Scared of being threatened..

You know what's quite weird? I did self-defence last year. I wouldn't be able to remember how to use it though. I might look into doing it again actually.

The book I mentioned doesn't teach you how to fight, it just teaches you how to keep your guard up, be aware of your surroundings and recognise when situations could escalate and how to control your adrenalin e.t.c.

There would be no harm in learning self defence though, it will improve your confidence and help keep you fit.

Having a Kubotan on your keyring may also help in the event you get attacked, just make sure it doesn't fall into your attackers hands:

http://www.black-eagle.co.uk/kubotan-keyring-flat-p-909.html

It's legal by the way

I just bought that book, not for self-defence though, I just want to be more spatially aware.

I doubt it would be of much use unless you have professional training in how to use it.

It's fair to say that professional training would make it's use more effective but it's not rocket science to peform basic moves with it. You can either grip it and use it to hit an assailant with or hold it and if you have alot of keys on your keyring, use it to strike them in that way. It's better than nothing and unless your Muhammad Ali, it's going to hurt alot more than a fist.

On Friday, me and two friends were followed and threatened by a couple of lads.

We had been into school for some revision sessions, and had decided to go to the park for some sunshine. Walking back, we stopped off at the shops. This town is very small (about 15 shops in total) and it is a very nice area.

Anyway, we were walking over the hill towards all the shops, and some boys we walking on the other side of the road, in the same direction as us. They kept looking back at us, and it was pretty obvious that they were talking about us (3 girls). They were chavs too. We crossed over the road (so we were now on the same side as them) to say hi to some people walking towards us, who are in our year. Anyway, these guys had sat down on a bench at the far side of the hill. One of them got up, started running, and went and hit someone we knew! Lots of people saw this, and adults were shouting at him. The boy wasn't badly injured, and they didn't know each other.

We carried on walking towards the shops. These two guys started shouting stuff at us like 'Your fit! Can we have you number? Watch your back!' but in a really threatening & scary tone. We started to walk really fast down the hill, and so did they. We were very scared by this point. We reached the nearest shop, and walked in. They walked past, and kept looking in the window at us, in a really scary way. Then they walked in! So me & two friends started to go round the shop, trying to get away from them. They kept talking about stabbing people too... and saying which one was gonna stab the next person!

Anyway, we managed to lose them. I went up to a worker [she was a manager i think] and told her that we were being followed, and could she help us. We explained the situation, and she went and had a look for the boys. They disappeared. I was very scared at this point, and was crying. The woman walked us to the end of the road, so that if they came out again, she would be there.

We went to another shop, and thought we saw one of them. It turned out it wasn't them. One of my friends realised how distressed i was, and asked a shopkeeper to phone the police to ask for us to be escorted back to school. But he didn't phone them in the end.

We swiftly walked back to school, and told the office what happened. They said that we should phone the police when we get home. I did, but they said that because we didn't know them, there was no way of catching them.

Sorry, i felt i had to write that all down just to get it out of my system.

The thing is, i'm scared of going out on my own now. Like on Sunday, i was meant to be going out wiht my mates. I ended up phoning my friends saying that i didn't want to go, incase i see those guys. It sounds really silly, because those guys didn't actually do anything, but i'm still scared. If i came face to face with one of them, and it was only me, i know i would have no chance. And just recently there has been a lot of violent attacks in the area, which makes it all worse.

What would you suggest to try and get over this?

This is one thing which i have always been scared of. I used to have nightmares about it happening to me. And now i have got close to my worst nightmare happening... it's terrifying.



xxx

I would worry that i would get into trouble for using that on someone...

as long as it's self defence then you will be fine. If you have a chance to get away though take it. It's one thing to use it in self defence but if you remain at the scene and are beating them to a pulp (even though they deserve it) you could be the one getting arrested. When your defending yourself though, you shouldn't be concerning yourself with whether or not you will get in to trouble, concentrate on getting yourself out of that situation in one piece.

I would worry that i would get into trouble for using that on someone...

I don't care how much trouble I would get in for defending myself. At the end of the day, it's me or them and I'm bloody well certain I'm not going down without a fight.

Sorry to hear that OP. I experienced this kind of stuff (chavs starting random fights, trying to intimidate you in the street, etc) the whole time I was growing up. Not once did I allow it to stop me going out though, if anything I just became more spatially aware and learned to expect such things. I guess I'm fortunate in one sense, as growing up with two brothers with only 18 months between us; there was a lot of fighting, so I've learned to look after myself.

Don't be fooled though - no matter how highly trained you are, it's not much use if someone's got a knife and you haven't. All it takes is a quick slash here and there and you're in trouble.

I've never quite understood the mentality of such idiots. I can't understand why they ran up and hit that random guy (they all seem to do it), I'd hazard a guess that they were trying to show-off, but it just doesn't make sense. It just makes them look like thugs.

For the time being OP - I suggest you just take it slow. Go out now and again, make sure you're in a large group of people as there's less chance of 'bad' things happening that way.

I suppose if someone went for me, i would react. But i am only a 15-year-old girl (okay i do get mistaken for much older, but only by a few years) and really i don't think i have much chance against a group of big lads.