Awareness can save your life
Learn how to defend yourself in a dangerous situation
Walking to the Roodekrans Krav Maga and self defense studio in Roodekrans, feelings of insecurity and self doubt start to plague me.
“Why did I accept this invitation? What was I thinking? I really hope I do not get hurt.” All thoughts racing through my head as I approach the entrance.
But, as I meet Deon Smit, the instructor at the dojo and Sharlé Vermaak (assistant instructor), some of my fears are quelled.
After explaining to me what the evening’s class was about, I was allowed to step onto the mat, to try out some of the techniques myself. And, even though I was still a bit unsure, I thoroughly enjoyed learning the techniques.
Deon paired me with Sharlé, and very patiently explained every technique, and allowed me to try it out for myself, and, the best thing of the evening was that I left with no bruises and a lot more knowledge.
“We try to teach awareness, avoidance and de-escalation, while also equipping them with the skills to defend themselves in a dangerous situation, including hijackings, weapon disarming, house invasions, as well as gangster style of gun, knife and baseball attacks,” Deon said.
He added that they were specifically concentrating on how to avoid and get out of hijcaking situations, and explained, “In light of the recent incident involving the radio personality Darren Scott, we realised that not many people know how to handle themselves in such a situation, and we would like to change that. I believe that, if Darren was a bit more aware of his surroundings, he could have saved himself from a lot of trauma.”
Deon went to on to explain that Krav Maga is all about avoiding a situation to escalate into violence and said, “Krav Maga is about 80 per cent avoidance and 20 per cent action, and, for you to get out of a dangerous situation only requires a bit more knowledge that that of your attacker.”
He added that they focus on teaching students to always be aware of their surroundings, and said, “There are four types of awareness, white (relaxed in familiar situations), yellow (in a familiar situation with an unknown threat), orange (identifying a dangerous threat, ready to act) and black (total hysteria). You need to always assess your situations by using these four awareness levels, it can be the difference between saving your life of losing it.”
He added that anyone is welcome to join, and you do not need any previous martial art knowledge, and all fitness levels are welcome. Beginners classes are on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 – 7pm and the first class is free.
For more information, visit the website at https://www.roodekranskravmaga.co.za or send an email to info@roodekranskravmaga.co.za.
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