Hapkido Club to host self-defense seminar

IU’s Hapkido and Self-Defense Club will host a self-defense and rape awareness seminar from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday in room 163 of the School of the Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. The goal of the seminar will be to inform people and give them tools they can use if they need to, said Brian Pike, club president and a Hapkido instructor.\nPike said the club specifically timed the seminar to come just before spring break. \n“We just want to raise awareness about the fact that it can be dangerous to go off to new places,” Pike said. \nWhile there is no fee for the seminar, the club requests that attendees make a small donation to the IU Rape Crisis Fund. The suggested amount is $5.\nHapkido instructor Jacki Watson will give a short lecture about general-knowledge topics, such as legal definitions for rape and sexual assault and how laws treat intoxication and date rape. The club will also pass out informational sheets with self-defense tips and additional resources, such as classes, books, Web sites and help-hotline numbers. \nThough learning to defend oneself against sexual assault is a large part of the seminar, Watson and Pike were quick to point out that it should be beneficial to all attendees who want to learn self defense, male or female.\n“Anyone can be attacked,” Watson said. “It’s not just about rape and sexual assault.”\nAfter the lecture, club members who are certified in self-defense instructions will teach three sessions of about 45 minutes each, during which they will teach attendees kicks, punches and groundwork.\nParticipants may attend each session once, one session three times or mix and match. There will be short breaks between the sessions, during which attendees may purchase drinks, stretch and rest.\nIU Martial Arts Program Coordinator Patrick Kelly will teach front kicks, knee kicks and shin kicks, which can be turned into foot stomps.\nKelly said the knee and shin kicks in particular are useful for close-quarters fighting and warned that the higher people kick, the less balance they have, the longer the kick takes and the more likely kickers are to be caught.\n“Power comes from the mass and speed of the object,” he said.\nWatson will lead the groundwork sessions and will show attendees how to get away from an attacker if the victim is on the floor with the attacker between his or her legs.\n“The groundwork definitely can be uncomfortable,” Pike said. “Everyone should bring a friend (if they can).”\nWatson agreed and said no one will have to do ground fighting.\n“It can be a little unnerving to do it spontaneously at a seminar,” she said. “If you just want to watch, if anything looks uncomfortable, you can just sit on the sides.”\nHowever, she said she would encourage people to expand their comfort zone because part of the idea of the seminar is to show people just how difficult fighting is so they will be more alert in avoiding those situations.\n“Ignoring problems doesn’t make them go away,” she said. “Nobody goes out expecting to be attacked.”\nWhile she believes “knowing something is better than knowing nothing,” Watson also warned that the moves are not foolproof and require practice and repetition.\n“We don’t claim to be giving magic potions,” she said. “The whole theme of this is to encourage people to take a semester-long self-defense class.” \nKelly agreed, adding that the club never advises engaging an attacker.\n“It’s how to injure or hurt the person enough so (the victim) can get away,” he said.\nThe club recommends participants wear loose-fitting, comfortable clothing, preferably pants.\nFor additional information about the seminar or the club itself, e-mail iusdc@indiana.edu or visit the club’s Web site, www.indiana.edu/~iusdc/index.html.