As a police officer and trainer I attended many an update seminars to keep my self-defense skills sharp and to insure that I passed on the newest and proven techniques to my trainees. Female officers were rare at these classes as rolling around on the ground and trading punches were not high on their list of things to do on a weekend.
 
These seminars are open to police officers that were thinking of holding a defensive tactics instructor endorsements and those that already held that rank and wanted to expand their knowledge. Black belt instructors interested in training law enforcement personnel were also in attendance. These seminars are usually last a full weekend.

At one such seminar I was outside enjoying a smoke and coffee break when I was approached by a very attractive female named Kathy.

"Hi," she said in the way of a greeting.

"Hello," I responded.

"Would you be my partner this afternoon?" she inquired.

I had seen her there all Morning; she had been partnered up with one of the Police Explorers. The Explorers is a program for those under 18 that have shown an interest in police work. Explorers get uniforms, have meetings, assist at local functions and receive training from the line officers.

"Why me?" I asked.

"Everyone seems to know and like you," she responded.

"You know we are doing escapes from the mount this afternoon."

"Yes, I know.They have me partnered with a little girl that is half my weight and there is no challenge there."

"You're going from one extreme to the other." I said.

At that time and despite being in my early 40's, I was in the best shape of my life. Weighing in at a solid 250 lbs I carried only about 2% body fat and with the rest solid muscle. I stand at 6'1" and Kathy stood about 5'5” and maybe 125 lbs of lean muscle.

For those readers that are unfamiliar with martial arts terms allow me to explain what “escape from the mount” is. The victim – or downed officer – is on the ground and flat on their back. The attacker is between the legs of the victim using his body weight to pin the victim and leaving his hands free to choke them. The attacker is in "the mount.”

The victim then using a variety of techniques must escape from the mount. Embarrassing enough when two male officers do it; I had never thought about working with a female in this capacity.

"If you're sure."

"I'm sure. You don't strike me as a kind of guy that would get off just because he's on top of a woman."

“You are correct," I answered.

The instructor of the dojo (karate school) gave us a demo of the next technique and then instructed all
the students to try it. Kathy lay down and I got in the mount position and began to choke her, and sure enough, she dislodged me.
 
I had to tell her – twice – that I would not let her throw me off just because of her sex; she would not learn anything if I did. So she lay down to try it again. It was at that point that the Grandmaster happened to look over and see us.

"Draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaac!" , he yelled in mock terror from the back of the dojo, "What are you doing to that little girl?"As he approached we stood as protocol dictates whenever the Grandmaster is addressing you. Besides being a skilled martial artist and founder of his own discipline, he was recognized as a police defensive tactics instructor.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Sir, they had her partnered with that little girl," I said pointing to Kathy's former partner.

"That is not what she'll face on the streets, I am what she will have to deal with."

"I have no problem with that,” said the Grandmaster, “as the school owner doesn't.”

The owner was standing next to him during this discussion, just gave the GM a strange look and said, "Like I would disagree with you, we have always tried to partner the girls with girls to avoid embarrassment."

"If she has no problem with it, then neither do I." Grandmaster said as he walked away.

So for the rest of the afternoon Kathy worked out with me. Oh, we got some strange – and envious – looks from some of the other non-police officers in attendance, but we ignored them, we were there to train and that was all.

She did even better at stand up fighting and only hit the ground once when she became a little over confident and thought her speed and youth would prevail against me. A leg sweep and my kneeling on her shoulder convinced her shoulder convinced her otherwise. All and all it was a great weekend.
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Sometimes a little humor can put a wayward student back on track. While teaching at my friends martial arts school I noticed some tension between our Mother and Daughter students. When I asked with the problem was I was informed by Mom that her daughter Jenn had kissed a boy.

I did not understand what the big deal was, nor did any of the other female students. Mom said she had told her that the first kiss should be special. She refused to listen to the other female students explanation of curiosity and experimentation.

I later approached Jenn who was working out with her best friend Sandy, they had joined the school together. They were both very stunning teenagers. I could see that she was still upset at her Mom's reaction.

"So, your Mom is angry because you had kissed a boy?", I questioned. The girls stopped training and just nodded their heads.

"Imagine how angry she would be if you had kissed a girl.",I stated.

Stunned looks crossed their faces and Jenn and her friend laughed so hard that they had tears and were unable to stand. When they finished I told the girls to return to their drills and to concentrate.

After class ended my friend asked me what I had said to the girls that caused such laughter? When I told him he also got a great laugh, and ended it with a "Drac, you just ain't right.".
 
I was forced to agree.