IronMen of God to offer women's self defense course

David Hill was at the University of Central Florida with his daughter, Brooke Hill, for her college orientation, when something abnormal crossed his eye.

UCF wide receiver Tristan Payton was running across Memory Mall, chasing another man. Payton reached the man and held him down until police arrived. 

Police accused the man, Jonathan J. Hui, of recording teenage girls in a bathroom stall during a cheerleading camp on UCF’s campus. Payton was credited for capturing the suspect. 

Hill was amazed by Payton’s actions but realized few young men would do something like that. It got him thinking about the safety of his daughters and his wife when he is not around. 

“There’s a lot of men that want to be courageous when they see stuff like that, but they don’t know how to do it,” Hill said. “Therefore, I can’t be around Brooke 100% of the time, 24 hours a day. When I saw that event, I reminded Brooke to never let her guard down.”

Hill realized a self-defense course could help equip his daughter and other women in the community. He is active in IronMen of God, a local community of men who gather to help equip each other to make their faith about Jesus known in their workplaces and community. The group has something called IronMen Challenge — where they challenge each other to be better men, leaders and husbands. That can be anything from keeping a healthy lifestyle to collecting shoes for people in need. 

He decided to create a self-defense course for women, issuing a challenge to himself and other IronMen to help equip their wives and daughters. 

Other men, including Windermere Police Chief David Ogden, were eager to help.

“With what’s going in society — obviously with everything we’ve had with the Pulse shooting we had here — was there something that could be offered for the women in our lives, our wives, our daughters and our family members that we could put together?” Ogden said. 

Contact Jennifer Nesslar at [email protected].

What is self-defense training?

Training to defend yourself is just as much about being mentally prepared as it is knowing strategies for self defense. 

“I’m often heard saying to guys that I can have a monkey teach you technique ... that’s all really well and good, but the reality is they are in critical incidents; they’re in crisis,” Ogden said. 

In moments of crisis, adrenaline kicks in. This adrenaline can be helpful, but it can also create moments of tunnel vision. Therefore, it’s important to be mentally prepared in a crisis. 

Ogden and Burke both emphasize the OODA Loop, which stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. 

“If you can apply the OODA Loop to everything you’re doing, you’ll decrease your car accident potential, you’ll decrease your potential for being attacked, you’ll decrease you’ll potential for being broken into,” Burke said. “It’s a way of life, not just a technique.”

About the instructors 

Tim Burke Burke was in the U.S. Army for 24 years and spent the majority of that time working in Special Forces and Special Operations as a Green Beret. In 2008, he retired and became a federalized police officer. He led a counterterrorism unit based in Los Angeles. When an earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, First Baptist Church of Orlando asked Burke to rescue a group of high-school students and chaperones who were there on a mission trip. Within 36 hours, he returned to the U.S. with the entire group. 

“I’ve been called on to rescue people ever since,” Burke said. 

He’s rescued businessmen who were caught up in bad deals overseas. Now, he rescues girls around the world out of human trafficking with an organization called Destiny Rescue. 

David Ogden Ogden is currently the chief of the Windermere Police Department. He has spent 30 years in the field of policing, with 14 years on a SWAT team. 

Ogden has also practiced martial arts for 32 years, recently opening his own Jiu-Jitsu gym, Gracie Barra in Clermont. He has taught many self-defense courses.

IF YOU GO

Women’s Self-Defense Course

WHEN: 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3

WHERE: Gracie Barra Clermont, 16129 E. S.R. 50, Suite 103, Clermont

COST: $30; proceeds go to Destiny Rescue and IronMen of God LINK: bit.ly/2aSwM5z DETAILS: Women are asked to sign up in advance in order to ensure enough space. The venue is Gracie Barra Clermont, Ogden’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym.