The Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation offers a beginning self-defense and karate class for credit and orange belt certification.

The self-defense and karate course is a one-credit hour HPE course. The course mainly focuses on the basics of martial arts, history, culture and the theories of the fighting arts.

While the self-defense and karate course is not a complete self-defense class, the students are getting a little bit of exercise, a few bumps and bruises and a feel for what a real martial arts class is like, said adjunct instructor Todd Oyen.

Students are allowed to take a certification test to get an orange belt.

“If students wish to get their certification from the Tang Soo Do Association we can test them at an orange belt level,” Oyen said. “Not all students choose to do so but some wish to.”

UNA football player Taylor Carney, a student in the course, said he is always looking for ways to improve his game on the field.

“This self-defense class helps me with my hand-eye coordination and flexibility,” Carney said. “It also teaches me how to use people’s momentum against them.”

There are currently 22 students enrolled in the class, Oyen said.

This is a course that is going to help her fight back if she needs to someday, said senior Ann Marie Russ. She also feels she has gained a sense of awareness from the class that she did not have before.

“We practice with partners, so the physical contact allows us to get a sense of what it would be like to be grabbed or attacked,” Russ said.

Oyen wants this class to be a chance for students to get a taste of high-quality martial arts, he said.

“I am hoping it will spark some interest in some kind of martial arts program for them in the future,” Oyen said.