Today we’d like to introduce you to John Riddle.
John, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started In the US Air Force back in the 80’s. I was trained and assigned to the Combat Arms Training section where I taught several weapons to Air Force personnel. After 6 years I discharged and shortly thereafter I tested and was hired by the City of West Palm Beach as a Police Officer.
During my 28 years, I worked in the Patrol Division, Narcotics, Detective Division and Training unit. While in Patrol I worked on the street handling crimes against people and crimes against property on the day and midnight shifts. While working in Narcotics we worked the “street level” narcotic and prostitution issues along with Drug Interdiction on the Greyhound Bus Lines coming into and out of West Palm Beach.
When assigned to the Detective division I was assigned to solve Burglary cases. I was later assigned to the Training Unit to teach Police self-defense and High Liability issues as well as firearms.
In 1989 I tried out and was selected to the SWAT Team where I spent 16 years doing High-Risk search warrants, the Barricaded gunman, and Hostage Rescue. I also taught firearms and tactics to the team members. I forget the exact year but the Florida Department of Law Enforcement sent a letter to our Chief requesting me to assist in re-writing the States Defensive Tactics Program for the Police Academy. My Chief honored the request and I spent one week a month for two years traveling to do this program.
Before my retirement in 2013, about 2 years prior my girlfriend and I opened Progressive Self Defense Systems in Boca Raton, Florida. Being a martial artist most of my life I always wanted to open a facility to help others to be more aware and defend themselves. I thought that opening the facility and getting it up and running prior to retirement would be a good way of adjusting to it and roll into it with retirement. This was the best thing ‘I’ve done! I wanted to do this to help people especially with the world we live in now.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Smooth? No, but anything worth it usually doesn’t start smooth and takes awhile to work out. After teaching for several years in Law Enforcement in West Palm Beach and then around the country, you start to become known.
After I retired and opened PSDS it was like starting all over again. I’ll never forget the first day we opened and expecting a lot of people to walk in to train with me and it turned out to be a ghost town!! We got worried! We put a lot of time and our own money into a location, training gear and making it look nice. We found out that there is much more to it than that!! We needed to start working on marketing and Branding what we have. This is still a daily work in progress. Since that first day our door opened we have had hundreds of people come in and train with us and it is still picking up.
Please tell us about Progressive Self Defense Systems.
What we do at Progressive Self Defense Systems is teach Combatives and Krav Maga and Firearms to individuals who want to learn how to defend themselves in any situation. This is what we are known for. This is our specialty.
We also conduct Fitness classes which entail Kettlebells, weighs, body weight and different forms of getting cardio in. We stress that you need to be fit in order to defend, defend in an altercation, defend your body against sickness and stay healthy!
I am very proud of my team. I have 5 Assistant Instructors who assist in teaching the self-defense side of the house and Leigh, my girlfriend teaches all of the fitness classes.
This Team treats everyone as if they are family. They treat everyone as a special person because they are! Look, people come to a self-defense facility for a reason. I have people who want to learn and get in shape, learn to protect themselves and family or have been assaulted and never want that happening again. It is our job to meet these needs.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Nothing! I love this part of my life. The everyday grind of the business and helping people in a different way than I did as a Police Officer. I have heard people in the business say that if you get up in the morning and go to a job you love then it’s not a job, it becomes a passion. I have found this to be true.
Pricing:
- Combatives/Krav Maga on Tuesday and Thursday evenings (6:30 pm to 8:00 pm) Saturday morning (9:15 t0 10:15) $125.00 per month. No contracts. Specials for First Responders and Students.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1000 NW 1st Ave Bay 5/6 Boca Raton, FL 33432
- Website: progressiveselfdefensesystems.com
- Phone: 561-262-7840
- Instagram: progressiveselfdefensesystems
- Facebook: progressiveselfdefensesystems
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