They learned about hands, elbows, knees, and feet.
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Taylor Schulmann in Bay Ridge was kicking on Sunday, as the NYPD hosted a free self-defense course.
Given the alarming spike in Asian hate crimes and the reality that an officer cannot be on every corner every second of the day, the police gave some Brooklyn residents basic techniques to protect themselves.
"I don't want Asian Americans to be afraid to go about their daily life. I want to build confidence in the Asian community. No one should be afraid of walking down the street, taking the rain," said NYPD Inspector Tommy Ng.
Ng is the head of the Asian Hate Crimes Task Force. He said the NYPD is going to be setting up the classes around the city.
Ng also gave Lucy Yang some pointers:
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College Student Derrick Tsang says he would like to follow up with more lessons this summer.
"You can have a lot of power, but if you don't have technique, you could be defenseless. Coming here was really helpful, and I learned a lot," Tsang said.
No one wants to be the next helpless victim.
"After today, they will be able to defend themselves 100 times better than when they first came into the dojo," said Sensei Nissim Levy.
There will be another free course next Sunday in Chinatown. Given the popularity of the classes, and sadly, the need for them, self defense skills are now more critical than ever before.
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