Friday, March 6, 2026
The CSC Eagle Newspaper – Chadron, NE
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The CSC Eagle Newspaper – Chadron, NE
Justice Studies Department Chair & Professor James Wada shows RLA and Zeta Alpha Kappa Self Defense course attendants how to pin their attackers arm behind them with Coy Clark, 21, senior of Benkelman, on Saturday. —Photo by Stephanie Steele
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Black belt, department chair teach self-defense

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Justice Studies Department Chair & Professor James Wada shows RLA and Zeta Alpha Kappa Self Defense course attendants how to pin their attackers arm behind them with Coy Clark, 21, senior of Benkelman, on Saturday. —Photo by Stephanie Steele
Justice Studies Department Chair & Professor James Wada shows RLA and Zeta Alpha Kappa Self Defense course attendants how to pin their attackers arm behind them with Coy Clark, 21, senior of Benkelman, on Saturday. —Photo by Stephanie Steele

Approximately 30 students learned how to protect themselves at Self Defense in the Lakota Room Saturday.
Zeta Alpha Kappa brought self defense to campus. Students learned techniques from Second-Degree Black Belt Abbie Wiebesiek, 21, senior of Ainsworth, and from Justice Studies Department Chair James Wada. Wada and Wiebesiek demonstrated different techniques for different situations.
Wiebesiek taught students how to defend themselves while standing and how to do certain throws and blocks that were simple enough for anyone to do. She also taught how to prevent grabs and break the hold from an attacker. She taught how to perform striking attacks and how to evade striking attacks.
Wiebesiek went through situations when you would use a move. The situations varied from where you would be getting attacked to how you were being attacked. She went through basic objects that can be used during an attack like the type of shoes that are being worn and regular items that are carried like keys.
Wada taught students how to defend themselves on the ground. Wada taught positions to get yourself in when on the ground that will put you at an advantage. Wada also taught how to submit an attacker from these positions.
The positions Wada taught were guard and top mount. Wada demonstrated a series of chokes for submissions. He showed the guillotine choke, triangle choke, cross choke and rear-naked choke. Another submissive move he taught was the kumara.
“We thought it would be good,” Vice President of Zeta Alpha Kappa Ashley Goad, 19, sophomore of Pueblo West, Colorado, said. “There’s a lot of sexual assaults being broadcasted, and the best thing to do is to teach people how to defend themselves. I think they came away with a general idea of how to fight back and not just sit there.”
“In the past the Gracie Academy (Brazilian Jujitsu) had been taught to the military and the police,” Wada said. “It was pretty easy to replicate, but each move requires hours of practice.”
“It depends on the person, some people have several styles and we try to cover different styles,” Wiebesiek said. “With my past experience of sexual assault, I feel like it’s a good thing for everyone to know and, it can help in a situation of being mugged or things like that.”