A few days ago, Zach Griswold, 9, got to do something many little brothers can only dream of. He got to punch his older brother in the face.

“Pow!”

Ben Griswold, 11, fell to the mat, his eyes closed in a mock-dead expression. After a few seconds of dramatic effect, Ben got up, grinning — and unhurt.

It’s just another day at the Hollywood Stuntman Training Camp, where children learn how to fake punch, kick and fall without hurting themselves — or anybody else.

“I liked learning how to fake kick and punch someone and make it look real,” said Zach. “I’ve never done stage fighting like this before.”

The camp, which is offered by Sortor Bushido Kai Karate in Bend, is a weeklong, action-packed summer camp for children between the ages of 8 and 14.

After students are taught the basics of fake fighting, they get a chance to practice what they’ve learned in a series of story lines that are filmed to make a movie. Students get to choreograph their own stunts, working together to develop fight sequences.

“It’s neat how they show you how to do stunts like in the movies,” said Kenny Ziegler, 12. “They really show you the fundamentals of what they do.”

In addition to learning the basics of stunt fighting, students learn important life skills, said Brian Sortor, the instructor of the class and owner of the karate center.

Takes patience

“This class really shows kids the patience involved of being in a movie as a stuntman,” said Sortor, adding that often scenes have to be shot multiple times, and the stuntman must be ready to deliver during each scene. “There’s a lot of planning and waiting around, but they learn that if you put good product into something, you’re going to get something great out of it.”

The stuntman camp has been offered through the karate studio for the past five years, with two to three weeklong sessions of the camp offered during the summer. After the week, students get a memento of their time at the camp — a DVD of their action story lines arriving through the mail.

According to Sortor, despite the explosive action of the class, no student has ever gotten hurt during the camp.

“We teach the students that a good stuntman always protects himself,” says Sortor. “That they can’t get injured because they have to be ready for that fifteenth take.”

On Wednesday, 16 students started the camp by reviewing moves they had learned earlier in the week. Standing in two lines, the junior stuntmen took turns fake punching and kicking each other onto a padded mat. Some students went spinning through the air after getting knocked out, landing on the mat with a thud. Others hesitated after getting hit, pretending to cringe in pain.

“I pretend it’s like ‘The Matrix,’ and I’m like Neo fighting Agent Smith,” said Isaac Vanderhoeven, 9, of the exercise. “At first, I didn’t think this class would be very good, but now I’m having a lot of fun.”

After all the students got to practice their moves, they broke up into pairs to work together choreographing individual fight sequences.

“You want to make sure you don’t do the same move over and over,” Sortor said to students about choreographing the scenes. “Make sure to mix it up.”

Devan Simpkins, 12, worked with spar partner Craig Holtzclaw, 12, to develop a sequence that involved high kicks and one debilitating punch that sent Craig crashing into the mat.

“And then I win — and he’s on the ground all broken. But not really,” said Devan, explaining the scene.

Devan said he had a blast creating the sequence.

“I would definitely take this class next year if they offered an advanced camp,” he said.

Zombie movie

The group then came together to film the story line of the day, titled “The Gatorade Movie,” in which the students play Gatorade-crazed zombies fighting each other for a single bottle of the energy drink.

“Gat-or-ade. Gat-or-ade,” students grovelled, before breaking out into brawls. Sortor rolled the camera, sometimes stopping to give advice about ways to make the fighting look more realistic.

“It’s all about timing and reaction,” said Craig about what Sortor has taught him. “The position of the camera matters a lot, too, because if the camera isn’t at the right angle, then the punch won’t look real.”

One of the final sequences of the movie took place when the zombies decided to stop fighting one another and work together toward the common good of getting the thirst-quenching drink. According to Sortor, this is one of the main messages children come away with from the camp.

“Teamwork is an important lesson for these kids — especially in a society that’s so individually minded,” Sortor said. “It’s not often that they are taught to do what’s best for the team. This camp teaches them the importance of working together.”