PDS Personal Defense Systems

Super congratulations to Mary Ellen Nelson for earning her black belt! Mary Ellen was one of the 1st 2 students when PDS started ongoing classes from 6-12 week programs. She has missed, literally, only 3 classes in almost 8 years.
The last thing we are is a "pay your dues and youll get a black belt" kind of school. This was earned through continuous effort and a deep understanding of the underlying principles supporting the system, sub systems, and the countless techniques within them. Mary Ellen is here for the journey and understands there is no destination.
She is in some ways the heart of the program, and I often think of her as the mother of PDS. During down times she would always push me and insist, "you need to keep going, people need this." And here we are almost 8 years later.
We train at PTK Pittsburgh, half our class also trains Kali, and due to our own training and principals, Dumog feels somewhat natural. Dumog is Filipino grappling for combat. Mary Ellen is not in the Kali program but we opened the doors to her anyway for dumog class. Its always a joy seeing the faces of folks looking up from the ground at the 69 year old woman they just met and possibility underestimated....
Congratulations Mary Ellen. This is an incredible milestone for an incredible woman.

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