Each month, resident assistants in student residence halls are required to organize educational programming. Last Tuesday, the RA’s of the Grayson-Field cluster put on a program that no one should be without: self-defense.

“Each floor was assigned a theme, and ours’ was conflict,” said Kristen DiMarzio, an RA in Grayson. “We thought an interactive thing would involve more people and they would have more fun.”

They had fellow RA Mac Fox as a resource. Fox is a mix martial arts fighter who started learning when he was six years old. He has continued to train ever since.

“Even if you are a small person, you still have body weight,” said Fox.

If the victim and attacker are in close proximity, then the best thing to do is go for places on the face. One such move would be to hook the hands around the ears of the attacker and drive the thumbs into the eyes.

“If you are a girl with small hands, keep in mind it is not that much of a distance to cover,” said Adams.

While demonstrating that particular move, many of the females in the audience became squeamish.

“It sounds gross, but you have to do it in that situation,” said Fox.

According the 2005 National Crime Victimization Survey, there are 200,780 people raped or sexually assaulted annually, and 90 percent are committed by a male against a female.

With these statistics, self-defense is a valuable lesson.

“It sounded interesting,” said Yvette Chretine, one of the students who came to the program. “You learn stuff. It is good information.”

Fox demonstrated the self-defense moves, using assistants Stephen Adams and Chris Gagnon, and explained them with audience participation.

“Most guys want to learn the cool stuff,” said Fox. “For women, you want to go for what works.”

Fox had 13 key points for women to hit that would inflict damage without a large amount of force.

First there are the feet, followed by the inside of the knee – both places that could stop motion quickly. The armpit has many nerve endings, so hitting there could really hurt. The solar plexis also is a soft spot right under the ribs.

“If you hit the solar plexis, it is easy to knock the wind out of someone,” said Fox.

Beyond that, most places to hit are in the head, including the windpipe, the flesh right under the jaw, as well as the tongue, ears, eyes and nose.

“You only need 15 pounds of pressure to tear off an ear,” said Fox.The last one is the most obvious, though it only applies to male attackers: the groin.

“That is pretty much a given,” said Fox. “You hit someone there, they will go down.”

In addition to knowing all of the places on the body to strike, positioning is just as important. The victim can create distance between themselves and the attacker by using arms and legs. Some of the best things to do are to use quick force to surprise the attacker or do something to throw him or her off balance.

“You want to give yourself as much time to get away as you can,” Fox said.

Some things to try in the event of an attack include the tiger mouth strike, driving the hand into the throat as fast as possible, the in-step kick, the basic kick to the groin, striking the nose with upward force and kicking the the attacker’s knees and pulling away.

Even knowing some of the basic self-defense moves do not always protect a person, so knowing surroundings is even more significant.

“Prevention is the most important thing,” said Fox. “Be aware of where you are.”

That means do not go wandering down dark alleys late at night or head out alone in an unsafe neighborhood.

“No matter what gender you are, how big or how strong you are, you do not want to put yourself in that situation,” Fox said.

While Fox knows a lot of things, he has always preferred the practical moves to the ones seen in movies.

“I am more interested in what works than what looks good,” said Fox.

Although the women that attended Fox’s class have a better idea of what to do to defend themselves, it is still far from really knowing how to protect themselves.

“Practice, practice, practice so that you do not have to think about it, just react a certain way,” said Fox. “Do not stop here. Take classes on a regular basis. Repetition is the best thing.”

Emily Reynolds can be reached at [email protected]