AMID rising concern over knife-related incidents, Islanders are being urged to learn “simple, real” self-defence skills at a new public workshop.
“Because it’s self-defence, it’s for everyone”, explained Richard Collett, who is underway with preparations for an open-to-the public personal safety seminar and workshop at Blood Fitness gym in St Helier later this month.
The workshop – which calls upon the self-defence and combat system Krav Maga – arrives at a crucial time for Islanders worried about statistical spikes in violence across Jersey, especially for young people.
Figures released, for example, under the Freedom of Information Law revealed 36 incidences of exclusions across Jersey secondary schools resulting from the use, or threat of use, of an offensive weapon or prohibited item.
Issues around violence were again brought to public attention following the arrest of a Jersey teenager over a knife incident at Haute Vallée school on Monday 10 February.
The 15-year-old subsequently pleaded guilty to two offences relating to the incident, and a further six charges – one of which concerned the possession of an offensive weapon in relation to a similar incident at St Brelade on 7 February.
Mr Collett, chief instructor at Jersey Krav Maga and Self Defence, is now calling for more education for Islanders worried about incidences for close quarter violence.
It has never been so important, he believes, for Islanders to understand how to protect themselves should the unthinkable occur.
“We thought we’d start with something that’s topical, that people are concerned about”, he noted.
“There’s a lot of knife problems – there’s knife crime, there’s knife violence, there’s knife threats – less so in Jersey, of course, but it’s happening, it’s happening more than we’d expect.”
The public workshop he has planned for 25 April, which will run between 2:15pm and 5pm, will be “keeping it simple and real”, he said.
“We’re really focusing on basic, natural responses – very simple, but practical and proven – defences that an average person can do if there’s a problem, rather than having absolutely no idea what to do.”
He stressed that the workshop centres around a “reality-based system” that focuses on “real problems”.
The essential premise involves transforming “natural” responses to incidences of threat into “proactive responses.”
Mr Collett explained: “Everything we do is already technically in your body – it’s just channelling; we’re channelling it, and we’re just moulding it.
“It’s about providing a clear path and understanding – behaviour-led understanding – about where conflict is coming from, what to do if it suddenly arrives in front of your face, and what you can do in terms of de-escalation, tools and tactics.”
“It’s kind of a general knowledge that everyone should have, essentially.”
The workshop, he said, is designed to provide Islanders with a “safety net” in the form of “practical skills” often neglected due to lack of time, or awareness.
“We work a lot on indicators – so it’s about controlling ourselves and monitoring what you’re saying, what you’re doing, where your hands are, and things like that.
“Maybe it’s a sudden kind of approach out of the blue, and what to do if you can’t do all the things that everyone says as a cliché, like, ‘if you see a knife, the best defence is to run away’ – but what if you can’t run away?
“What if you’re cornered? What if you get stuck in a freeze, a mental freeze, so you literally can’t move your body”
Fortunately, Mr Collett’s workshop will rely on easily-digestible systems that are “relatively simple” and “faster-learning”.
“People enjoy them”, he said. “And they normally say at the end of the seminar, or at the end of the class, yeah – that was brilliant.”
Islanders are invited to attend the Self-Defence Public Workshop at Blood Fitness gym on Saturday 25 April for a cover charge of £10.
