Women empowered with self-defence skills
With Women’s Month in full swing, SA Tactical Institute hosted its fourth annual “My Mom is My Bodyguard” programme, a special initiative to empower women with self-defence skills. The event, held at the Colt Shooting Range in Verulam on Saturday, 16 August, was a full-house, with 30 women from Verulam and the surrounding communities in attendance.
SA Tactical training director Ridwaan Syed said: “We have done this programme for four years now and It has continued to grow, in our first year we had 20 women some of whom had never used a handgun before, today we have a full class of 30 and had to turn people away. Some of these women today have never used a handgun, that will change by the days end.”
The event featured a self-defence seminar, life-saving lessons, lectures on psychology and criminology, and a handgun shooting lesson.
Syed said: “We cover different things like awareness and preparedness for the fight, identifying pre-incident indicators, threats that may be out there and can be detected just by looking, listening and being aware of their surroundings. Apart from this this we give them soft skills and hard skills, different things they may do to make themselves a harder target and may help in keeping their family safe. Some of the hard skills taught will include some techniques from Imtiaz self-defence and things like edged weapons, impact weapons and chemical agents, commonly referred to as pepper spray. At the end of the session, we will introduce them to firearms. In a safe and controlled environment, we teach them how to use a handgun, just in case they might find themselves in a situation where they may have to pick up a firearm.”
The event kicked off with morning lectures led by Dean Nieuwoudt, who taught participants how to observe their environment, assess it, and assign it to a specific danger level. Nieuwoudt explained the awareness levels:
• White: A low threat level, only to be used when at home and safe.
• Yellow: An attack is possible but not likely. Nieuwoudt says this should be the default state when in public, where you are aware of your surroundings, potential exit strategies, and are ready to act.
• Orange: A threat is highly likely. At this point, an individual should position themselves toward an exit or prepare to defend themselves.
• Red: The threat has begun.
Nieuwoudt also spoke on how criminals use surprise, speed, and violence to get their way and advised the women that in such a situation, they must be more violent than their attacker. “It may be a life-or-death fight and that must be remembered,” he said.
The ladies then stepped out of the lecture room to practice defensive stances and strikes with strike shields as targets, after receiving demonstrations from Nieuwoudt, Syed, and the other instructors. After a quick lunch, the women moved to the shooting range, where they were trained on how to safely handle and fire a pistol.
Syed said: “Altogether they walk away with a number of skills and new skillset that includes an introduction to tactical tools as well as a new sense of confidence after repeating the programme.”
