At West Salem Shao Lin Kempo, Students Learn Self-Confidence and Self-Defense

By Casey Chaffin, The West Side Newspaper

At West Salem Shao Lin Kempo, a local martial arts studio, everyone is welcome.

That’s what Cassandra Davis, the dojo’s chief instructor, emphasizes. The goal is to offer martial arts education in an accessible manner — regardless of experience, ability, or identity.

Davis has been studying Shao Lin Kempo since 1988, and she says she has always felt safe and welcome in martial arts spaces.

“My favorite part is that I can be myself. I can laugh and joke with my students,” Davis said. “People can see that, so they can be themselves too.”

Creating an accepting space is one of the reasons why West Salem Shao Lin Kempo offers a queer community discount through Salem Capital Pride, a nonprofit that organizes LGBTQ+ events in Salem. Davis says through the dojo’s instructors, West Salem Shao Lin Kempo is deeply connected to the LGBTQ+ community.

“We offer the Salem Capital Pride discount, because my right-hand and several other instructors are part of the [LGBTQ+] community,” Davis said. “We have zero judgment. We accept everyone as they authentically come.”

Davis’s right-hand is an instructor who also happens to be her daughter. Delilah Davis has been teaching at the West Salem Shao Lin Kempo dojo for more than three years, and assisted at other local dojos for eight years before that. But her experiences with martial arts go back even further.

“I was quite literally born into the art,” Delilah said. “One of my earliest memories was doing martial arts in my grandfather’s backyard.”

Delilah said growing up as a closeted queer kid made her feel like an outsider. But her martial arts practice helped her feel connected to her body and her emotions.

“It was a way for me to explore myself in a way that felt easier, being someone who was young and queer and trans,” she said. “The physical confidence was always there and I was able to slowly learn and gain that mental confidence too.”

Delilah says being herself has felt really important to model confidence to her students. She gets emotional talking about a young queer student who felt accepted enough at the dojo to come out to other members.

“We have a student who came out as nonbinary a year ago, and they told me a huge part of what made them feel safe to come out was seeing me come out and be my full self,” Delilah said.

Julie Eschilling is also an instructor at West Salem Shao Lin Kempo who identifies as queer. She has two daughters who also practice martial arts at the dojo. Eschilling had never practiced martial arts before enrolling her daughter in classes, but she felt inspired by watching her daughter learn. Eschilling signed up for classes herself a year later. A couple years after beginning her practice, she started the process of becoming an instructor as well, and has been with the West Salem Shao Lin Kempo for about six years.

She’s watched her own kids grow up in the dojo and witnessed other youth grow up alongside them. Eschilling describes how students can gain confidence and self-control through their martial arts education.

“Watching kids grow from squirrely, whirling dervishes to upright human beings – I love seeing that,” Eschilling said.

The instructors emphasize that while an education in martial arts develops soft skills like self-confidence and self-esteem, students will leave the dojo with practical self-defense skills.

“Here you will learn to defend yourself,” Delilah said.

But newcomers do not have to come with any experience, the instructors said. Classes only require an interest and desire to learn, and instructors are adept at adjusting their curriculum to meet the unique needs, skill levels, and abilities of their students.

“We never teach the same class twice,” Delilah said. “I usually never lesson plan, I always go off based on who comes in and how they’re feeling.”

West Salem Shao Lin Kempo offers classes through their Adult Program and Kempo Kids, which offers classes in three age ranges: Peewees for children ages 3 1/2 to 7, Big Kids for ages 8 to 12, and Teens for youth ages 13 and up. The dojo also offers advanced classes for people pursuing or who have already attained their black belt, and all-ages classes that bring together adults and young children.

West Salem Shao Lin Kempo is located at 735 Edgewater St NW in Salem. To sign up for a class, call (503) 581-9775 or email WestSalemKempo@gmail.com. Learn more about their partnership with Salem Capital Pride at salemcapitalpride.org/queer-community-discounts.