About NOVA Self Defense
We are a professional self-defense education and training company that operates in Seattle, Tacoma, and Washington DC. We collaborate and train with other experts in the self-defense industry to give our clients the greatest perspective on how to prevent becoming a victim and provide you with the mindset and skills to prevent attacks from happening and prevail in the event of a violent encounter.
One of our first influences into behavioral self-defense was Tony Blauer & the S.P.E.A.R system. We are grateful for what we learned in our time in SPEAR/PDR and attribute their methodology of thinking as being a motivating spark behind our drive to seek out and train with the best self defense instructors in the industry. We have since delved into numerous self defense and martial arts styles and have greatly evolved what we teach today. The training has changed significantly but our filter is the same, find useful concepts that we believe you can perform under stress and safely expose you to the stress, pressure, and impact of an attack to help give you real skills to get home safely. Our commitment to you is to continue to evolve and improve our training methods. Your safety is our ultimate goal and we will always strive to make each training event the best we have ever delivered.
One of our first influences into behavioral self-defense was Tony Blauer & the S.P.E.A.R system. We are grateful for what we learned in our time in SPEAR/PDR and attribute their methodology of thinking as being a motivating spark behind our drive to seek out and train with the best self defense instructors in the industry. We have since delved into numerous self defense and martial arts styles and have greatly evolved what we teach today. The training has changed significantly but our filter is the same, find useful concepts that we believe you can perform under stress and safely expose you to the stress, pressure, and impact of an attack to help give you real skills to get home safely. Our commitment to you is to continue to evolve and improve our training methods. Your safety is our ultimate goal and we will always strive to make each training event the best we have ever delivered.
Meet our self-defense instructors
Evan Dzierzynski- Owner and Lead Coach

Evan has been training in a variety of martial arts and self-defense programs for over 17 years. His training began in Cuong Nhu, a an eclectic martial art comprised primarily of: karate, boxing, judo. In 2006 he began training in the S.P.E.A.R. System and Personal Defense Readiness, attended 8 PDR certifications, and assisted in teaching train-the-trainer certification courses from 2011-2013. He has since trained with many highly-regarded self-defense experts in the industry and constantly strives to improve the content he provides to make his clients safer.
While living in the DC area he also trained in boxing, wrestling, no-gi grappling, Muay Thai. Since moving to the Seattle/Tacoma area in 2017 Evan has trained in Sambo at Lions Way Martial Arts, as well as Japanese Jiu-Jitsu, and some kickboxing. Evan has been regularly teaching self-defense seminars and workshops to groups since 2012 for the past and now teaches and resides in the Seattle Tacoma area.
While living in the DC area he also trained in boxing, wrestling, no-gi grappling, Muay Thai. Since moving to the Seattle/Tacoma area in 2017 Evan has trained in Sambo at Lions Way Martial Arts, as well as Japanese Jiu-Jitsu, and some kickboxing. Evan has been regularly teaching self-defense seminars and workshops to groups since 2012 for the past and now teaches and resides in the Seattle Tacoma area.