John Robinson grimaced ever so slightly after a 7-year-old girl kicked him in the shin.

“Good, good, now finish it,” Robinson said.

Robinson teaches four karate classes through his Pacific Martial Arts Academy at Lake Wilderness Lodge. He offers three classes for children and a fourth for adults.

On Monday evening he was working with his intermediate students on escape techniques.

Robinson was grabbing them by their jackets, their wrists or their hair — gently, of course, as it was a demonstration and a practice.

He wanted them to use arm and hand techniques to escape his grip. The idea was to help them learn how to escape from an adult attacker or maybe a bully at school.

His message to his students is to learn techniques to help them get away and be safe.

Robinson teaches them that if they are attacked by a strange adult, to yell “You’re not my dad” or “I don’t know you.”

Or if a kid on the playground at school takes a swing at you, how to duck away, or even if they do start a fight to defend yourself and not fight back.

“If I’m pulling you, step into me and if I’m pushing, step back,” he advised his students as they practiced escape techniques.

Robinson began learning martial arts at 8 years old, about the same age as many of the students in his basic and intermediate classes, and earned his black belt in 1997. He recently tested for — and passed — his fifth degree black belt.

He began teaching through the city of Maple Valley Parks and Recreation Department 2 1/2 years ago.

His son, Sean, who is 7 now, was playing tee ball and Robinson was coaching the team.

After striking up a conversation with parks and recreation staff, he realized as a dad, this would be a great way to offer martial arts classes for reasonable prices because he wouldn’t have to worry about operating a studio or collecting fees.

“Then we could focus on teaching and not collecting money,” he said. “It’s worked out really well.”

In his basic class for kids, it’s an introduction to balance, coordination, discipline and character building.

Trudy Gohl’s granddaughter, Heather, has been taking classes with Robinson for two years now.

The idea, Gohl explained, was to help the 7 year old build her self-esteem.

“As a little girl in this day and age, to give her a means to defend herself,” Gohl said. “She’s much more self-assured. She’s not the shy little girl she used to be.”

Gohl, along with her granddaughter and her other daughter, took the women’s self defense class Robinson offers once a quarter.

“We learned all kinds of things that the bad guy wouldn’t expect,” she said. “I totally recommend that self defense class for women.”

Amy Shadd also took the women’s self defense class and was watching her son, Dylan, 6, in the intermediate class with Robinson on Monday night.

“We were looking for a winter time sport,” Shadd said. “And we thought he could use some help with coordination and balance so we joined.”

Dylan joined with a group of boys last fall and “when baseball season started they all left and he stayed — he loved it.”

Shadd believes her son has gotten out of the experience what they had hoped for — improved balance and coordination — and much more.

“Confidence and also a sense of accomplishment because every few months he tests for a new belt,” she said. “He can see his progress. It’s all about putting in the effort and practice.”

With Dylan going into first grade this year, Shadd said, she is glad Robinson teaches about how to handle bullies and what they can do to get away from a potentially violent situation safely and get help.

“John’s fantastic with the kids,” Shadd said. “He’s very patient with them.” Robinson is one of the main reasons he’s stayed with it through other sports seasons, Shadd said.

His organization, Robinson explained, is about safety and protection rather than competition, tournaments or other goals.

“We follow the tradition kata, but we pull all these self defense techniques out of the kata,” he said. “It ties a real neat picture together. It’s a step beyond self defense… it’s life protection, I have the ability to protect those around me, too.”

For more information log on to the city’s website or Robinson’s martial arts school site.