Self-defense classes make women feel stronger, empowered

**PizDoff** · Posted On: 3/30/2005 3:12am

Learning the moves
Self-defense classes make women feel stronger, empowered
AMANDA CUDA acuda@ctpost.com

I'm not an aggressive person by nature. I can stand up for myself when I have to, but I prefer never to be in that situation. So, I've always worried how I would respond if I were ever attacked. It's something I hope never happens, but I wonder, if something did happen, what would I do? I hope I would fight back, but, frankly, I'm not sure. I think there many of women out there who feel the same way. We know we're vulnerable; we know we need to protect ourselves should the unthinkable ever occur.

We just don't know how.

Hoping to get a better idea of what women can do to prepare themselves for the unexpected, I recently attended a women's self-defense class at Assembly of Martial Arts Academy in West Haven. The academy holds the sessions once every couple of months and teaches a number of techniques women can use to defend themselves in an attack situation.

About 10 women attended the class, many for the first time and many looking for some kind of guidance as to what they should do in a crisis. West Haven resident Debbie Musco, 53, said she'd wanted to take a class for a while, and just recently had the time. She said she took the class to prepare
herself — just in case.

"I felt, God forbid something should happen, I'd be ready," Musco said.

Stacy Hanks, 49, of Milford and her 32-year-old daughter Billie Jo Anderson of West Haven also had their eyes on the worst case scenario. Though Anderson has been taking cardio kick-boxing at the academy for the past three months, neither she nor her mother had ever taken a self-defense class. Edit: Wow, 17 is a young age to have kid these days.

The time was right for them, particularly Hanks, who is traveling to Africa in July. But even if she wasn't going away, Hanks said, she'd want to protect herself against potential dangers. Edit: Okay.....

Anderson pointed out that random attacks on women are far too frequent, and is particularly concerned after an incident in July when a man car-jacked a mother and her 2-year-old son in the parking lot of the Super Stop & Shop in Orange. "You hear stories about women being taken from grocery store parking lots all the time," Anderson said. "And I have two small kids."

Before the class got to work learning the moves, instructor and academy co-owner Ryan Griffith gave the group an introductory pep talk about the importance of taking care of yourself.

The thing to remember, Griffith said, is that protecting yourself isn't always a physical matter. For instance, one major way to protect yourself is by not appearing vulnerable when you're out alone. "The key is awareness," Griffith said. "Awareness is huge. [An attacker] is looking for someone who isn't paying attention."

Hmm, I thought, paying attention doesn't sound that hard. I can do that.

Then Griffith asked the women in the class, myself included, to "find your voice." Basically, this means yelling — usually something like "Stop!" or "Help" — at the top of your lungs. To practice, we were asked to step forward, throw up our hands to protect our faces and yell "Stop!" Griffith said yelling is crucial, as it can both throw a potential assailant off-guard, and grab the attention of any bystanders who might be able to get help. "Being very loud and very aggressive is very important," he said.

This was going well — first I was asked to pay attention, and now I was being asked to be loud? Anybody who knows me knows that I have no problems with that.

It was the next part that got a little tricky. After showing us a few basic punches
and kicks (the instructors held pads the entire time — they're tough, but not stupid), Griffith introduced us to Bob. Bob, in case you were wondering, is the ideal man. He has a powerful, muscular chest and a strong, chiseled profile. He doesn't have any arms or legs but, nobody's perfect.

Bob is actually a dummy that the academy's instructors use so students can practice their self-defense moves. There were several Bobs, lined up along the studio floor, perched on poles, so that their heights could be adjusted. Griffith gave us a little "routine" that we were to practice on Bob.

First, we were to walk up and yell "Stop," then throw two punches while yelling help. Easy enough. But, as the exercise went on, Griffith taught us new things to do to poor Bob. This included pulling on ears, gouging eyes and head-butting.

Griffith said it's important to know the right way to head butt someone, so that you do more damage to the attacker than you do to yourself. The right way, he said, is to hit the attacker's face with the top of your head.

