A local martial arts instructor in Eugene, Oregon aims to share his self-defense wisdom with women, believing such wisdom could even save a life. Ryan Kelly is the owner of Northwest Martial Arts and is a self-defense instructor at the University of Oregon.
A Department of Justice study found that about 1 in 5 female college students experience some sort of dating violence while in school. Kelly and his wife started the website Assault Prevention 101 to lower that statistic, while also helping to empower women. The website’s online video tutorials address all sorts of different scenarios.
If someone does pop out at you, Kelly recommends that you, “step off to the side, because most of the time they’ll be directly behind you. In order to strike at them you need to be able to move your body off to the side.”
That isn’t the most common assault scenario. He says most assaults actually come from someone the victim knows. Often, Kelly says, a victim ends up fighting their attacker from the floor.
“A lot of times women find themselves on their back in a grappling situation, and before they even know they’re in an assault situation,” Kelly said. He says your best defense is using your legs to push off an attacker.
