Female University students will learn to fight and escape attackers Saturday at the Rape Aggression Defense advanced session offered by the LSU Police Department and the Student Health Center from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The four-hour, $10 class builds on techniques of the basic physical defense class offered in September. While the basic class included training and simulated attack scenarios, the advanced class will offer complex physical techniques that build on methods taught in the basic class.
“[The class] serves as a reinforcement of what you’ve already learned, building confidence and awareness,” said Health Promotions Coordinator and RAD advanced instructor Kathy Saichuk. “It’s a combination of skills.”
Advanced classes focus on more specific aspects of concentrated content like weapon defense or defense on the ground. Because the class is centered on detail, participants will learn finesse and become better at techniques requiring more practice, Saichuk said.
In addition, past skills merge with new ones to allow participants to learn enhanced combinations of strikes, she said. These mixtures of strikes and maneuvers help victims better escape from attackers.
The national RAD organization specifies what can be taught in these advanced classes, Saichuk said. Techniques taught in advanced classes can be more debilitating to an attacker.
“Some of the techniques in the advanced class, if done properly, can cause serious bodily harm,” Saichuk said.  “It doesn’t take a lot of force to damage the spinal cord if the technique is done right.”
Saichuk said these techniques must be practiced very safely. As a result, participants of the advanced class are required to take the introductory class. However, like the introductory class, participants who took the same advanced class previously can return for free to hone their skills.
The classes are also smaller with fewer teachers. RAD teachers must be specifically qualified to teach advanced classes. Saichuk and LSUPD officer Jeffrey Lemoine are the only two RAD teachers qualified to teach advanced classes at LSU.
Since smaller segments make up advanced classes, more time is allowed to practice technique, Saichuk said. This will benefit participants because they will better understand methods from introductory classes and build on them. This ultimately helps victims be more aware of their situation.
“Being aware and reducing risk are key components in protection,” Saichuk said.
While advanced courses teach debilitating strikes, Saichuk explained RAD seeks to teach participants to escape and stay safe.
“The ultimate goal is to escape,” Saichuk said. “To get out of the situation with the least amount of harm done to yourself.”
 
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Contact Austen Krantz at [email protected]