Elizabeth Smart was sexually assaulted on a Delta flight in February 2020. The Washington Post reported that “a man seated next to her put his hand between her legs. She says she woke to him rubbing her inner thigh, and froze.”
Smart, who was abducted in 2002 at age 14 from her Salt Lake City home, didn’t like how unprepared she felt in that moment. So, she decided to help herself and others.
The Elizabeth Smart Foundation’s new Smart Defense Training Program was unveiled Saturday, as reported by FOX 13.
“It’s about teaching women and girls how to protect themselves,” Smart said at an unveiling of the program at Trolley Square on Saturday, per FOX 13. “It’s a little bit different than just a series of movements. It talks about situations and scenarios.”
The Smart Defense program is led by director Miyo Strong, and the training includes mixed martial arts, which Strong and her partner, Jason South, are skilled in.
“This is a tool that hopefully you can take, and you train and you practice it every day so that should you ever find yourself in that situation — which I hope no one ever does — then it is an option for you,” Smart told FOX 13.
The new self-defense training program offers private and public classes. More information can be found at elizabethsmartfoundation.org.
See more at FOX 13.
Editor’s note: The Salt Lake Tribune and FOX 13 are content-sharing partners.