Stavanger women want self-defence

- A lot of women have contacted us lately, says instructor Tore Salomonsen to Aftenbladet.no.

He has no doubt the recent assaults and rapes downtown Stavanger is what has caused this wish among women to learn more self-defence.

Simple moves

Salomonsen has 22 years of experience in martial arts and has taught self-defence classes for ten years.

- People’s interest in self-defence classes has gone a bit up and down, and the number of participants in a class has often reflected the number of incidents of violence at the time, Salomonsen claims.

On Saturday he will teach a group of 20-30 mainly young women aged 15 to 25 how to protect themselves against a potential attacker.

- I’ll show them some simple moves; often it doesn’t take much to break free from a potential assailant, Salomonsen states.

Suitable to anybody

Salomonsen teaches techniques in protection against strikes and kicks, as well as how to break free from different grips. Throws, strikes, kicks, choking, arm and leg locks and the well-known wrist twists are among the topics covered at a self-defence class.

- All these techniques are naturally done in a safe way, Salomonsen stresses.

Came in handy

Salomonsen has taught more than a thousand women – and even some men.

- I’ve had feedbacks from former participants who have gotten out of situations thanks to techniques they’d learnt in the class. This shows how important these classes are, says Samuelsen who is scared by the recent episodes in Stavanger.