I started teaching Self defense in my classes a number of years ago, because I was constantly being asked by parents to do so. I always thought it a strange request as I had always considered Judo to because to be an excellent form of self defense in itself. Still that was clearly not being communicated and so I developed a program.

At first I did some research to see if somebody else had done the work. The Judo Maxim "Maximum Efficiency for Minimum Effort" has always been a favorite of mine.

I was never completely satisfied however with anything that was available. A lot of people had done a lot of work but the programs always seemed to rely on being unrealistically physical and causing pain or relied too heavily on psychological tactics and many of these I considered dubious to say the least.

In short most of them didn't work and those that did would probably only be suitable for adults.

To cut a long story short I eventually developed my own. I outline it below with notes attached for explanation. I have broken the entire program into 2 parts:-

1. The semi psychological that relies heavily on a program called "The Protective Behaviors Program"
2. The Physical Program

The Protective Behaviors Program has now spawned several excellent programs, all of which, as far as I can tell, are only available in the USA: Kids Power which has an excellent Newsletter being one of them. I also think that this program is very much in the spirit of Judo.

The Physical program is based on Judo.

Whilst I am happy for anyone to have the entire program space here prohibits doing that so I have only given on outline. I hope it is enough for you to get an idea of one of the things we do in the club and please contact me if you have any questions.

Semi Psychological Self defense program
"What are the Most important rules when it comes to looking after yourself ?"	Note 1
Trust your Early warning signs
How is Fear is a friend
Ask:- " what are some things that you could do if you felt frightened? " :-
Show me Walking confident	Note 2
Show me Using Voice	Note V
Show me Breathing	Note 3
Show me Safety zone	Note 4
Show me Potent Points
Show me Running	Note 5
Distraction (including discussion on Weapons, illegal and legal)	Note 6
Networks: 5 people who will be available, listen,believe, act if necessary	Note 7

The program also contains a number of Self Defense questions that assist the participant in thinking through their actions. This is imperative because not only will having thought through a situations or something similar assist in managing fear, it helps the judoka (students) to be creative in difficult circumstances as well as making them realize that each of our responses will be different and possibly unique.

AWARENESS Games:- The program incorporates a number of awareness games and skill based games. Something like self defense may be very intimidating to a child so these help to make the learning easier. Besides children love to role play if it is fun.

Talks:- My program contains a number of talks that help to introduce concepts that are hard to discuss otherwise. My talks are based on biblical examples as that is my background and it is what I am comfortable with. However I think you will see that they have much wider implications than just teaching moral attitudes.

Sometimes (healing): When the Terrorist attacks took place on the World Trade Center ( 911)there were a lot of children having a lot of difficulty dealing with it in the club. As part of my own grief process I wrote this. Almost out of desperation to help the children that were most affected I decided to read it to them. It seemed to help so I left it in the program.

Game:- Touch fingers and grab (Two people facing each other with arms fully extended touching fingers. The object is to stop your opponent from grabbing your hand. Each person takes it in turns to try to grab their opponents hand. If they succeed they get another turn)

Game:- Grips (Everybody in pairs one gripping the other. The one in the grip escapes and runs away before being tagged. The one gripping must have their free hand behind their back)

Game:- Stop (pairs, walking in partner tries to get the other to stop by voice and hand motion only)

Notes

Note 1
"What are the Most important rules when it comes to looking after yourself ?" .
"I have a right to feel safe at all times" ;
"Nothing is so awful that I can't tell somebody about it";.

These 2 statements are critical to children and many adults understanding of their own defense. Many people, children in particular desperately need to be assured that they have these rights. Children are often not even aware that they are "allowed" to feel safe. The words have been worked out very carefully to make sure that they are easily memorized and even more important easily understood. Frequently children forget the exact words but understand the meaning when they tell you in their own words. When using these it is therefore vital that YOU don't change the words.

The most important word in the first sentence is "feel". No matter what anybody says you can never be 100% safe. Even locked away in your room you face risk. The only thing you can have control over is that you feel safe.

The statement "Nothing is so awful that I can't tell somebody about it" not only gives the child permission to tell but opens the door for the topic of Networks later.

