Prepared to defend
By Erica Kingston, BHG News Service
Adorned in a tank top and sweatpants, my bare feet felt cold against the tiled floor of the Wilton Memorial Hall. It was my turn. I stepped onto the padded mat, threw my right leg into the air with all my strength as my hips rotated to the left, round house kicking Angie Scharnowske as hard as I could. Instead of hitting Angie’s hard ribs, my foot landed with a “whoof” into the pillow-like shield. After resituating, I proceeded to practice the style of kick that was taught to the group by Master Mike Scharnowske in Wilton’s women’s self-defense class last Wednesday. “In a self-defense situation,” Scharnowske said, “I don’t want you to hurt someone – I want you to disable them. You want to take them completely out of the game.” Wednesday’s two-hour class was split between a Power Point lesson - teaching prevention tips, statistics, and physical reactions of the body during attack - and a hands-on session that taught kicking, punching, head butting and escape techniques.
