Defense Class Hero

Forgetting to bring my sneakers to the second week of my Rape Aggression Defense class was the dumbest mistake I ever made. I’ll be fine, I thought. I was wrong.\n Bloomington Police Department Officer Paul Post started the class with a quick 10-minute review lecture. He emphasized the importance of giving yourself the opportunity to escape from an attacker.\n“If you can resist, do it, and do it 100 percent,” Post said. “Don’t shut down. You’ve got a plan. You know what to do.”\nPost, Officer Monica Zahasky and independent RAD instructor Madeleine Gonin set up the punching mats while I took off my sandals and placed them to the side of the room. \nMy feet didn’t hurt at first.\nThe class arranged itself into a circle and began reviewing last week’s techniques, hand strikes and blocks. Zahasky reprimanded me again for not punching as hard as I could. \nThen the class learned another hand strike, called the hammer fist. We paired up with partners for the hammer-fist technique. I strapped the punching pad on my forearm and waited for my partner to deliver the blow. The strike didn’t startle me as much as I thought it would.\nGonin approached us and asked if we were friends. I said, of course, we’re best friends forever and ever. \n“Well, I’m not her friend,” Gonin said. She strapped the pad to her arm and let my partner punch her. Then it was my turn.\nMy partner congratulated me on how hard I punched Gonin. \n“Well, she ain’t my friend,” I said. \nAfter every successful set of punches, I did the running-man dance. At that point, I thought my feet were going to start swelling.Post, Zahasky and Gonin began teaching us to use our legs as weapons, demonstrating kicking techniques. The class learned three kicking strikes, all used to enhance space between you and your attacker or to hurt the attacker in one of the body’s weak spots.\n“Mr. Shady-man becomes Mr. Squeaky-man,” Post said after demonstrating a straight kick to the groin.We practiced the kicking strikes for about 30 minutes before I decided it was a good time to ask for a leg amputation. The pads of my feet as well as the muscle behind my knee were sore from the “rigorous” activity I was participating in.\nAt about 8 p.m., we circled up again, for what I thought was going to be a review of the day’s activities. But no, instead we were taught how to stomp our feet. For the next 10 minutes my sore and swollen feet had to stomp the ground in order to properly learn how to stomp an attacker’s foot, if he or she were to approach you from behind.\nFinally (about half an hour too early, too), we circled up and cooled down before being dismissed from class. Post, Zahasky and Gonin reminded me to bring my tennis shoes next time.