Students learn to defend themselves at seminar

“Get those knee strikes in,” called out Curtis Smith to a room filled by about 50 Pitt… “Get those knee strikes in,” called out Curtis Smith to a room filled by about 50 Pitt students learning to defend themselves. “That’s your bread and butter.”

On Tuesday night, the Pitt Program Council hosted a self-defense seminar, where Smith taught Pitt students who wanted to feel more comfortable traveling in the city late at night some basic moves that can be used to fend off attackers.

“You always hear stories,” Freshman Kate Styer said. “So you can’t think that it won’t happen to you.”

While most of the stories Styer spoke about involve young women walking alone at night, not all victims fit that stereotype. In a room filled with women, Daniel Cielecy, a sophomore and the only male participant in attendance, was focused solely on learning defensive techniques.

“I’m not going to take it for granted that I can defend myself,” Cielecy said. “I want to know how. It’s a skill. It’s not something that you pick up instinctively, no matter how big you are.”

Smith is both a police officer and a teacher in the physical education department at Pitt. He holds master ranks in many different forms of martial arts, including jiu-jitsu, a form of grappling and joint manipulation.

Smith is also responsible for designing the “Buy Yourself a Minute: Protection Against Assault” program, from which he drew most of the information given out to students on Tuesday. He created it after graduating from Pitt in 1976. It was first taught for credit at Carnegie Mellon University before it became a class at Pitt.

“Every class, we have someone who has been physically or sexually assaulted,” Smith said. “Sometimes we have those great stories of people who have graduated the class and successfully warded off attackers.”

Smith had this list of advice for students in the case of an attack:

*The heel of the palm has a lot of fatty tissue, which makes it an ideal weapon for striking attackers.

*When in a situation where you are being attacked, it is very important to yell. Yelling not only gets other people’s attention, but it also raises your adrenaline level.

*The elbows are the second hardest enamel in the body. For some, the elbow strike is the most powerful weapon of defense because it utilizes only one joint in the body.

*When in a dangerous situation, the peripheral vision is diminished, which leaves you to rely on tunnel vision. Also, the finer motor skills are not at an optimum level, which is why you must use the larger muscle groups when trying to defend yourself from an attacker.

*Sometimes it’s necessary to draw in the attacker in order to get away from them. The knee strike, a sharp, quick blow with the knee, is often the most devastating skill when executed correctly, and requires the victim to grab the attacker around the neck and pull him in close.