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| MAIN SECTIONS Columnists Local/State News Traffic Texas Legislature Education Medical Mexico Military Neighbors Religion Environment | Water MULTIMEDIA OPINION SPECIAL SECTIONS DIVERSIONS SPECIAL INTEREST MARKETPLACE ABOUT US |  |
Web Posted: 06/16/2005 12:00 AM CDT
Between giggles, snack-time cookies and Barbie doll playtime, the West
Side's Avenida Girl Scout troop learns the proper way to form a fist,
throw kicks to fend off strangers, and shout at the top of their lungs.
The troop is participating in Girls Inc. Project BOLD: Action for
Safety, a self-defense program for girls and one of two children's
defense curriculums that are being awarded grants from Ford Salute to
Education today.
Ford Salute to Education is a program of eight San Antonio Ford and
Lincoln Mercury dealers and Ford Motor Company that annually presents
individual grants of up to $5,000.
Ford awarded the organizations the money at a time when the
disappearance of an American high school senior in Aruba and a string of
local child abuse cases dominate the news.
The grants mark the first time in collective memory the Ford Salute to
Education program has awarded money to self-defense groups for children,
said Interim Board Chairman Bill Sims.
"With all of the stuff that's going on in the headlines these days, the
horrible headlines that are happening across the country, this has to be
high up there on the priorities list, at the top," Sims explained.
The Alamo Area Council of Governments will receive $2,500 to bring the
radKIDS program to San Antonio, beginning with children at the Presa
Community Center. Based on the Rape Aggression Defense model for adults,
radKIDS targets children ages 5 to 13. Project BOLD was given $4,710 to
initially help Girl Scouts ages 8 to 12 who live in nine local zip codes
known for having a high risk of child abuse and neglect.
Both programs attack the same basic task: how to armor kids mentally and
physically so they can defend themselves.
"It can't simply be a band-aid training. It can't be something like,
'Here's some pepper spray straight in the eyes, now I sleep better at
night,'" said James Maher, an academy instructor at the AACOG regional
law enforcement academy who will teach radKIDS. "A one word answer won't
work on the street."
Five-year-old Girl Scout Mikayla Ayala put it this way:
"If you're not strong that means the bad guys can take you someplace and
no one will know where you are and (they will) lock you up," she
explained after her first Project BOLD session.
Project BOLD and radKIDs are new to San Antonio. Both are national
programs that teach verbal responses to violence, physical self-defense
moves, overall safety and awareness.
At their first training session, the Avenida Girl Scouts eagerly formed
lines to practice their new moves, punching at rubber foam targets and
shrieking "Kiai!" a Japanese word used in some self-defense classes to
imply strength.
Kick as hard as you can, Girls Inc. Project Manager Katherine Hollimon
told the girls.
Every last Project BOLD class ends with the same exercise: all the girls
break a one-inch thick board using only their fists.
"If they can break a board they can hurt someone," Hollimon said, then
added: "If they need to."
But the courses aren't just about foot stomps, front kicks and palm-heel
strikes. The instruction encourages empowerment.
"They are realistic options for children (to help) them respond and not
just to freak out," Maher said of radKIDS. "The battlefield is an
unforgiving classroom. You have to know, 'Hey, I've done this, I know it
works.'"
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