I wish to share this with you because I believe it is important and I truly appreciate this program. I entered into the Martial arts December of 1976 and I have never stopped. I have studied under many internationally known masters and grandmasters. I have advanced black belts in a number of systems including Karate, Ju Jitsu and Modern Arnis. All of this not to boast, just to level-set the idea that I have been involved in martial arts for a long time.
Over the years I have taught what I believed was self-defense, although, the techniques had not been street tested by me or most of my instructors. I have always wanted more when it comes to having a program that was easy to teach, effective and well organized. I needed to feel confident that what I was teaching would really work–especially if I was teaching my wife and my family.
I have seen thousands of students through the years. In the end, most them just wanted to know how to protect themselves and their family–wasn’t about the gi, the history, the lineage back to my instructors instructor, the forms or the colored belt.
A black belt seems to be a great idea until you realize you must spend many YEARS of your life to get to that level of proficiency. Most left without the knowledge or understanding of self-defense that this programs teaches.
I came across C.O.B.R.A. Defense through a chance meeting with another local martial artist Sensei Fran Coakley during a local town celebration of 2nd Friday. The instructor/school owner mentioned going to Florida to get some additional information about the C.O.B.R.A. program. She spoke well of the program and the instructors.
Upon hearing that, I did some more research on the web about this program. I signed up for the home study program and completed it. The information was refreshing and very well presented. Once that program was done, I discussed it with two of my instructor friends–the three of us combined have over 90 years training. One of them signed up and went through the online program. We were so impressed, we decided we needed to pursue in-person training. So we scheduled and attended certification training in Florida with Chris and Mark.
The instructor training was amazing… fitting a 10-day program into two days is not easy. It is like drinking from a fire hose. The information contained in the book The Psychology of Self Defense is invaluable and a huge part of the program. The book and the training clearly points out it is not only about physical training–there is a lot to understand in your head. This alone makes the C.O.B.R.A. program different than the arts I have studied for all these years.
We could not wait to get back to get started. Our first C.O.B.R.A.1-Day Survival Camp ran Saturday, May 9th. The turnout was outstanding. I have never, in all the years of teaching I have done, received as many fabulous responses to materials presented. 5 of the 11 people gave videoed testimonials. (once edited they will be available to share) All of them want more training.
In our market, getting people to commit to a 10 week program, we feel, will not work well. We scheduled a 5 week, 2 hour a night program that began June 2nd. 7 people signed up within 5 hours of it being posted to eventbrite. This is another thing about this program being so flexible–adapting it to fit our market is great
I would recommend this training and this program to anyone, regardless of the years of training in “the best, most effective, deadliest, martial art.” Training to teach someone to defend themselves is significantly different than training to win a tournament or tap-out their opponent.
The training and support for our business has been second to none. C.O.B.R.A. has provided an amazing set of tools that will allow us to continue to be successful teaching the valuable information as well as marketing to potential customers/clients. We do not need to reinvent the wheel–we have access to all we need to be successful from the website template to marketing tools and best practices–a turn-key solution.
Chris, I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to discuss with my wife a troubling situation she had seen in the past. From that personal phone call, my wife feels better and I now have better information to pass on to future camp and academy participants.
We do not have a brick and mortar location. We currently teach out of a local church. This program is highly flexible and will blend in with our current program. I can see where this would be huge if we considered opening a full-time location for introducing our school, then bringing in and retaining students.
Thank you Chris, Mark and C.O.B.R.A. Defense International. We look forward to many years of working together to train people to be better prepared to not only protect themselves and their families but to also make better, more informed decisions about everyday situations.
Christopher Pedrick – New Jersey COBRA Training Center
