By Carmen Sognonvi, originally published at http://www.urbandojo.com/blog

One of the first self-defense techniques Sensei Serge teaches new students at Urban Martial Arts is how to escape a wrist grab.

It’s nothing fancy, but this simple technique could literally save your life.

A 12-year-old girl in Salt Lake City, Utah was recently a victim of an attempted kidnapping. A man grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her into his van.

Luckily, as ABC 4 reports, she remembered the self-defense technique she learned in her martial arts class.

Adams credits her martial arts training. She says, “I remember this move that my karate teacher showed me in third grade. You twist your hand around, it hurts their hand and they let go.”

We shared Adams’ story with Brian Corrales, a martial arts teacher. He says self defense and awareness are key lessons in his class, “It’s just your gut instinct and I tell the kids that when you have an icky feeling inside, that’s something of you saying to respond and you need to get out of that situation.”

His classes are filled with girls too small to fight an attacker, but his goal is to arm them with tools to buy them time, seconds that could mean life or death. Corrales says, “The idea is to teach them one technique. You get one chance. Stun your opponent and then the child screams, yells, and they’re told to find the nearest adult.”

Photo Credit: ABC 4 Salt Lake City

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