Kids learn self-defence skills

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This article was published 24/06/2019 (2392 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Teaching kids self-defence, Kirin Martial Defense shared critical skills to survive “Stranger Danger” situations this weekend.

Hailey Kusche was on hand at the event Saturday morning with her daughters Kinley, 9, and Everly, 4.

Kinley already had an interested in karate, she said, and the course served as a good introduction to the sport while providing an opportunity to teach her daughter life skills to survive potentially dangerous situations.

“Now that’s she’s nine, she’s getting older and she’s kind of venturing out into the community more. Having some backup things to get her through in case there was any situation is really important to our family,” she said.

Kirin Martial Defense head instructor Glen Gross has been offering the free Stranger Danger seminars since January.

“We saw a need. There’s a lot of kids who just don’t know what to do if a stranger approaches them,” Gross said.

The classes are geared toward children between the ages of four and 12 and serve to educate parents and their kids on how to stay safe and give them the life skills to survive in a sometimes dangerous world. They have had more than 200 kids attend the classes since they began.

“All those kids are walking out with skills they can use right away,” Gross said. “They are very obvious safety tips they can learn.”

The free Stranger Danger seminars serve as a way to teach martial arts while building confidence and keeping kids physically active, he said.

Michael Gillespie brought his daughter Emily, 6, to the latest seminar in the hopes it would teach her self-defence skills.

He wanted his daughter to have skills to go out into the world armed with the ability and confidence to adapt to potentially dangerous situations.

Part of building up these survival tactics is nurturing children’s confidence, Gross said. One of the highlights of the event is when each participant had a chance to try their hand at breaking a wooden board.

“The look on her (Emily’s) face when she broke the board was pretty much priceless,” Gillespie said.

It is always great to see the joy on kids’ faces as they learn active steps they can to keep safe, Gross said.

With summer in full swing, Gross said he believed it was important to inform and keep kids safe in the city as they are out and exploring.

Kusche found the class to be an awesome experience that gave her more confidence in letting her older daughter venture out into the world because she will be better able to stay safe.

“They have those basic skills to protects themselves — it’s comforting,” she said.

Given that it was the girls’ first time trying out the sport, Kusche said they did amazing and she appreciated that a focus was placed on building confidence as opposed to fear.

“You could see on my daughter’s face that she was nervous, but as the class went on and they taught her more moves you could see the confidence rising in her,” Kusche said.

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