"This may hurt you a little, maybe more than a little," Griffith said. "But it will hurt the other person more."

He also taught us that, if the situation was dire enough, we shouldn't be afraid to fight dirty. Eye gouging and biting are definitely allowed when it's a matter of life and death, he said.

I practiced my new moves on Bob. It was weird what it did to me. Like I said, I'm not an aggressive person, but as I continued to attack Bob, I started to feel strong, assertive. I felt like I had a chance of being able to fend for myself. It felt good.

I wasn't alone. "You feel really empowered," Musco said. "And what a workout!"

Griffith pointed out that, in case of an actual attack, we probably wouldn't use everything he taught us, but the idea was to give us an "arsenal" that we could rely on should anything happen.

"Life is really about options," he said. "So is self-defense." Edit: Life is about options?

At the end of the class, we got to put what we'd learned to practical use. The instructors "attacked" each of us, first in hand-to-hand situations, then while wielding rubber "weapons." Instructor and co-owner Adam Rylski attacked me twice, the second time while wielding a rubber gun.

Both times, I managed to get away quickly, and even managed to use my eye-gouging technique in the "gun" scenario (you can't shoot what you can't see, we were told).

At the end of class, Rylski stressed that one of our most important weapons was looking like we could protect ourselves. "The way you act is the way someone's going to judge you," he said. "There are a lot of ladies out there, and they're going to pick the ones they think they can get over on."

In the end, I'm still not sure how I'd fare in a real situation, but I feel a little more confident. It's good to know that I have the power to defend myself — and now I'm a little more prepared to use it.

Assembly of the Martial Arts Academy, 841 Jones Hill Road, West Haven, has women's self- defense classes about every other month. Prices for classes vary. Call 931-1979 for information.

http://www.connpost.com/womanwise/ci_2627766

Another boring ass RBSD article brough to you by yours truely! :D

**Wounded Ronin** · Posted On: 3/30/2005 11:37am

In one self-defense seminar that I helped to teach, I remember the guy who was running it decided not to teach headbutts because he was concerned that the women using them might accidentally KO themselves.

**Gumby** · Posted On: 3/30/2005 12:46pm

Quote:
"First, we were to walk up and yell "Stop," then throw two punches while yelling help. Easy enough. But, as the exercise went on, Griffith taught us new things to do to poor Bob. This included pulling on ears, gouging eyes and head-butting."

I wish I knew how to pull on someones ears or gouge their eyes..... :flipando:

**Equipoise** · Posted On: 3/30/2005 12:52pm

If I taught women's self defense, it would start with learning how to take a punch.

**Wounded Ronin** · Posted On: 3/30/2005 12:55pm

Something tells me that that would be a very short lived self defense class. I can see it now...piles of KOed students strewn across the floor.

**PizDoff** · Posted On: 3/30/2005 12:56pm

Akira, you have issues, and I think you know what I am talking about.
That is also why you don't teach a 'SELF-DEFENSE' class because you know so little about it.

**Poop Loops** · Posted On: 4/02/2005 8:26pm

Originally Posted by Gumby

Quote:
"First, we were to walk up and yell "Stop," then throw two punches while yelling help. Easy enough. But, as the exercise went on, Griffith taught us new things to do to poor Bob. This included pulling on ears, gouging eyes and head-butting."

I wish I knew how to pull on someones ears or gouge their eyes..... :flipando:

I wish I knew how to yell stop.

And, you know, actually make the guy stop, instead of beating the **** out of me.

PL

**blankslate** · Posted On: 4/03/2005 12:40am

I wonder if it makes them 'bubbly'....

**PizDoff** · Posted On: 4/03/2005 1:05am

The point of the 'yelling 'stop'' exercises is not to teach them something so simple and basic, but rather to instill in them a technique that is trained so much that it becomes an unconscious reflexive move instead of one that needs to be though about first before executing.

This is to step over the 'freezing up' when people are attacking.