Port Elizabeth woman teaches students self-defence
Putting her martial arts skills to good use, a Port Elizabeth woman is teaching self-defence classes to students following a number of attacks on campus.
The course, which can be taught to people from as young as 10, enables women to fight back – and hopefully avoid becoming victims.
With about 10 years’ experience in Shotokan, Rienie van Anraad, 56, said her unique techniques do not involve strength but use psychology to throw the attacker off balance.
Van Anraad first saw a need to equip women with self-defence techniques after a friend’s teenaged daughter was abducted from school in Pretoria, taken to a house and raped by three men.
“At that stage, I was still an orange belt but I thought I had to do something for women, something to empower them, and I approached my sensei to start self-defence classes.
“By the fourth class I realised we were giving these women a false sense of security.
“The technique and moves would not work.
“We couldn’t teach someone in a few hours to execute karate moves and be successful, so I stopped everything.
“I then dedicated two years of my life to researching the psychology behind these attacks and interviewed victims, which helped me develop this system which is unique in the country as I do not use karate.
“Instead, we use realistic and effective techniques to ensure the victim can get out of a position safely.”
Van Anraad said she was deeply affected by her friend’s daughter’s ordeal and it had prompted her to do something to help.
Cheeky Moves director Van Anraad, who moved to Port Elizabeth in January, wanted to offer her workshops to students – especially first-years as they could be seen as the most vulnerable on campus.
To do this, she has dropped her usual hourly rate by 75%.
“Awareness of violence against women and children is valuable and teaching them to value themselves enough to learn a skill like this is priceless.
“With it being Women’s Month and with all the marches that have taken place recently, we should also be taking action and equipping young women with the tools and skills to protect themselves.
“I would like to create a change in the whole city but we are strongly reliant on sponsorships to take this further.”
Van Anraad’s techniques like the “cheeky hug” and “cheeky knot” are all formulated in a specific way to ensure the victim can free herself when in a tight spot.
“Sticking your fingers in someone’s eyes does not help the victim, it angers the attacker, which means he could come back and hurt you with rage,” she said.
“Our techniques ensure that the attacker is stopped in his tracks, but ultimately we want to make sure that the victim gets away unharmed.
“About 80% of attacks happen from behind, and in this position, instead of putting up a struggle, the best way to make sure you will get away would be to wrap your legs around his, locking him in place or he would fall.
“If he falls make sure you fall on top of him with your elbow on his chest.
“The groin kick is usually a second option as this will be a temporary move to escape.
“There is a 20-second period in which women should attack the attacker, step into his space, because they never expect it.
“Our Rape Escape Workshop is the most important one we offer because we teach women techniques for when the fight goes to the ground.”
Van Anraad said that when the victim cannot remember the techniques, fighting back is always the way to go, as she found in her research that not fighting back usually results in a bad outcome for the victim.
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