Not just a girl thing
Senior males participate in UAHS self-defense classes offered for first year
•Brooke Fitzpatrick

Self defense has been offered to senior females in the past; senior Mike Knilans said he lobbied the school for it to be made available for males this year as well.

A total of 38 males signed up for the sessions.

Drunken brawls and spontaneous robberies are some of the individual concerns senior Brian Cute said made him decide to take self defense.

“I want to be able to prevent compromising situations from occurring,” Cute said. “I want to be able to effectively defend myself.”

UA police officer Don Stanko has taught female self-defense classes in the past. Stanko said the purpose of offering the sessions to males was to engage their interest and help him to shape the self-defense program in the future.

Instruction for the males was divided into two sessions and offered as an alternative to senior study hall in the upper mezzanine of the auditorium once a week.

Each session for the males focused on a different element of physical safety, whereas the female sessions also focused on elements of date rape, and dorm room and personal safety, Stanko said.

The first session for males focused on boundary setting when dating. Stanko said communication is key when it comes to relationships.

“I wanted to teach the males to communicate with the female,” Stanko said. “Basically, I wanted to prevent them from becoming date rapists.”

The second session focused more on physical aspects of defense, Stanko said. For instance, if a male is involved in a bar fight, he needs to be able to defend himself.

“We worked on blocking sucker punches, learning what to do when tackled and how to maneuver during a ground struggle,” he said.

The self-defense classes will continue to be something UAHS offers in the future, Stanko said.

“The program is important because no one thinks about personal safety,” he said. “If you aren’t thinking about your own safety, then who is?”