NORTHVILLE, Mich. – Former Marine Bill Kipp, the creator of the award-winning FAST Defense technique, will be the featured presenter for an anti-bully and anti-abduction seminar for children ages 5 to 12.
The seminar is scheduled to take place Friday, April 26 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and costs $55 to attend.
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Hosted by Dan Vigil's Academy of Taekwondo in Northville, Kipp, who is Black Belt Magazine's 2012 Self-Defense Instructor of the Year, will teach assertiveness and self-protection skills that are designed to effectively protect children from bullies and strangers.
The Academy is located in Suite 103 in the Water Wheel Building located at 235 E. Main Street at the corner of Main and Griswold in the Water Wheel Building.
Using simple and non-violent conflict resolution skills, FAST Defense playfully gives children the tools to stop bullies in their tracks and effective strategies to detect and avoid potential stranger abduction:
- Avoid common playground altercations
- How to handle name calling and teasing
- Protecting personal "space" and possessions
- Verbal skills to back off a bully
- Physical escapes for grabs or pushes
- Getting lost (safety checklist-i.e., knowing name, address, phone number, etc.)
- Home safety skills
- Abduction awareness-basic skills to detect and avoid abduction
"As someone who was bullied as a child and now is a parent, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of teaching kids these techniques," said Dan Vigil, owner of the Academy and a certified instructor of FAST Defense. "Bill Kipp's FAST Defense empowers children to not be afraid and to protect themselves in certain situations. In turn, knowing their children know how to handle themselves gives their parents peace of mind."
According to the Taekwondo School, Kipp has more than 20 years of teaching this highly specialized training, logging more than 50,000 live adrenal stress scenarios against students ranging from children, teens, moms, and dads to Martial Arts Experts and professional fighters.
The former United States Marine served three West Pac deployments with the elite 3rd Marine Recon Teams, the last as Recon Team Leader.
Kipp also is a fifth degree black belt who has been studying martial arts for more than 30 years.