While I am lucky to say I have never needed to use self-defense, the stories I see on social media show the possibility is real. Because of that I, along with three friends, recently attended a women’s self-defense class at Warrior’s Cove in St. Louis Park.

Warrior’s Cove offers free monthly women’s self-defense classes. It was a very worthwhile experience. I now feel much more prepared for a potentially harmful situation.

During the class, most seemed to enjoy themselves, despite the severity of the purpose behind the class. We covered what to do if someone threatening approaches you, how to poke someone’s eyes, how to get out from under a person who is attacking you and much more.

I understand we were not in a high risk scenario and were not performing as we would in a real situation to avoid injuring our partners, but all of the skills we worked on seemed possible.

There is a misconception that to defend yourself you have to be able to do all the fancy flips and kicks, but you really don’t. A simple knee to the groin or finger to the eye can do the trick.

I was disappointed my friends and I were the only teens at the class. Self-defense is especially relevant to teens.

If the hour and a half on a Sunday can make the difference between defending yourself and being severely harmed by an attacker, it is definitely worth it.

One of the most applicable tricks the instructors told us was to carry Mace, an aerosol self-defense spray. When approached by someone threatening, Mace can be an effective deterrent to an attack.

Unfortunately, according to Park’s student handbook, students are not allowed to have Mace on school property. While this rule is valid, I think students should be allowed to carry Mace because the need may arise.

If I was leaving the school alone at night, I would want some form of protection, like Mace, with me. That kind of situation could affect any one in the building, including teachers and administrators.

I would recommend attending a self-defense class to everyone because it is important to know what to do in a bad situation. While it is unfortunate that this is something teens need to be thinking about, it is the reality of the world we live in.