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Women Headed Off To College In The Fall Learn Self Defense

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – When a self-defense class geared toward women heading to college opened up to the public – lots of locals jumped at the chance to learn.

"What this class does is it empowers them not only to understand how to recognize danger, but how to avoid it entirely," said instructor Sam Rosenberg. "And if you can't avoid it, how to respond decisively so you can get your family and yourself away."

Rosenberg is the president of Inpax Academy of Personal Protection.

He trains people on self-defense techniques.

A recent class at the Oakmont Library was initially geared toward women headed to college in the fall. But when it opened up to the public, men and women of all ages signed up.

"I think the techniques are really helpful, I think they teach people how to strategize within situations and replicate them in real world situations," said Tanya Strausbaugh of Oakmont.

"I've learned a couple of things, just body posture, what to pay attention to before you get into a bad situation, maybe how you can avoid a situation," said Sharon Myers of Oakmont.

Rosenberg says the idea is to empower people and teach them how to create an opportunity to escape from an attacker.

"They're learning where the vulnerable areas are and how to use simple force multipliers whether it's a pen, a cell phone, a magazine, those kinds of things that you can quickly put in your hand to amplify your striking power so you can effectively incapacitate someone temporarily," said Rosenberg.

People made donations to attend the class.

All of the money goes to providing trauma kits to the Riverview School District.

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