In a better world, a world of #meneither, not #metoo, the skills and techniques Aaron Sekulich has acquired over nearly 40 years of wrestling and martial arts would have scant application outside the mat, the ring, the dojo.
But the world can be a dangerous place, particularly for women, and so the collegiate wrestler-turned-La Pietra science teacher finds himself returning to the martial roots of the disciplines to teach women of all ages how to respond to potentially dangerous situations.
“The people in my class feel more confident in themselves and their ability to protect themselves if something did happen,” said Sekulich, 44. “My goal is to help make people safer.”
Born and raised in Olympia, Wash., Sekulich began wrestling at age 5 and competed through his undergraduate years at Pacific University in Oregon.
Sekulich matches the profile of a high-level wrestler, from his intense focus to his near-obsessive drive for physical and mental improvement.
“I liked the challenge of beating someone one-on-one on the mat,” he said. “I liked the physical bonanza of the sport. There’s a lot of training and a lot of mental demands.”
After graduating from Pacific with a degree in physics, Sekulich continued on to a graduate program in physical therapy at the University of Puget Sound, where he met his future wife, Coren, a Hawaii native.
The couple later moved to Hawaii, where Sekulich found work as a physical therapist at the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific and later established a private practice with a partner.
While recovering from knee surgery, Sekulich took a flyer on teaching anatomy and physics at St. Francis and found he had a knack for instruction. While he still maintains active licensure in physical therapy, he has for the last six years devoted himself to teaching physics, anatomy, chemistry and physical education at La Pietra.
Sekulich has also distinguished himself within the coaching ranks as head coach of the Pac-Five wrestling team for 15 years. He now serves as an assistant wrestling coach at Punahou, where his son is in the seventh grade.
As a wrestling coach, Sekulich noticed that many of his best performers had backgrounds in judo. On a recommendation from one of the parents, he brought his son to Shobukan Judo Hawaii to inquire about lessons and quickly found himself drawn in. Less than six years later, he now holds a black belt.
To Sekulich, physical training and academics are natural complements.
“I believe there is a huge correlation between physical fitness and having a strong ability to be someone who questions how things can be improved and continues to learn. Wrestling and judo require that you continually think about how to get better. There’s definitely a carry-over.”
Sekulich said his experiences in teaching wrestling and judo eventually led him to explore different concepts in self-defense. He became particularly interested in the SPEAR system developed by Blauer Tactical Systems. The approach takes advantage of the hard-wired “startle-flinch” survival reflex and does not require prolonged or intensive training in formal martial arts.
Like many other self-defense arts, the system also emphasizes detection, avoidance and diffusion as primary goals, with physical confrontation reserved as a last resort.
Sekulich is in the midst of teaching an initial eight-week course in SPEAR at La Pietra, with further classes planned for later in the year.
He is also involved in self-defense classes for women offered through Precision Grappling Hawaii. For more information on Precision Grappling Hawaii classes, email precisiongrappling@hotmail.com or visit precisiongrappling.weebly.com.
Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.
