UF students can learn to avoid and break up potentially violent situations in a personal protection workshop this weekend.
The free seminar, The Art of Escape, will be from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday in Southwest Recreation Center Activity Room 3, said Richard Serota, 30-year-old industrial engineering graduate student and vice president of Gator Karate.
Michael Kinney, a martial arts instructor who has taught around the world for about 50 years, will teach attendees techniques like how to watch and scan in dangerous situations and control breathing so they don’t hyperventilate.
“I will teach them how to use their brain and their mouth and their body to diffuse a situation that might become violent,” Kinney said.
Serota hopes about 60 students will participate in the seminar. All UF students, regardless of gender, are welcome to attend, he said.
“Men are just as likely to get attacked,” Serota said.
Health science freshman Kelli Ahles, 18, said she would be interested in attending the workshop, because this is her first year living on her own.
“It could change my life if you think about it — like if I was ever in a situation where I needed it,” she said.
