom performance of ADHD (attention deficit) students and lack of educational tools to teach these students, Freer naively decided to create a program that would help these students. This required him to begin working 3 jobs six days a week. He would teach school in the daytime, teach MMA in the evenings, and drive an hour to run security for a restaurant chain until 2:30 in the morning. He’d be back in the classroom by 8 AM the following day. He thought it greatly inequitable that he’d make more money running security than teaching elementary school.
He researched NASA’s use of neurotechnology to assist astronauts in maintaining attention during states of hypo and hyper arousal. Freer enhanced NASA technology to develop Play Attention, a BCI (brain/computer interface) interactive learning system that actually allows students to control video computer exercises by attention alone teaching them to vastly improve concentration. He patented BCI use with the integration of cognitive games. Play Attention is used in over 600 school districts in the US, internationally in many thousands of homes, learning centers, hospitals, doctors’ offices, learning centers, traumatic brain injury clinics, universities, and psychologists’ offices.
NASA invited Freer to speak at the National Space Society Conference in Washington, DC to discuss how he modified their astronaut technology to work with kids and adults on earth. During this time, he’d moved to Asheville, NC to shorten his nightly drive and be able to sleep more as he was exhausted and needed money to build his neurotechnology company.
Arriving in Asheville, he sought out the most revered and respected martial artist in the area, hanshi Carl Wilcox, to exchange ideas and learn. Wilcox, a veteran martial artist with a wide scope of expertise was unlike any other traditional martial arts instructors Freer had ever met; he’d amassed a variety of techniques from many styles and was an excellent, truly formidable fighter whether in the dojo or on the street. He never stopped learning in his many years of training. His experience in a variety of styles meant that an opponent never knew what was coming. More than one found out the hard way. A more wise, honorable, experienced, and gracious man one seldom finds. The two became good friends. Freer considers Wilcox his mentor to this day and still relies on him for advice. Freer eventually began teaching MMA at hanshi’s dojo. The two often traded techniques for law enforcement. Hanshi had helped found the Police Self Defense Institute and invited Freer to join him in establishing a program for local law enforcement officers. Freer welcomed the opportunity. After years of working together, Hanshi promoted Freer to 7th Degree Black Belt under the USKA Law Enforcement Division.
One of Freer’s top students, Spencer Fisher, decided to become a professional MMA fighter. Fisher was tenacious and determined. He would take a tremendous amount of punishment to deliver his counterattack. Freer warned Spencer that fighting in that manner would come to no good, but Spencer was young and, as the young do, perceived himself as invincible. He left Freer after two years for Iowa where he trained and instructed at the Miletich Academy.
You can see his dramatic flying knee knockout of Canadian fighter, Matt Wiman (UFC 60). One profound comment on the YouTube video page says, “The glory is brief, and the consequences are forever.”
Spencer had a prolific amateur career and more professional UFC fights than the vast majority of UFC fighters. Freer helped corner Spencer at UFC 104. Spencer now suffers from traumatic brain injury.
So, the circle closes. Spencer now lives an hour away from Freer and runs Glory MMA Academy in Sylva, NC. He now uses Freer’s neurotechnology to regain executive function. Spencer now trains his students to take care of their brains – the most valuable asset they have. His lovely wife Emily, whom Freer taught in elementary school, and who is also a fine MMA fighter, is close by his side.
Mr. Freer has since developed and patented a body based brain interface (BodyWave®) that is currently used by NASA, NASCAR, US Military, Olympic teams, and universities. He has also patented and developed non-contact neurotechnology which is used by the automotive industry to monitor driver drowsiness, cognitive load, distraction, stress, and far more.
Freer has lectured at the United Nations in Vienna, Austria, regarding human performance training and its use among the nuclear power industry as a recognized expert in the field of human performance training & ADHD. He is co-author of a white paper on human performance management through the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency).
Freer has appeared twice on Good Morning America; NBC News, NY; and featured in TIME magazine, Popular Science, Woman’s World; Delta Sky Magazine; NASA Spinoff magazine; the Washington Post; Boston Globe; Associated Press; Huffington Post; Investors Business Daily, The Christian Classroom; Journal of Technology and Learning; and Teacher Magazine among others.
He continues to teach a small group of dedicated students.
Contact Info:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peter.freer.10
Email: [email protected]
