In Clark County, Nevada, teachers and staff held a rally outside the district’s offices earlier this month in protest of school violence. They want the school district to do a better job of safeguarding them.
Teachers and charter school personnel in Las Vegas are being offered self-defense lessons by a number of martial arts companies in reaction to recent school violence. The owner of Legacy Martial Arts in Henderson, Tara Cox, said she believed self-defense training would be beneficial. Cox said, “I just put out feelers, and the response was huge.” As a result of the class’s popularity, the studio has decided to add a second one. “Go over a few different scenarios that they could be faced with to help them diffuse the situation,” Cox said. “If we can help to cut it off at the pass even before it reaches a violent situation and then give them tools even if it did reach that level.”
There will also be a class at the Samurai Training Center. What the owner Lee Sakai referred to as “distance awareness” would be the primary emphasis of the workshop. Many times, “they’re not managing the distance well,” Sakai added. He said that jujitsu is all about gaining control of an adversary without hurting them. There are no “big muscle heads” slamming people about, Sakai added. “What we teach here is the way it was taught back in the day.” “Jujitsu means gentle art in English.” These lessons on self-defense are being provided by the studios at no charge.
