Stater Home Page

Department of Communication

Part-time self-defense instructor Al Cole stands with his beginners class. He teaches with a variety of martial arts methods, so students can gain discipline, skill, and physical fitness.

CSU offers self-defense courses

By Jennifer Boresz

CSU has been offering self-defense courses for about five years, and Cole has been teaching them since 2001.

He said that his greatest experience in teaching these classes is, “that moment when a student asks a question, when I see an interest in lear-ning.”

Although Cole began teaching at CSU two years ago, he has an extensive list of martial arts accomplishments including state, national and international experience dating back to the age of 9 when he began training.

He is now a seventh degree black belt in Taekwondo.

He was also a team leader of the 2000 U.S. National Taekwondo Team at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament, a regional founder and director of Cardio-Fit Kickboxing, and holds a background in boxing, karate, judo, hapkido, Okinawan weapons, and other self-defense related martial art sports.

New students react positively to his classes, Cole said. “The students are hard working and eager to learn.”

“Most people have or had at one time, an interest in self-defense and martial arts,” he explained.

CSU offers three courses in self-defense, and one is combined with track for physical education major’s cross training, explained Cole.

He said this combination provides exposure to related self-defense and martial arts.

“This self-defense course is designed to expose the student to various martial arts practices and methods of self-defense, with emphasis on the development of sport- specific basic skills and knowledge related to self-defense,” said Cole.

Cole also noted that this year two more self-defense classes are being offered, which he takes as a positive sign of growth for both martial arts and physical fitness.

Along with the physical training and application of technique, Cole said that the course also explores customs of Asian and western martial arts and theories of discipline needed to train effectively in self-defense.

“Physically, most everyone is very capable of performing the tech-niques well, but mentally the biggest challenge students will face, just like any learning experience, is internal obstacles of emotion and thought,” commented Cole.

Cole said he feels that all students should take a self-defense course to enhance their personal safety, particularly if they are away from home and familiar territory, but that students going to an urban college like CSU are just as safe as those being educated at suburban campuses.

“CSU having a larger population than most suburban colleges has an advantage,” Cole explained. “There is safety in numbers and many people constantly moving in all areas makes it more difficult for criminals (the people) act as a deterrent to crime,” he added.

“We see an overall increase in personal safety concerns across the country, and our class size has increased from last year,” explained Cole. He said that self-defense training is gaining more in popularity now than at any other time in history.

Top of Page