One of my favorite courses I’ve taken here at BW has been self-defense. For me, it was part of my core credits and fulfilled the Health and Physical Education requirement necessary for graduation. So when selecting courses, I decided self-defense sounded like something that would both be fun and useful.
During the course that met for half a semester, twice a week, we learned a variety of skills. We would practice everything from learning a proper way to kick to finding pressures points on your opponent. As someone who is 5’2”, I really enjoyed finding ways of protecting myself. It also ended up being a great stress relief in the middle of the day and a big change from my normal routine of papers and lectures.
My favorite part of the class, however, was the final. I think it was my first class where my favorite part was the final! What we were required to do was break a board. Now, we had some options where you could kick, punch, or chop the board. The instructor recommended the less physically strong members of the class kick through the board, but I took that as a personal challenge to punch through the board. When it was my turn, my good friend held the board, and sure enough, I was able to punch right through it! I walked around that day with a giant smile on my face. I still have the pieces of the board today.