VUPD Services: Rape Aggression Defense System

The Rape Aggression Defense System for Women is a program of realistic, self-defense tactics and techniques; class participants are women of all ages, shapes, and sizes.

RAD Systems provides comprehensive courses that begin with awareness, prevention, risk reduction and avoidance, while progressing on to the basics of hands-on defense training.    A R.A.D. class at Vanderbilt involves twelve hours of instruction, broken up into three four-hour classes, and completed over three consecutive weeks.

In order to become a lifetime member of the R.A.D. program you must attend the first two classes. The first night your instructors will talk about risk reduction, common myths of crime and basic safety planning and start on some of the basic moves. The second night you’ll be working with instructors, learning various kicks and other moves to defend against an attacker.

The third night is optional, but most consider it the best part!  After a quick refresher of the techniques we pad you up and each of you will go through 3 scenarios in real time, using the techniques you’ve learned. We video the scenarios so you can reflect back on your strengths and work on areas of improvement.

The cost for the Basic Self-Defense program is $20 for those who are affiliated with Vanderbilt and $40 for those who are not affiliated.