Violence affects both sexes, but women are more susceptible to being attacked in their homes by random strangers or even their partners.

Attackers see women as easy targets and they are often are raped, beaten or killed.

To encourage women to be victors rather than victims, the Academy of Martial Arts of Bermuda is holding "Hard Target", a women-only self-defence course tomorrow morning at its King Street, Hamilton studio.

The Academy's owner Bob Smith — who is currently a Sixth Degree Black Belt in Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate, the director and chief instructor of Commando Krav Maga on the Island, and a former Tactical Master Instructor of CDT, which is a non-deadly force training system — spoke to The Royal Gazette about the six-hour seminar and his reasons for holding it.

He strongly believes that everyone should at least be familiar with the basics of self defence.

"This course will not only cover physical engagement, but more importantly the principles of 'awareness, avoidance and de-escalation' will be focused on," Mr. Smith said.

"I look at it like this, we buy fire extinguishers for our homes and may never have to use them but, we know how if we have to. You may never be attacked in this lifetime, but if you were, wouldn't you want to have something in your toolbox that could save your life or the life or a loved one?

"A few years ago, in the States, a young woman was raped and then thrown off the roof of building. The autopsy revealed that the victim had the skin of the attacker under her fingernails, which confirms that she was desperately fighting for her life.

"Now I'm sure her parents would have wanted their daughter to have every tool available to prevent such a horrific incident and this training will greatly improve any woman's chances in this regard. As the saying goes, 'It's better to have and not need then to need and not have.'"

One has only to look to local headlines to see incidents of escalating violence, he said. "If you think about it, women by their very nature, are susceptible to a wider variety of violence.

"I'm sure the statistics would support that there are more women in abusive relationships and raped, then men are. This is an unfortunate fact, but one that we must accept and be prepared to take the appropriate actions to prevent."

The course will address how the majority of confrontations can be avoided and also de-escalation skills.

"The physical techniques taught will be very easy to learn and in fact quite natural, which will require less muscle memory than techniques taught in traditional martial arts," Mr. Smith said.

"This is necessary in order for it to be used effectively under stress. Whenever a person is put in a threatening situation, the rush of adrenaline experienced causes you to lose fine motor skills so any complex moves will be useless in the real world.

"All participants will get the chance to test the effectiveness of the techniques taught against an attacker wearing protective armour, which will provide them with real feedback and a truly reality-based experience."

When asked whether participants need to be physically fit, he replied: "Being physically fit should be everyone's goal, but you do not have to be fit to do this seminar, in fact this seminar will include some unique fitness drills that can be done by anyone at any level of fitness.

"I also guarantee that all participants will leave with new motivation and appreciation for becoming fit."

Participants should not worry about the difficulty of learning martial arts as the course will offer adapted techniques.

"The level of difficulty really depends on the individual but, as a rule, traditional martial arts takes years to learn," Mr. Smith said.

"For this reason the seminar will not focus on any particular martial art, but on what the average person can do to survive a violent attack.

"This is a crucial element of Tactical Control Systems (TCS), which also has additional courses, which include: Restraint and Control, Weapon Disarms, Flashlight Tactics, Safety for Seniors and Child and Family Safety.

"This system was designed specifically for the non-martial artist who may not have the desire or time to learn the traditional arts. A good example of this would be law enforcement officers, bouncers and security professionals.

"They have a genuine need to not only know how to defend themselves, but to learn as quickly as possible.

"This is a one-day seminar but very comprehensive. It will deal with communication skills, body positioning, situational awareness, threat levels and last resort tactics against some common attacks.

"The theme of the seminar is Hard Target as predators are usually looking for what we call easy or soft targets, but all participants will surely be Hard Targets by the end of the day!"

After tomorrow's class, there's an additional class on June 29. Call 292-5715 or visit www.tamadojo.com