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Students kicked, blocked and punched their way to a better health on Friday night during this week’s edition of Friday Night Live.
The goal of the night was to educate students on the topic of personal safety, decision making, and to share available resources on campus.

The Defend Yourself event, sponsored by University of Cincinnati Women’s Center and the Wellness Center, took place at the Campus Recreation Center.

“Ideally there will never be a time where using self-defense skills are needed, but being exposed to a program like this could prove to be extremely valuable,” said Erica Forrest, Student Wellness Center program manager.

This event proved not only tremendously beneficial but especially entertaining, as well.

“I had a really fun time,” said Amanda Changet, a first-year advanced medical imaging and technology student, “The instructor was great. She teaches a karate class and all of the moves were really beneficial for the 15 of us who came.”

Defense instructor Mina Ludwig taught the participants a number of moves that would both improve their health, decrease their stress levels and help them live a safer lifestyle.

“Nothing relieves stress quite like hitting something, or someone, with all your might,” Ludwig said. “There is also great clarity that comes with getting hit, but there is a lot more to it than that. The health benefits of what we do as students and teachers of karate are many-fold.”

The FNL event taught basic moves like kicking and jabbing and went through different scenarios, including what to do when you get grabbed from behind or from the front. Ludwig also gave the students background information and taught about the importance of awareness.

In the end, all the information proved useful, Changet said.
“We were all pretty nervous to actually put all our force into hitting something, even though it was just a punching bag,” Changet said. “Once we got used to the fact that we won’t hurt anyone if we don’t have the intent, then people started really hitting the punching bags which was really great to see.”
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For more information about Friday Night Live and next week’s “Paranormal Cincinnnati” event, visit the UC Wellness Center website at www.uc.edu/wellness/friday_night_live._