Nursing senior Elise Murphy, right, demonstrates how to protect herself from an attacker with a gun on Heather Badder, left, of Mason, at Cobra Force Street Self-Defense Academy, 3308 S. Cedar St., Suite 4 in Lansing.
Elise Murphy is not one to mess with when it comes to defending herself on the street.
As an instructor at Cobra Force Street Self-Defense Academy, 3308 S. Cedar St., in Lansing, the 22-year-old nursing senior has spent the past two years teaching other women how to defend themselves in potentially dangerous situations.
“You have to assume that someone attacking you has the worst intentions, and you need to take care of that,” Murphy said.
Jim Kowalski started Cobra Force in 1994, but the original plan wasn’t to make money.
Kowalski, 61, said his interest in teaching women self-defense came mostly from hearing sexual assault horror stories from family and co-workers, like years ago when a bus driver grabbed his sister.
“It destroyed her,” he said. “She was never the same. She never trusted men again.”
He also said that during his years of martial arts training, he saw that women were being treated differently than men in the same programs.
When his classes began to attract more people, Kowalski needed more space and outside help, so in 1994 he made it a business, which he runs also while working a full-time U.S. Postal Service job.
On Jan. 22, Kowalski and two instructors taught a class to three women who were first-timers at the academy.
Spread out across red and black mats, they learned what Kowalski said are the two most powerful strikes and easiest ways to “put someone out of commission” — a palm heel to the chin and an elbow to the head or neck.
He said one of the most important things he teaches is that attackers are expecting the victim to do nothing, so it’s important to act when in a dangerous situation.
Sharon Titus, one of the women taking the class, said she felt a lot safer after the two-hour session.
The 44-year-old Potterville resident said she works late several nights a week, so now she’s not as worried about walking out to the parking lot alone.
“I’m not as scared — if someone’s behind me, I kind of know what to do,” Titus said the day after the class. “I didn’t think I would get this much out of it, and I’m practicing it at home.”
Kowalski said when he was the only person teaching, some women had a hard time coming to class because they would be more comfortable with a female instructor.
It was when he decided to hire and advertise an all-female staff that business first started to pick up, but Kowalski said people now hear about Cobra Force through word of mouth.
Kowalski gives students a 20-minute orientation at the start of each class, then lets the instructors take over — but students usually overcome the idea of a male teacher and end up asking him for help as well, he said.
Murphy said it’s rewarding to see the transformation women go through during the classes she teaches.
“Women are very nervous just like I was,” Murphy said. “I get to watch them realize that they are in control of their bodies and the situations around them.”
When students complete 12 hours of street self-defense training, they can take an instructor certification test to allow them to teach at the academy, and from there they also can choose to work toward a black belt.
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But just as important as the physical training, Kowalski and Murphy both said women gain confidence from the program.
“I guarantee you, just the confidence level when they walk out the door — (they know) at least now they’ve got a fighting chance because they know what to do rather than nothing,” Kowalski said.
