MENTOR, Ohio — While some girls like jewelry and flashy gifts on Valentine’s Day, others, like Angelique Seese, prefer functional over fancy.
“I’m definitely not a girly girl, so this is much more up my alley, than any type of typical Valentine’s Day gift,” said Seese.
What You Need To Know
- For Valentine’s Day, some gifted flowers and jewelry to their loved ones, others gave the gift of self-defense
- COBRA Self-Defense in Mentor offered a ladies-only Valentine’s Day self-defense class
- The instructor said while other gifts may wither or break, knowing how to protect oneself is priceless
After expressing interest in an all-female Valentine’s Day self-defense class hosted by COBRA Self-Defense in Mentor, she hinted to her husband, and he pulled through with a surprise.
“I found it on Facebook, actually, and shared it with a bunch of exclamation points and tagged my husband and he surprised me and signed me up as a Valentine’s Day gift,” said Seese.
COBRA Self-Defense stands for “Combat Objective Battle Ready Application.” The classes are taught by Dave Frank who has worked in law enforcement for more than 35 years.
“We’re going to talk about awareness, how the bad guy picks you,” Frank said. “We’re going to talk about proper use of social media, things that you can use as everyday weapons, and then we’ll get them into techniques. We’ll get them into palm, heel strikes, hammer fists, wrist grip releases, bear hugs, head holds.”
Frank wanted to give people a more unique gift option for Valentine’s Day this year.
“If you’re searching for that special gift that you can’t find somebody, our pitch was how about giving your loved one a self-defense class so they can learn how to realistically protect themselves in today’s world,” Frank said. “We like to try and get people prepared. So you’re not losing a loved one. So they’re prepared to go if something would happen to them, they would know what to do.”
Some people, like Dalila Frasier, signed up for the class as a self-care gift to herself for Valentine’s Day.
“I just signed up for the class, like to determine like how to defend myself, you know, just to protect myself in case no one’s around to assist or something and just to focus on self-preservation and self-improvement,” said Frasier.
While the beauty of Bracelets, necklaces, and flowers can tarnish or fade, the gift of knowing how to protect yourself, Frank said, is priceless.
“It’s something you can use every day if something would happen,” said Frank.
Seese enjoyed the experience.
“It was awesome,” she said. “I learned a whole heck of a lot. I learned that I was way under skilled.”
For more information about COBRA self-defense classes you can visit the COBRA website.