HOUSTON – Mixed martial arts, boxing -- these sports with an aggressive reputation sometimes attract people wanting to let aggression out, but there's much more to gain, especially as kids go back to school.
"I guess they jumped him at school and he handled the situation, sounds like fairly well, and they stopped doing that with him," said Eric Williams.
Williams knows the self-defense class for kids is making a difference.
They're preparing for unlikely, although not impossible, scenarios.
"You can defend yourself," said one student.
"And even if you don't run into the situation, you can still use it in case somebody breaks into your house or something," said another.
It’s more likely they’ll encounter danger at school.
So Williams encourages kids to take a photo of suspicious people or cars, scream and yell to draw attention and resort to physical contact last.
"Clearly if you're 7 years old, you're not so big and strong that you're going to knock out an adult, probably, but they learn to work together and that's really the key, that they're not hanging out by themselves, they stay together in groups where there's a lot more power amongst them," Williams said.
Although anyone who's ever let their guard down will tell you size doesn't matter when you get caught with something unexpected.
Even the little kids at Elite MMA know that, and mom Ligaya Thompson said as they learn respect for what their bodies can do, they will also begin to show respect.
"Their manners have gotten a little bit better over time," Thompson said. "There has been a boost in their confidence, them taking initiative on certain things."
