Recently, the College of Staten Island held an Empowerment Self-Defense 101 event to help teach students how to defend themselves.

The two instructors, Rain and Gabriel, helped teach students valuable lessons to help keep themselves safe in dangerous situations. They also explained their own decades of training that helped teach them more about defending themselves like jiu jitsu and kickboxing.

They went over blocking and striking techniques for students to employ, such as using the outside of the arm to block any potential attacks. They reinforced this by having students pair up and play shoulder tag where the first to touch someone’s shoulder four times won. However, that would be difficult due to the other students using the blocking techniques they were just taught.

There was another exercise students completed in pairs, which was hitting each other with a pool noodle and then having another attempt to block these attacks. This exercise had students really engaged, and each pair tried their best to defend themselves.

The instructors also informed students of the importance of defending with their palms instead of their fists for a multitude of reasons. They first explained that knuckles were smaller bones, and it would be more likely that students would injure themselves. They also explained how important it is to stay vigilant and to make sure that others know you are the victim in the situation and not the aggressor. Therefore, by using your palms, it is not only safer but also informs bystanders more about the situation so they can help.

The instructor Rain explained further that by hitting someone with a palm in their face you have the opportunity to gain more time to get away from the situation. She used fellow instructor Gabriel as an example to demonstrate how blocking someone’s face and breathing creates an immediate reaction of having someone turn away to breathe.

Another helpful tip they informed students about was the importance of having distance from an attacker. They explained how you should always try to stay six feet away to escape from any attacker’s wingspan.

The goal of the event, which was hosted by the Health and Wellness Services, was to make students aware and to teach them defensive maneuvers overall. And it is clear based on the responses of the students who attended that they felt more empowered and more confident.

By Rachel Rodrigues