The “Defend Yourself and Help” course, organized by Mirosław Sakowski and Edward Spraski, is aimed at women. The free classes will be held once a week, on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m., in the auditorium of II Liceum Ogólnokształcące in Bolesławiec (60 Dolne Młyny Street). The course will last a month, and places are still available. – This course is organized with women in mind, but if there is demand, we will create groups for men and young people – says Mirosław Sakowski. – The classes are free. Both Edward Spraski and I work as volunteers, and the school provides the room free of charge because its female students also benefit from the course.
The fifteen women who signed up for the course mainly want to take care of their safety. They want to feel confident when returning from work after 10:00 p.m., or after 6:00 p.m. in winter. They say that attacks, most often for robbery, are becoming more frequent and that it is worth knowing how to react oneself in order not to fall victim to violence. One of the women came to the course because she wants to teach her daughter, who was attacked, how to defend herself. Another pointed out that at home, parents cannot cope with aggressive adolescent children and also have to learn how to defend themselves.
The organizers will invite a psychologist to the course to advise participants on how to talk to aggressive people without making them even angrier and consequently being harmed by them. – I have never fought – says Edward Sparski. – I have always talked to the aggressor. That helps avoid physical violence in 99 percent of cases. We will gladly organize a meeting with a psychologist for the course participants, who will talk about aggressive behavior and methods of avoiding it.
The course will be divided into three modules. The women will learn basic falling techniques to protect themselves on icy surfaces and avoid a visit to the surgeon. They will learn how to position themselves when someone strikes, protecting the most important and strategic parts of the body, and how to cope when someone tries to kick or strangle them, or pulls at them or tries to snatch their handbag. They will also learn how to incapacitate an opponent when there is no chance to escape.
After the classes with the instructors, the women will have to practice at home. They said they would practice throws on their husbands and co-workers. They also promised Edward Spraski, a European judo championships medalist, that by the end of the course they would throw him onto his… knees.
(information: Grażyna Hanaf)