Her heart pounding and her pulse racing, the woman screams and thrusts her free, open hand into her assailant’s eyes. She knees him with all her might in the groin as he moves to release her grip. She manages to wrench her other hand free and goes directly for another sensitive target. Her fully-padded assailant is injured and, before he realizes it, she has fled to safety-screaming, yelling and causing a commotion.
This isn’t a dark downtown alley in the middle of the night, but Victoria Hall on Monday evening, and the assailant is really a highly-trained self-defense instructor.
Welcome to the Manoli ‘hands on’ assault prevention course for women and teens, where MUC police officer George Manoli teaches self-defense strategies through the Westmount Sports and Recreation Department.
Manoli’s empowering 12 to IS-hour courses teach women and teens practical and effective ways of asserting themselves, and, if confronted, to confidently stop the aggression and fight back using knock-out blows.
« Students quickly learn their limitations and their strengths, » said Manoli, who holds a Black Belt 4th Dan in Japanese Karate as well as a Bachelor of Education degree. « It helps them reduce their fears, which in turn lessens the likelihood of panic and wrong reactions during an attack. »
Manoli is also the author of three manuals to help people handle themselves in potentially violent situations-‘Street Safe Kids’, ‘Rape! Don’t Be a Victim’ and ‘Don’t Bully Me!’.
« I took this course for protection, » said a 14-year-old girl in Manoli’s class. « After these six courses 1 feel much safer when I walk around alone and I feel that I am more aware of what goes on around me, At first I was afraid of going back to the class, but now I’m glad I did. »