On Monday Nov.18, students participated in a self-defense class in the cafeteria aimed at teaching them basic self-defense skills. The class was open to students of all grade levels and teachers attended a separate training on Nov. 6.
There were twenty-four participants, including students and teachers. All the students who attended were female, although the class was open to boys as well.
The class was run by US history and senior issues teacher Brittney Kim. She started the class with stretching and practicing yelling “What” and “No” to a potential intruder in order to startle them. She followed this by teaching some basic self-defense moves which she called the Nose Puncher, Neck Chopper and the Hammer. The three moves are used for startling, hindering or knocking out a potential attacker.
The class was no-contact; participants practiced techniques by hitting circular pads held up by Kim and faculty volunteers. Kim also stressed the importance of not seek-
ing out fights and using the moves only for self-defense.
“[The mood] was fun but also serious,” junior Alyss Pinget, said. She commented on the techniques she learned.
“The most important thing I learned was how to hit someone, and how to take someone down,” Pinget said.
Junior Isabella Smetko, who also participated in the class, agrees with Pinget. She commented on the value of the skills they learned in class.
“If someone comes and they want to hurt you and you don’t know self-defense, there is a greater likelihood that they could overpower you,”she said.
Kim said that she was inspired to host the class because of her own experiences with Tae Kwon Do.
“I’ve found [Tae Kwon Do] to be really fun and good stress relief,” Kim said.
Along with this, she said that her interactions with students was another factor in her decision to bring the class to Inglemoor.
“I’ve talked to a lot of students. A lot of them have a lot of anger. [Self defense] is a healthy way to express
that anger, but also learn how to control it,” Kim said.
Overall, Kim said she believes that self-defense is a useful skill that all students should know.
“Everybody can benefit from learning how to use their body in a controlled way,” Kim said.
Pinget said she thinks every one should take it, because they never know when they might need it.
“I feel like it’s important to women and men to learn about that, because self-defense can always come in handy. So I feel like that was a very good class to learn [in],” Pinget said.
Kim said she would be open to hosting more classes, based on students’ response and interest. Both Pinget and Smetko said that they would like to see another class in the future.
“I would like to see a lot more people” Smetko said. “And maybe some guys too.”
