Womens Self Defence Workshop January 2019 (ESPA)

The womens self defence workshop was hosted by the Eclectic Self Protection Association (ESPA) and conducted at Hornsey Town Hall in Crouch End on Sunday the 26th January. After 2 months of electronic advertising and marketing the 3hr seminar became quickly booked. We had a fantastic turnout of women including mothers, their daughters and other teenagers.

The session commenced with the ESP coach introducing everyone to Eclectic Self Protection, how we train people, and how we improve people’s awareness, confidence, personal safety and personal security as well as a brief overview of what we were going to cover on the course, including the soft and hard skills of self protection.

The class was divided into 3 groups, with each group been issued a big A1 paper where they had to discuss and write down everything they new relating to female self defence. Each group had to feedback to the class and do a presentation of what they come up with. Lots of valuable points were made.

Once all groups presented, the ESP coach did a 30 minute presentation on female self defence and personal safety. We clearly defined 1) personal safety, 2) self protection, 3) self defence, and the differences between them and how they apply to female self defence.

A brief overview of self defence and the UK law was explained with relevance to 1) the perceived level of threat, 2) the appropriate and necessary response, and 3) a justifiable use of force. We also covered the criminal law act.

Moving on we discussed the main acts of intrusion and violence women can face including domestic violence, rape and sexual assaults, unwanted attention, harassment and bag snatches. We also emphasised some key facts relating to women.

The importance of awareness, avoidance and escape was summarised with a clearly defined explanation of Jeff Coopers Colour Codes : White, Yellow, Orange and Red.

As the course progressed we covered domestic violence in more depth, and looked at the SDF’s theory of ‘The Escape Gambit’ and its applications.

We also covered sexual harassment and sexual assaults in more depth and how to use power talking effectively as well as mentioning the devastating effects these types of attacks can have on women.

In addition, an explanation of how to handle basic knife threats was mentioned with emphasis on compliance, control and pre-emption.

The overall conclusion of the presentation was that ‘The Best Form Of Self Defence Is Being Somewhere Else’.

The second half of the session looked in detail at the actual ‘physical’ or ‘hard skills’ of female self defence. We practiced techniques relating to female’s natural weapons including the fence, defensive and offensive push, hammer fist, heel hand strike, v-strike, power slap, elbows and knees, kicks, face wash, head turn, the trip, cover and smother, releases from chokes, defence against grabs, and defences against basic knife threats.

Students were divided into pairs and practiced a selection of these techniques in a safe and controlled environment.

The hard skills section concluded with a discussion and demonstration on UK Legal Expedient / Improvised Weapons namely ‘the strobe torch’ and the ;’criminal identifier spray’. A full surprise demonstration was conducted of the identifier spray, its effectiveness, and differences from the ‘pepper spray’.

Overall it was a fantastic enjoyable afternoon with a big turnout of students and some great feedback was made.

(I would like to thank ASMMA-SDF, WSA & ASW for the training I received from these organisation regarding conducting this course as I had great feedback)

Here is what some people said:

“I am a mother with 2 daughters, and this course was a great insight into the complexities and dangers women can face in their environment and society”

“I really enjoyed the practical hard skills of the course especially natural and simple weapons females can use”

“I learnt far more on female self defence in this workshop than training in Karate for 6 months”

“I now feel more aware and confident in my ability to protect myself if a situation ever arose”