Defense Incorporated

Growing up as an “army brat,” Johnny Gyro was no stranger to being bullied as a child. After suffering the daily humiliation of having to choose between his lunch money or a beating from the school bully, Johnny set his sites on remedying that situation in his life forever. As a moment that defines a person’s lifetime, that realization for Johnny would come to sculpt a distinguished career that would emerge from the shadows of degradation. After fighting and securing the World Karate Championship 7 times over, Johnny Gyro set out to spread his cultivated wisdom in self defense to as many people as he could.

Together with his wife Noel, who is herself a Fourth Degree Black Belt, Johnny opened Johnny Gyro Karate in Agoura Hills, California to bring his 36 years of self defense teachings to his local community. The response could not have been more fruitful. With hundreds of students passing through their studio every week, the couple brings a proven methodology to their unique brand of instruction.

Following on the heels of that success, Noel and Johnny partnered with the multi award-winning production company, The Illusion Factory, to create Defense Incorporated as an entity to promote their unique teaching methods with the critically acclaimed, hugely successful Live to Tell About It DVD. The first DVD of women’s self defense techniques taught by a woman in simple, easy to follow instructions was heralded as The Best Self Defense DVD for Women and has been used by organizations, corporations and individuals as a training tool to teach women to become more aware, prepared, and capable of defending themselves against attack. Noel Gyro says, “This women’s self defense video does not teach women to take on a persona that is “Amazonian” in nature. This is not about “destroying” an attacker. It is about developing confidence and empowerment so that women do not fear using their minds, voices, and bodies to defend themselves against aggression. For women, reaction to potential danger or aggression in any form must become instinctual and instantaneous.

Their new Bully 911 DVD brings the impetus for Johnny’s career full circle as he bottles the remedy for the rampant bully problem into a comprehensive program. This is a unique DVD that enables parents and children to work together to teach children what choices that have to escape when “using their words” is no longer an option. “As I watch crime in school decrease while bullying remains on the rise, I know that teaching children to ward off harm is perhaps the most important tool I could share with parents around the world,” shares Johnny. “I am the first to suggest that all fights should be avoided, but it is equally ignorant to assume that your child will not be subject to some form of bullying in the course of time they spend at school. Therefore, if it were to get violent, students need to learn some basic self defense to make sure that no one can hurt them.”

Noel Gyro

Noel Gyro began training in self defense in 1990. She earned a First Degree Black Belt in Karate in 1994. Currently, she holds a Fourth Degree Black Belt in the Tang Soo Do form of Karate. She has competed in numerous Karate tournaments in California and Nevada in both forms (Katas) and fighting (Kumite) and earned a first place ranking among women competitors from around the world at the 1998 USA Internationals in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In addition to her own continued training toward earning a Fifth Degree Black Belt, Noel and her husband, Johnny Gyro, teach a wide range of classes in martial arts to children, teens, and adults—including self defense classes for women that incorporates the self defense techniques taught in the Live To Tell About It DVD and classes for children that teach the techniques taught in Bully 911. As the co-founder of Defense Incorporated, Noel is equally busy in her role leading public seminars on self defense related issues.

Johnny Gyro

Along with holding a Seventh Degree Black Belt in Tang Soo Do, Johnny Gyro holds Black Belts in Tae Kwon Do, Kang Duk Dwan, Shi Pi Gi (King Fu), Hapkido and Gung Fu. Mr. Gyro has been a Karate and self defense instructor for over 25-years, nearly all of them spent teaching at Johnny Gyro’s School of Karate—his and his wife Noel’s Karate studio located in Agoura Hills, California.

In addition to teaching Karate and self defense, Mr. Gyro began competing in Karate tournaments in 1978. In 1982 he was awarded “Competitor of the Year” by World Karate News Magazine. Karate Illustrated and Martial Arts magazines both named him the Number One Competitor in California and Nevada for six consecutive years from 1982 to 1987. In 1990, he was inducted into the IFKA Hall of Fame and named that organization’s “Competitor of the Year”.