Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Being Safe: Ty Doughty, center, a kindergartener at Schallenberger Elementary School, demonstrates the incorrect way to answer the door when a stranger, played by karate student John Mullen, right, tries to get inside the child's home. John Ozuna, left, owner of KO Karate School, showed students what to do if a stranger ever approaches them.
WG's Schallenberger Elementary first school to participate in program
Students learn self defense, safety and how to prevent scary situations
By Kate Carter
Students at Schallenberger Elementary watch wide-eyed as one of their peers demonstrates how to ward off an attack by a stranger.
"I don't know you! Let me go!" he yells.
The students are participating in a pilot presentation on May 31, by John Ozuna of Willow Glen's KO Karate martial arts studio, 1455 Foxworthy Ave., that teaches children about safety and self-defense. A representative from the San Jose Unified School District is visiting to decide if the program should be implemented in all the district's 30 elementary schools next year.
"This is our opportunity to sell it to the district," Ozuna says.
Ozuna, whose studio is only a few blocks away from the elementary school, says he has been thinking about doing a program for youth self-defense for over a year. He says he has a 12-year-old daughter, Sabrina, whom he escorts to and from school. But he sees other kids making the trip alone.
"The opportunity is there if somebody wanted to take advantage," Ozuna says.
The program at Schallenberger was sparked by the April assault of a 7-year-old girl as she walked alone to school at Gardner Academy in north Willow Glen last month, he says.
"I think that really struck home," he says.
Schallenberger Principal Oscar Rodriguez says he found out about the self-defense workshop from one of his parents, and is enthusiastic about how it could help his students.
"We're just taking a proactive approach to make sure that our students are smarter," Rodriguez says. "We want to make sure that students understand that this is very serious."
He says he informed the district about the idea, which suggested that it might be something all the district's schools could benefit from.
Last week's demonstration focused on ways children can avoid having to use any self-defense techniques, at all. One of Ozuna's students, Ty Doughty, 6, role-played ways to be safe at home and on the street, when approached by one of Ozuna's adult students, John Mullen.
Ozuna starts off by asking the children, who filled the cafeteria, to tell him what a stranger is.
"A stranger is someone you don't know," one young student says.
Ozuna agrees, and then reminds the group that it's important to be careful around people you don't know.
"It's a good thing to trust people, but when it's a stranger, that's not a good time to trust someone," Ozuna said. "That's a time to leave."
Doughty pretends to be at home alone when Mullen comes knocks on a prop door. Doughty shows what happens when he lets Mullen in--Mullen grabs him.
Everyone laughs.
"It's funny, but it's not funny," Ozuna says, adding that it is very dangerous to let a stranger into one's home.
Then Doughty shows what happens when he doesn't let Mullen in--Doughty remains safe inside.
Photographs by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Escaping Danger: John Ozuna, right, owner of KO Karate School, spoke to students at Schallenberger Elementary School and offered demonstrations of what to do if a stranger ever approaches them.
Ozuna reviews not telling a stranger at the door, or on the phone that one is home alone.
"You tell him you have the entire family there plus six big dogs," Ozuna says.
He talks to the children about calling 911 for help in an emergency, if someone is trying to break in, or is prowling around outside. He tells them it's okay to tell the operator if they are home alone and says to leave the phone off the hook, if they don't know their address--the emergency operator will be able to find out where they are.
Then, Doughty pretends to be waiting for his mom outside, when Mullen approaches him and asks his name. Doughty runs away from Mullen screaming, "Help!"
Ozuna tells the children, if a stranger comes near them it probably means he or she wants something from them. He says they should back away and then leave.
"I always tell my students, when something's wrong, use your legs, but not to kick," Ozuna says. "You want to run."
He has the children practice yelling, "I don't know you. Leave me alone. Help!"
Then, Ozuna addresses what to do if they can't run away, if they have been grabbed by a stranger.
"You have to learn how to defend yourselves," he says. "You've got to know the sensitive areas of the body."
He tells the children they can kick attackers in the groin, poke fingers in their eyes, scratch their faces, bite, squeeze their necks and hit them in the chest.
"If there's no way out, you've got to get out of the situation," Ozuna says. "If that's what it takes to get me out of the situation, that's what I'm going to do. If one thing doesn't work, you're always going to have an opportunity to try something else."
Ozuna tells the kids, though, that playing at karate is not the same thing as child safety, and he tells them the self-defense techniques are not something they should try on each other.
Doughty then demonstrates how he would use some martial arts moves to bring Mullen to the ground, and everyone applauds.
The children are each handed a sticker and a certificate for a free martial arts lesson at Ozuna's studio.
Ozuna has been teaching bok-fu do at his studio for about 12 years, seven of them in Willow Glen, he says. Bok-fu do was developed in the 1960s as a form of martial arts that combines elements of Japanese Okinawan karate, Chinese kung-fu, Korean tae kwon do, American kempo and ju-jitsu, he says.
Ozuna has been studying bok-fu do for 21 years and is a fourth-degree black belt, he says. His school has 10 instructors and about 300 students, he says, who can be as young as 3 and as old as 83.
Two and a half years ago, Ozuna offered another program at Schallenberger to help children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder use martial arts to help them concentrate, rather than relying on medicine.
Ozuna says he's not sure how he'll conduct his presentations in all of the district's 30 elementary schools in one year.
"It's going to be a challenge," he says.
Ozuna says he also has plans to hold free child safety seminars at his studio on occasional Saturdays throughout the summer. For information, call 408.265.8504.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