These two sentences are taken from the protective behaviors program. It was at one point supported by the Victorian Police where I did the program. It was designed as a replacement to the "Danger stranger" program that didn't work properly because children are statistically far more likely be molested by people they know and even who are trusted by society and family. In fact most of them are family.

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Note 2
"Walking confident" means upright walking with determination. Studies show that people walking with confidence are less likely to be victims as opposed to people looking tired and vulnerable.

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Note V
Proper use of "Voice" means, as with singers, projecting your voice by releasing all over your air from as deep down within you as you can (use your diaphragm to push all the air out when you speak). a good voice projection should be loud without hurting your throat or vocal cords. Something that is deep is often more loud than something that is high pitched although a properly produced screams can be very disabling.

The use of words like "Your not my dad" ," back off","stop" and "fire", have been shown to be much more attention grabbing than "help" which tends to be ignored;

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Note 3
If you can convince yourself to breathe in a crisis you are a long way to remaining calm and using your fear to your advantage. An initial deep breath and regular breathing from then on helps maintain focus and contributes to clear thinking and proper muscular response.

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Note 4
This is 2 arms lengths from another person. This distance is a distance at which it is difficult to grab another unless allowed.

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Note 5
Safety is defined as a place were there are people or plenty of light or preferably both. It can be a house, shop,shopping center,police station. It is acknowledged that these places have their down sides but any port in a storm is a good port. Places that are known (including knowing the people as well as the location) are better than places that are unknown. a person who is frightened should always be trying to think ahead i.e. "what do I do now?"

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Note 6
Distraction is drawing an attackers attention away from your means of escape. That is the old trick of intending to go one way whilst convincing the other person that you are going the other way. Something that all sport players do at some time or other. The difference here is that unlike in sport where there are rules governing what you can do, in self defense there are not.

Therefore it is acceptable to throw or flick something at the attacker to distract them or even better, cause them to duck. What is thrown can be anything at all that is to hand. Something solid such as: a lighter; a matchbox ; a pen; small change; a pendant; a pin from your shirt; a belt; an umbrella; a walking stick; a hand bag or anything in it or anything else will do.

From your surroundings it can be: dirt; a stone; garbage; a rubbish bin(trash can); a stick.It doesn't have to be solid: a handkerchief; a cardigan (Pull over / Jumper / Sweater what ever you call it); a coat; a hat all have good flicking or throwing value.Even a feather would do if it is done with surprise. The important thing is to convince the person that they are going to be hit. In fact it doesn't have to be anything at all to have the desired affect. You can pretend to throw something as long as there is an element of surprise it will work.

The important thing is SURPRISE. Surprise someone and they will react giving you enough time to pass them and run to safety.

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Note 7
Networks. ( 5 people who will be available, listen,believe, Act if necessary)

This is a critical element of the "Protective behaviors Program" as supported by the Victoria (Australia) police.

The idea is that everybody , especially children, should have at least 5 special people that they can talk to. Five because there are 5 fingers on one hand.

It is very important that the children understand that the 5 people in their network have these 4 qualities. the 5 people is a suggestion as we have 5 fingers on one hand. There may of course be many other people in a network but they all must be people who are available, will listen, will believe, and can Act if necessary.

One way to help remember this is to for the children to remember that they have 5 fingers on one hand and of these fingers there are 4 fingers and one thumb. Some children will then have a discussion with you about the contradiction you just made but that all helps with the memory aid.

The 4 qualities are all very important and at least the first three may seem obvious, however it is disturbing how few people have them and a child must understand that they should not be discouraged if the network is not easy to put together. Of the 4 qualities that a member of a network needs to have, the last "Act if necessary" is the one that needs to be emphasized the most. With out the ability to "Act if necessary" the criteria could be fulfilled by a pet or toy.

What happens if none of the network listen or act on what has been told them. You must tell children in particular that they have the right to KEEP TELLING till someone DOES listen.

Remember that the person you are speaking to (particularly if they are children) must have the right to choose who is in their network and you DO NOT!! need to know who is in their network. The failure of the danger stranger program is that it is estimated by some that up to 90% of assaults particularly on children are committed by someone that is known to the person being attacked.

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Sensei

Richard