Self defense tactics prove to be valued skills
January 27, 2010 • Erica Staab
Filed under Feature
The street is dark and chilly. Your hand moves to zip up your jacket as you make your way to your car parked a few blocks down. Thinking back on the night you just spent hanging out with your friends, the fact that you don’t know how to defend your self doesn’t even cross your mind.
Then from out of nowhere, a man grabs you from behind. Panicked, you try to break the attackers grip and try frantically to get away. You scream and a light in a nearby house turns on. Your attacker gets frightened, lets you go, and runs.
This might seem like a situation you will never have to face, but when it comes to your safety, knowing how to protect yourself is vital.
“Self-defense is a broad umbrella,” School Resource officer Brian Dawson said. “Lots of things can be self-defense like being observant while going about your day to day interaction with the world.”
The ability to protect yourself may not seem like a big deal, but you never know if you might wind up in a bad situation.
Locally, there many different options when it comes to learning self defense from taking classes at a school to seminars at the HRC.
“There are lots of resources for someone to research self defense,” Dawson said. “The library, the internet, speaking to professionals, DVD programs, martial arts schools, academic classes and public classes are just a few.”
When it comes to defending themselves some students have the upper hand from taking classes at one of the martial arts schools.
“There are two martial arts schools in Hays: Karate Fitness and Sun Yi’s Academy of Tae Kwon Do,” Dawson said. “FHSU also has a defensive tactics group and an Aikido club.”
Other students haven’t had training on how to properly defend themselves, and put their personal safety in the hands of movies and T.V.
“The only self-defense I know is from ‘Miss Congeniality’,” freshman Corinne Zigeler said.
“I’d use the skills I learned playing Wii boxing,” freshman Faith Burdine said.
Some students think that the ability to protect oneself is more important for girls than it is for the boys.
“I think for girls it is very important to be able to protect yourself,” Burdine said.
Whether or not you think you will ever find yourself in a position where protecting yourself is the difference between life or death, knowing you are capable of defending yourself is a comfort.
“Knowledge is powerful and can help people stay out of bad situations as well as help if they wind up in a bad situation,” Dawson said.
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