After being in real estate sales for fifteen years, I had encountered a couple of questionable situations where I had felt uncomfortable, but I always thought “it will never happen to me”. I’m a big guy (was a lot bigger before I started training, I’ll get to more about that in a minute) and had trained for a short time in martial arts when I was younger. I thought, like many of my realtor colleagues, that I should just carry mace, or get my CCW permit or that if as long as I had my cell phone handy, I’d always be OK.
That all changed about two years ago when I reluctantly agreed to attend a COBRA Academy in Ft. Collins with one of my buyers agents from my team. I had strongly encouraged her to go since she was routinely out showing vacant homes to clients that she didn’t know very well, but she insisted that I attend the Academy with her. Ten minutes in to the first class I realized how unrealistic and unprepared that I really was!
The exercise showing how useless a cell phone really is when you’re being attacked sealed it for me and I decided to really commit to the training. Little did I know I was embarking on a life changing journey.
As I began going through the first academy, I realized how far out of shape I had let myself become, ballooning up to 294 pounds. I knew I had to make some changes to be able to perform the way that I wanted to. I went on a mission and started taking every COBRA class available at The Dojo in Ft. Collins along with fitness and a nutrition plan. Over the course of about eight months, I lost 74 pounds, sharpened my self-defense skills far beyond a level that I ever imagined and became a certified COBRA Instructor.
Not only do I find a great deal of satisfaction in helping my fellow Realtors and community members learn self-defense through the COBRA program, I sleep better at night knowing that those who I care about in my life have some COBRA training and skills to keep them safe during their day to day life.
I can’t imagine COBRA and The Dojo not being a big part of my life for years to come. I would highly recommend that anyone and everyone take as much COBRA training as they can. If you never need it, great, but if you do, your life and the lives of your loved ones will count on it.
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Bob Sutton, GRI, IRES
Team Leader, The Bob Sutton Team
COBRA C.I.N. #395
970-222-9722
RE/MAX Platinum Club 2014, 2015
RE/MAX 100% Club 2013
RE/MAX Executive Club 2007, 2012
Fort Collins Board of Realtors Chair 2017
Former Fort Collins Board of Realtors Board of Directors Member
Former Fort Collins Board of Realtors Governmental Affairs Committee
Instructor, Northern Colorado College of Real Estate
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