Thames Valley Wing has, over the past few months, been running a series of ‘Self Defence and Conflict Management’ courses via TDSU that are available for cadets and staff; the most recent being on Saturday, 28th September. The courses are run by WO Miller of 1996 (Earley) Sqn who is a Master Level Self Defence Instructor with the Self Defence Federation, and his colleague WO Powditch of 2121 (Abingdon) Sqn. The courses are aimed at teaching cadets to 
manage conflict in confrontational situations and basic self-defence actions in a controlled environment.
Several of the cadets has attended previous sessions and were back to advanced their skills and develop new ones but the majority were ‘first-timers’. All the cadets were enjoyed the day as it was interactive, informative and practical for everyone. With experienced assistants to support the session each move is taught at a pace to allow all the cadets to learn at a speed which is comfortable for them. Below are some of the comments from cadets that were present on the day.
Cdts Meccer and Giddings – 2121 (Abingdon) Sqn
“It has been a good opportunity to have fun, learning about the different ways to defend yourself such as push away techniques”.
Cdt Stone – 2410 (Didcot) Sqn
“It has been interesting, exciting and something new. I am more aware of watching out whilst out at night and what to do in a situation.”
Cdt Stuchbury – 1460 (Banbury) Sqn
“Learning self-defence might be handy and I didn’t know much about it before today and now I know how to get out of difficult situations.”
“I have enormous fun teaching Self Defence” says WO Miller. “Not only is this an increasingly important life skill but it can spring-board into a life-long interest in mainstream Martial Arts. I’m really pleased everyone had such a good time – they certainly worked hard enough!”
The courses are delivered in a safe, controlled environment and for those cadets that want to learn more about Self Defence they can attend further class and work towards becoming a Self Defence Instructor themselves. Ask your squadron staff for upcoming dates and get yourself on target to the perfect cadet experience.