Chris Roberts: Teaching Self-Defense to High School Students

Teaching Self-Defense to High School Students

January, 25, 2010- Toronto, Ontario, Canada-  Safe International teaches men and women in corporations, privately and to women's organizations, our reputation was originally built by   teaching in high schools.  Safe has now taught more than 100,000 students and continues to grow each year.  Teaching teenage students poses unique and exciting challenges.  With the bombardment of media and entertainment, trying to entertain teenagers can be one of the most challenging aspects of teaching self-defense. 

 The curriculum is serious but we think  it needs to be taught in a way that is both entertaining and educational or as Tony Robbins says, you need to “Edutain” to both capture their attention and keep it throughout the 4 to 5 hours of instruction.  It is very common for students to greet the instructors with a feeling of boredom at the thought of sitting through a 60 minute talk on how to avoid potentially dangerous situations.  Within minutes the students quickly realize that this is not your average self-defense course.  We don’t give one-way instruction or “Don’t Do This or Don’t Do That” talk on personal safety.  But rather, it is an interactive roller coaster of potentially life saving information and at times comedy. 

 Through the years many competitors have criticized Safe International’s use of humour in teaching such material.  Ask any teacher or student who has experienced one of the Safe courses and they will virtually all tell you that the method in which it is taught is the key and biggest reason they call Safe back year after year to instruct their students whether it be males or females. First, capture their attention and teach it in a way that really leaves a lasting impression even in the case of a possible attack.  Here is a perfect example of how effective this teaching method is:

 A mother called and indicated that her daughter had participated in a Safe course about 4 years earlier.  She was in the parking lot of a popular mall in Ottawa, ON with one of her friends who also participated in the course.  The one woman was getting in the driver’s side of their van while the other young woman was getting in the passenger side. 

 Before getting in on the passenger side, a man came out from behind a pillar at which point he put a knife to her and said “Get in the Back”.  The woman on the driver’s side decided to start yelling for help at which point the man took off in fear of being caught.  They informed their family not knowing that about an hour later the same man went to another mall and attempted to force a woman and her child into the backseat of their car.  Some bystanders saw what was happening and they pursued the perpetrator.  They caught him and held him until the police arrived.  When the original young women read about this in the paper they called the police at which point they were interviewed.  Apparently the criminal had already spent time in jail for a similar crime.  He was sentenced to 4 years in jail. 

 The police informed the women that if they had not yelled the circumstances might have been much different.  Now one of the keys to this story is that the young woman told her mother that although it had been 4 years since taking the Safe course she remembered to yell because of how crazy the instructor was which in turn caused her to remember what to do even though in a high stress situation.   I am proud to say the crazy instructor was me. 

During this first hour of instruction we cover topics such as awareness and intuition, elevator/stair Safety, being followed, why cell phones can be dangerous, how being too polite can harm you, distraction techniques like asking for the time or direction, I-pod® Dangers, etc.   We cover the situations that people encounter everyday. 
 Many students feel that you are more likely to be attacked in some back alley where in reality it will usually be during your daily routines.  Once the stage has been set the students are more than comfortable sharing their stories, fears, concerns. 

We discuss how you will be effectedt emotionally first and that it is important to deal with it in advance and not at the end a possible confrontation.  This class is generally 60 minutes in length but could easily go on for hours if time was available. 

Focus is always on detecting and avoiding danger but there are times where a physical confrontation cannot be avoided.  The next phase of the Safe program is on that aspect of self-defense.  Students are taught that self-defense is not martial arts and the worst thing to do is to adopt a stance indicating any knowledge of self protection. While it is important to look confident so attacker does not choose you as a victim, once they do, you need to play into the scenario in a way that will empower you and give you some advantages like the element of surprise or the ability to defuse and talk your way out of a situation. 

