Personal Safety Ireland – Evaluation
On the 8th of January 2019, our TY class took part in a workshop that introduced us to personal safety. The purpose of the class was to teach us to know when someone is or you are over stepping someone’s boundaries or personal space without their consent and to know how to protect yourself and others by simple techniques that don’t require great strength. We were first greeted by our instructor, Alex, who started off our class with stories and explaining the things that shaped him to be the person who he is today. He explained why he is part of Self Defence Ireland and why he is so passionate about self-defence. Alex taught us how to try avoid being in dangerous situations, wrist-lock techniques to defend ourselves and valuable information on assaults. We all paired up on the mats, Alex demonstrated each of the wrist-lock techniques and then we were given time to try the techniques out for ourselves on each other.
Alex was a great instructor who is very well-suited to his job as he talks about things all relevant to self-defence, he explains his background and how he got into this job, demonstrates the skills and techniques used in self-defence, is up-to-date with trends and what our generation considers “social norms” and all with clarity, confidence and a good sense of humour which makes it easier for us to connect and interact with him. Even though he was a stranger to us, he made us feel like we could talk about anything with him as he was not at all intimidating and made us feel instantly at ease.
The most surprising thing that I learnt today is that such simple techniques such as holding specific pressure points in somebody’s body can help protect yourself. Another thing that surprised me is that somethings that our generation considers “normal” can be classed as assault and how silenced victims of assault can be.
Today I learnt lots about assault, self-defence and how important it is to be completely sure with the details of a criminal during giving a police report. I also learnt that I do not need great strength to be able to protect myself in an effective way and that I can speak to people I trust if anything ever happens to me and that I am not under a code of silence.
I thoroughly enjoyed the day and would definitely recommend to future TY modules as I think the lessons taught are very worthwhile taking consideration of.
-Amy Lon