Why Great Falls, Montana Women took a Self Defense Class
"Our environment is
changing," Northeast Montana Health Services spokeswoman Tina Strauser
said. "We need to be more aware of what's going on here."
"This is not a scare tactic,
but a chance to be aware of what's around us being aware of one's surroundings is key to avoiding an assault.
"We need to be smart, we
need to be wise — and always be prepared," said the New York
native.
She encouraged the female
audience to go to the Montana Department of Justice website and look at the
registered sex offenders who may be in their towns or neighborhoods.
With the increasing warm weather,
women are going for walks or runs more, and should be prepared when they leave
the house. They also should always tell someone a return time and avoid
night-time runs, Kraul said.
When shopping at a store, ask an
employee to walk you to your car.
"If they say 'no,' ask
someone else. Or you could wait for a group of people who are walking out and
ask them if you could follow along. There's safety in numbers," Kraul
said.
hold your set of keys and form a
fist with a key between the fingers. "It's an excellent
self-defense tool because you can gouge or scratch," she said.
Kraul also showed various parts
of the body that can be attacked when fighting off an assailant. She told class
participants to not be squeamish while defending themselves.
"The idea is to never give
up (in case of an attack). Keep fighting, fighting and fighting. It's gonna be
crazy when you're fighting for your life," Kraul said.
Elder said the workshop helped
her realize that a person doesn't need brute strength to fight off an attacker.
Self Defense Moves should be
the last thing that you should do to protect yourself, it's like getting onto
an air plane and the last words that you want to hear from the pilot are "Get
your parachute out, you're going to need it, we're going to crash."
Lets talk truthfully here ladies and
children, we can be vulnerable. We are vulnerable when we choose to be. We
choose not to listen to our inner voice that says to stay away from certain
places or people. We choose to walk, run, bike in places that are quiet and
secluded by ourselves. We choose not to pay attention to our environment. We choose to go into neighborhoods well known for criminal activity. We choose to take a path that's not well traveled....
Sergeant Juan Rodriquez (said about his self defense class, that some one will take away with them) "...knowledge that could prevent (them) from ever being in a
situation where (they) have to fight off an attacker.'"
"I want the
women to have an idea of how to throw some basic punches," said Robert
Bentley. "One thing that we always talk about is using your palm
instead of your fist so that you don't hurt your hand when you're defending
yourself. We're going to be working on break away techniques on how to release,
get away, and how to kick or punch or use whatever you can to stop that person,
slow them down, and be able to run."
