Trinity's Article: Attending a Self-Defence course.

Right...as some of you may be aware I attended a Self-Defence course that spanned over the last two Saturdays. Safe to say that I do feel a lot more confident having done it...and learned new skills (should I need them). So here's what happened..

The 1st Day

After pretty much getting up at the crack of dawn to be at the venue for 9:45am..I was one of a few to get there for the start time. You begin to wonder what on earth are the people going to be like who attend these courses. I expected to find a load of male shrinking-violets, but to my disappointment...they were all..well..pretty normal - as far as the use of the word 'normal' goes. People from different walks of life...even those who you wouldn't dare try to attack. I then began to feel like the odd one out, when the facilitator went around the room to ask each of us why we were there. I almost felt like saying "Hi, i'm Edward...and i am a victim!"..but it wasn't like that at all. Practically 90% of the people there had been attacked/mugged at some point in their lives, all it would seem except me. I couldn't even begin to understand what those people went through when they were attacked...but thank heavens i haven't been...yet *touches wood*. So after our introductions...it was on with the tutoring..

This first day they were really drumming home the fact that avoidance is the best key...and even if you're a black belt at some form of martial arts..you must NOT under any circumstances advertise that to a bunch of attackers. The aim of this course was not to kill your attacker...but to imobilise them in some way, which would leave you with the option to escape. So the basic points they taught us were..

1. AVOID
2. Distraction

During the rest of the day, we would were taught a series of moves to gain control of an 'attack' type of situation. Most of the moves I'll be totally honest..I never thought i had it in me! They would tell us that no matter what size we are...you don't need beefy muscles to defend yourself. To be fair, the tutor was right when he said 'I haven't taught you anything that you don't already have the potential to do. I've just made you realise it'. He would ask us what should we be aware of when walking down a street....and it was amazing as to how many answers people came out with..all very sensible.

The 2nd Day

Now that we were aware of our surroundings...and conscious of the fact as to how to avoid certain situations...next would come the most important part! We were then give a series of senarios to do with weapons and being attacked in confined spaces. I was in awe of the tutor when he would demonstrate moves on how to knock out the knife from an attacker's hands...but he did cover his own back by saying that it was only move to use if all else fails. Aside from that, the tutor showed a range of moves from avoiding/deflecting a punch to how to fall 'safely' when pushed to the ground.

The Verdict?:

I started that course knowing what to do if I was ever mugged/attacked...however now I feel comfortable that I wouldn't play the victim. However I do think this course would benefit the victims of such instances, as I'm sure it would help them to become more assertive and confident. However if you get a spare moment in your life, I would highly recommend going to a Self-Defence class.. What have you got to lose? The pros out weigh the cons!