If an attack has not started and the person is talking they can usually be talked down or out of the situation.  If that is not effective then the final phase is physical self-defense must be utilized.  We teach adopting a non-violent posture and using choice speech you can catch them off guard and adopt the stun and run .  By adopting sequence of events.  Using this non violent posture and feigning some fear the attacker will usually become over confident which gives you some obvious advantages.  An important factor is that an attacker only chooses someone who they feel will make a good victim. 

 Students are then taught basic, gross motor movements including strikes to some of the most vulnerable areas of the body.  This is not martial arts which might require complex motor skills.  When someone is involved in a high stress situation such as an attack, the ability to remember any fancy skills goes out the window.  You start to get tunnel vision and making split second decisions become limited. When students take the Safe course you see the timid nature as most have never struck anything or been struck themselves.  Students are taken through some striking drills using shields to experience hitting an object.  Within an hour you see the confidence build and the knowledge that one can defend themselves if they just keep it basic and simple.

The next topic is on different ways an attacker may grab, restrain, or strike you whether on your feet or on the ground.  The instructors at Safe put an emphasis on not waiting to be attacked but rather to strike immediately to avoid any further attack.   Students are taught that they might just remember 10% of what is taught.  That is being honest!  Many companies teach students techniques and then have no problem guaranteeing they will work.  At Safe we say that nothing is guaranteed and that avoidance is always first priority but if physical assault cannot be avoided that they must fight back with an unrelenting attitude of survival and indignation.  

The culmination of the Safe course is our Simulated Attacks which allows the student to experience while not real, still the adrenaline one would have and the nervousness of a real attack.  We take the students through the attack and while we want them to develop confidence we feel it is our duty to make sure they do not get over confident by discussing this a drill and not a real situation.  Our goal is to have them leave with some confidence but understanding that the avoidance strategies are still the most important.  Some of the quotes we have received from students after this portion of the course are:

“This was the most tiring one to two minutes of my life!  I better keep in shape!”

" It felt like it was real even though I knew you would not hurt me”

“This class made me understand that my karate training is different than real self defense”

“I thought having my black belt would help me but it was totally different than the way I train."

Every year teachers tell us that students rate our course as their favourite activity in physical education for the year.  This is why we offer advanced courses in future years.  Year to year, we can see the confidence and skills increase just from participating in the Safe course for a few hours.  The four hours of a Safe course might be the most important four hours of instruction your daughter or son might receive in all of high school.  Many people put priorities on trivial useless information when none of it is possible without feeling safe on a day to day basis.  To finish off here is a story from a student we taught years ago.  I share this story because it is very typical of the stories we consistently hear.

I am a student from Holy Name of Mary S.S. and I recently took your course in Phys. Ed. class. I wanted to share a quick story.

“A few nights before my Phys. Ed. class' Attack Day I took my dog for a walk. It was about 5:30 and it was getting dark. I wasn't planning on going very far, just along the field close to my house. Towards the end of the filed is a mailbox. As my dog and I approached the mailbox he began to act strangely. He's part hound and I figured he had seen a cat or some other small animal so I made nothing of it. As we got closer to the mailbox I noticed two males leaning against it. That did it for my dog, the hair on his back raised like a cat and he began to growl (something he rarely does), I freaked. For all I know the males were just checking their mail or hanging out but I didn't risk getting any closer. I turned around and headed home. I started off with walking, then it turned into a light jog then running - they didn't follow. Maybe I was over reacting and was letting the stories from class get into my head, but I remember being told that it was better to look like a freak and be rude then to stay and see what happens, putting myself into a stupid position.”

Thanks again for coming top our school and teaching us about being S.A.F.E. It's an amazing course and something I will take with me everywhere I go.

Student (proof on file)

Chris Roberts is the Teaching Director and founder of Safe International, based in Ontario, Canada.  Chris and his company are affiliates of Summit Self Defense and he is a guest author of this blog.  Mr. Roberts has extensive experience teaching men, women and high school aged students.  He has an extensive martial arts, self defense and combatitives background.   Stay in touch with him through his social networking sites!

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