SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Escobar Training Grounds spent last Wednesday teaching self-defense skills to nearly 200 students at South Tahoe Middle School for an annual guest speaker event that physical education teacher Dominique Westlake puts on for his students.

Westlake has been teaching at STMS for 35 years and believes situational awareness and self-defense skills are imperative to teach to kids early on. “Hopefully you never have to be in a situation where you have to defend yourself, but giving kids that concept in their brain about the ways to protect themselves is a useful tool,” he said.

There are number of different approaches to those skills, which Westlake tries to showcase through selecting different speakers, whether it’s a speaker from the police department, a parent with experience, or in this case, a martial arts studio.

It’s not Escobar Training Ground’s first time presenting to the classes, but Westlake made a point that he tries not to “pull from the same well” every year, since it requires taking a full day to teach all of the classes. This year, the guest speakers were Cory Escobar, Dori Escobar, Benji Blanton, Sonny Anthony, and John Ameigh.

The speakers highlighted possible defense skills, but also pre-conflict skills such as removing yourself from a situation, defusing possible fights with body language and how you speak, and trusting intuition about high-tension situations.

The overall reception of the classes was positive this year, especially from kids who were interested in martial arts. “The presenters did a fantastic job and related to the kids, which is really important,” said Westlake. “Having the community come into classes is always very beneficial.”

Escobar Training Grounds also offered a free week to students who attended the classes, which Westlake said was “very gracious.” While Escobar Training Ground does host many competitive fighters, they also noted that they have many members who train simply for personal health and safety reasons.

Eli Ramos is a reporter for Tahoe Daily Tribune. They are part of the 2024–26 cohort of California Local News Fellows through UC Berkeley.