By Mark Lidbetter – Suburban Special – September 30, 1992
At the West Island YMCA, there are numerous courses offered to the community. One such course has just entered its second year and has proven to be popular in attracting students.
It’s a self-defense course for women, designed to prepare them for the worst case scenario – where sexual assault is the motive of an attacker.
It’s the George Manoli Hands-on Self-Defense Course for Women. Mr. Manoli, a police officer at station 15 in NDG, has been teaching the course for the past 12 years.
He developed it while living in Edmonton, Alberta.
“I was running a karate school and noticed the techniques for selfdefence for women weren’t designed around their needs in a violent situation'” Mr. Manoli said.
After studying various situations and statistics, he started his first sessions at a YMCA in Edmonton. “And from there, there has been no looking back,” Mr. Manoli said.
When Mr. Manoli returned to Quebec, he was interested in starting his program here. Enter Karen Schell, one of the adult program coordinators at the West Island Y:
“He made his presentation and the self-defense system seemed like it would fit in with our community-oriented courses, so we went ahead and offered it,” Ms. Schell said.
The class was full each session, and there is a waiting list for the fall.
“Through word of mouth, our own bulletin and community announcements, we get very interested replies,” Ms. Schell said.
Staff members at the West Island Y’s community centre had the opportunity to take the course and all raved about it.
The course runs for five weeks, during which time Mr. Manoli instructs the students as to what they can and can’t do. “I like to explain to them that they’re sleeping volcanoes waiting for the right person to make them erupt,” he said.
On the first night of this particular session, the students were already trying techniques 20 minutes into the two-and-a-half hour class.
“Do and learn is the key. We’ll talk later about different things. But once the class has been shown something, it’s time to apply what they’ve been shown,” he said.
The students generally fall into two categories: they either want to be prepared should the attack situation arise, or they
have been victimized in the past and want to be in control of the situation should it ever happen again.
Friends will often take the course together. In this class, there were even two mother-daughter teams learning how to defend themselves.
“We cover a lot of scenarios. Some classes the students will come in with skirts and high heels, or extra layers of clothing. We go outside and into the locker room.
“The students learn that something can happen anywhere and they have to be ready,” he said.
The course continues to evolve. At the end of each class there is a brainstorming session where suggestions are made.
“Students have made some great observations over the years and helped to improve the course,” he said.
The next session at the West Island YMCA is slated to start Monday.
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