Bullying is a serious problem in today’s society and the controversial topic was the focus at last Saturday’s ‘Bully-Proof Your Child Seminar’ at East Coast MMA & Fitness Center in Hicksville. State Senator Jack Martins and Legislator Rose Marie Walker attended the program which ran in the newly renovated center on Woodbury Road.
“Bullying is a real issue in our communities and I want to thank East Coast Mixed Martial Arts & Fitness for agreeing to host this forum,” said Martins. “Teaching our kids self defense to protect themselves or to protect those around them is a great thing. We need to take every opportunity to teach our kids important life lessons.”
The seminar was led by East Coast MMA owner and Hicksville resident Jeff Jorgge and Sensei Neil Gonzales who helped the kids demonstrate various techniques on how to handle a bullying situation.
“We wanted to raise bully awareness and teach kids about bullying and how to handle themselves and speak up for themselves in a bully situation,” said Jorgge, who opened the state-of-the-art 6,000 square foot center last October. “This is not a martial arts seminar and we’re not training kids to be fighters but to teach them to speak up for themselves and at the end of the day, be good and disciplined people.”
Some of the demonstrations included kids pretending to walk through the halls of their schools and getting their books knocked out of their hands by a bully.
“We wanted them to first engage in non-combative behavior with the bully by raising their voices and letting them know that the bully’s behavior was unacceptable,” said Jorgge. “If that didn’t work then we encouraged them to use martial arts techniques in order to defend themselves.”
During the year East Coast MMA & Fitness Center holds both children’s and adult classes, specializing in anti-bully awareness programs which focus on overall fitness and fight training.
“Every class we hold is structured towards all types of bullying including cyber bullying,” said Jorgge. “We want to raise awareness of the topic and make sure that we teach these kids to speak up for themselves.”
Plainview Middle School student, Anthony Green, said he enjoyed the seminar because it taught him what to do in case of a bully situation.
“It is a good program that taught me a lot about self defense and discipline whenever I encounter a bully,” said Green.
