Lineke du Toit is only 25 years old, but has already been mugged twice at knifepoint. In a bid to “feel empowered”, she was one of the women who attended a self-defence workshop for women at the East London Marital Arts and Fitness Centre at the weekend.
Retired professional cage fighter, former karate world champion and nightclub bouncer Sean O’Connell, who owns the Arcadia centre and is the chief instructor there, showed women how to block and disarm assailants should they find themselves in a “worst-case scenario”.
“If you have the opportunity, run away, but if you have no choice, I teach you how to fight back,” said O’Connell, who used wooden knives, guns and batons to demonstrate how to counter an attack, disarm attackers and turn weapons on them.
His street-style, self-defence strategies are a hybrid of an Israeli army form of hand-to-hand combat called Krav Maga, and other martial arts.
“Martial arts are very sports-oriented and not enough about reality- based self-defence, so I founded my own system,” said O’Connell, who is of the firm opinion that self-defence skills should form part of the high school curriculum.
“If girls had five years of this, they would leave school able to look after themselves.”
Du Toit said she had been waiting for an opportunity to learn self-defence techniques after being attacked twice by knife-wielding thugs.
“I was mugged once at a mall after seeing a movie with friends, and another time in Kei Mouth while taking part in a mountain bike race. I will come back and do more classes because I need to feel empowered. The biggest fear in South Africa is rape.”
Trish Krause, 39, of Stutterheim, who showed great skill in weapon-blocking and arm-twisting during the two-hour workshop, said her need to learn to how to defend herself in life-threatening situations stemmed from two vicious attacks on her loved ones.
“My best friend Rae Cawthorn was murdered in Stutterheim 19 years ago, and two years ago family members were attacked and pistol- whipped on their farm near us. The best thing I learnt at the workshop was how to get closer to the attacker and disarm them.”
Delia Vermaak, 35, said the main reason she had taken part in the workshop was to learn how to defend her two daughters. “Women are targets and it is crucial for us to be in a position to defend ourselves. I want my daughters to take these classes as well.”
O’Connell said he planned to run fortnightly self-defence workshops for women. “We can’t pretend we don’t live in a dangerous country.” — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
Self-defence boost for women
Retired professional cage fighter, former karate world champion and nightclub bouncer Sean O’Connell, who owns the Arcadia centre and is the chief instructor there, showed women how to block and disarm assailants should they find themselves in a “worst-case scenario”.
“If you have the opportunity, run away, but if you have no choice, I teach you how to fight back,” said O’Connell, who used wooden knives, guns and batons to demonstrate how to counter an attack, disarm attackers and turn weapons on them.
His street-style, self-defence strategies are a hybrid of an Israeli army form of hand-to-hand combat called Krav Maga, and other martial arts.
“Martial arts are very sports-oriented and not enough about reality- based self-defence, so I founded my own system,” said O’Connell, who is of the firm opinion that self-defence skills should form part of the high school curriculum.
“If girls had five years of this, they would leave school able to look after themselves.”
Du Toit said she had been waiting for an opportunity to learn self-defence techniques after being attacked twice by knife-wielding thugs.
“I was mugged once at a mall after seeing a movie with friends, and another time in Kei Mouth while taking part in a mountain bike race. I will come back and do more classes because I need to feel empowered. The biggest fear in South Africa is rape.”
Trish Krause, 39, of Stutterheim, who showed great skill in weapon-blocking and arm-twisting during the two-hour workshop, said her need to learn to how to defend herself in life-threatening situations stemmed from two vicious attacks on her loved ones.
“My best friend Rae Cawthorn was murdered in Stutterheim 19 years ago, and two years ago family members were attacked and pistol- whipped on their farm near us. The best thing I learnt at the workshop was how to get closer to the attacker and disarm them.”
Delia Vermaak, 35, said the main reason she had taken part in the workshop was to learn how to defend her two daughters. “Women are targets and it is crucial for us to be in a position to defend ourselves. I want my daughters to take these classes as well.”
O’Connell said he planned to run fortnightly self-defence workshops for women. “We can’t pretend we don’t live in a dangerous country.” — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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