For two groups of Waterloo and Marshall area residents last week, hesitance and apprehension turned into confidence and interaction during self-defense workshops. Jorge Monterrey, owner of and coach at Defense Combatives (DEFCOM), led the programs at the Waterloo VFW, Post 6614, on Tuesday, Feb. 20 and Saturday, Feb. 24.
The Tuesday program was for youth ages 8-18, focusing on anti-bullying and self-defense. Eight students participated.
The Saturday program focused on self-defense techniques for women, with 14 in attendance.
It’s the first time VFW Post 6614 has offered self-defense programs, Commander Sherri Smith said. The suicide of an area high schooler in December motivated the Post to want offer a program that was “productive for the community, that could make a difference, and stop some of that bullying and potential suicide attempts,” she said.
Monterrey is a U.S. Marine who owns gyms in Watertown, Fort Atkinson, and Oak Creek where he teaches Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and Judo. One of the Waterloo VFW’s members belongs to Monterrey’s gym, and suggested inviting him to provide self-defense trainings.
During the youth program, Monterrey chatted with the students about the causes of bullying, indicating that they’re not the cause of themselves being bullied. He also advised how to seek out an adult figure to share that they’re being bullied, and how to stand up and fight for themselves.
“A bully doesn’t really want to fight 99% of the time, they just want to show dominance and self-importance,” Smith said. “But Jorge did show the kids some basic moves on how to at least defend themselves—not to throw fists—but like putting their hands up and saying, ‘hey you can’t do this to me,’ to try to defend themselves.”
Monterrey was a hand-to-hand combat instructor in the Marines, specializing in areas such as counter-abduction.
“When I moved into the civilian world, I wanted to take that skillset, and add the anti-bullying aspect,” he said. “I wanted to teach kids what I’d learned to give them the kind of confidence these kids need to go change world.”
Just in the short time of the program, Smith felt she saw a change in the youth attendees.
“From what I saw, the kids went from being very apprehensive at the beginning to everyone being very interactive,” she said. “They had a smile, and I saw the light shining in everyone’s eyes. I think they felt like, ‘hey someone is listening to me and I can do something’.”
Monterrey hopes that in the future, even more kids come out to this program.
“Waterloo and the surrounding area have quite a bit of bullying issues from what I hear,” he said. “I think there could be a lot of fear; some kids don’t want to be seen at a program like this. I want to give them the confidence and bravery to stand up to people, it’s very important.”
Dovetailing off of the youth program, the VFW saw a great opportunity to offer the women’s self-defense program, as well.
With issues such as sex trafficking, or young women from smaller communities going off to college in bigger cities, Smith said it was important to provide some preparedness in case women need to defend themselves.
While around 30 women initially signed up, 14 ultimately attended, which ended up being a nice size for the space they had, Smith said.
“It made for a nice group,” she said. “It was a really good experience.”
Other scenarios discussed included if a drunk husband begins to choke his wife, if a man knocks a woman to the ground with intentions of rape, or if someone shaking a woman’s hand won’t let go and begins to draw the woman in, making her feel uncomfortable and in need of getting away.
“All of the moves taught were based off real world situations a woman could run into,” Smith said. “They were shown realistic maneuvers to get them out of those situations—what to do to get the men off of you.”
For some of the women, it was also about breaking a cycle of generational abuse.
“With the women, they say they want to feel confident and be an example for other women and for their children,” Monterrey said. “Some of these women were raised in homes where abuse was generational and that makes it feel okay, but these women want to be the change in their families and show that it’s not okay to have someone take advantage of you.”
Monterrey’s Marine background made his programming feel like a natural fit for the VFW, Smith said.
“Due to being in the military, we VFW members have received hand-to-hand combat training ourselves, so we know importance of that kind of training,” she said. “We feel it’s such a beneficial thing to be able to teach our moms, sisters, cousins, and neighbors ways they can defend themselves and make themselves feel safer. It was such a great fit for the VFW because of our knowledge of hand-to-hand training, and was a way to continue our service to our community, and give back to our community within Waterloo, Marshall, and the surrounding area.”
The programs attracted attendees from not only Waterloo and Marshall, but also Watertown, Lake Mills, and Columbus/River Falls.
It was funded entirely through donations, with participants asked to pay $5 per youth and $10 per woman.
The VFW ended up matching those donations, and made a $300 contribution to Monterrey’s Stand Tall Project, which helps to sponsor a child getting apparel and a month of training from DEFCOM, if their parents are unable to afford it.
For the two programs last week, Monterrey volunteered his services as did his girlfriend, Jackie Brown.
“We didn’t pay them anything, so we really super appreciate their commitment,” Smith said. “We’re definitely in talks of doing more of these classes, and are figuring out when we can do the next one.”
“We definitely had a great time,” Monterrey said.
While he owns several small businesses, DEFCOM is the most important to him.
“This is where I make the most impact in my life, it’s what I want to do for the rest of my life—teaching people how to be dangerous and defend themselves,” he said.
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