Students learn self defense is ‘state of mind’
“Be a bad victim.”
That advice to Shelter Island High School junior and senior girls came from Michelle Del Giorno of Sag Harbor’s Epic Martial Arts at a school training session last month.
Ms. Del Giorno is a woman on a mission to teach students self defense in a program sponsored for the second successive year by the PTSA. During last year’s program, she noted that studies had shown that 20 percent of female students will be assaulted while at college; according to U.S. Department of Justice, a national sample of 4,446 female students revealed 11.5 percent had been raped.
Ms. Del Giorno said women can’t be passive in their responses to someone closing in on their space and making them feel uncomfortable. She trained the Island students in the recent session to have greater awareness of their surroundings and people around them and to learn skills that will protect them if they’re confronted by someone intent on harming them.
And the danger might not be just from people you don’t know. The instructor emphasized that attacks by those you’re acquainted with are more common than those by strangers.
“Be serious about your self defense as you are about seat belts in your car” Ms. Del Giorno said. “Stay calm. Conserve your energy. Seize the opportunity” to escape a situation that becomes threatening.
“You become a victim when you’re not paying attention,” Ms. Del Giorno added. “No one can protect you as well as you can protect yourself.”
By practicing a number of martial arts moves, she hopes the students’ reactions will become second nature.
Ms. Del Giorno, Emily Nill, Taylor Kelly and Board of Education member Kathleen Lynch demonstrated moves before guiding the students to properly execute them. If smiles on the students’ faces made them seem less than serious about what they were learning, it was mostly a result of nerves as they practiced with one another, Ms. Lynch said, who brought the program to the school.
When she meets students on campus, they often greet her by showing various moves they’ve mastered, she said proudly.
Plans this year call for self defense classes to be taught to male students who could also find themselves confronted by threatening situations, the instructor said.
One tip for those of any age: If you find yourself confronted by someone threatening, don’t yell “help,” Ms. Lynch said. Strangers who hear that cry too often ignore it.
Instead, yell “911,” Ms. Lynch advised. That will often cause a perpetrator to run from the scene, fearing someone will make the call and police will be on their way.
