Defense Mechanics keeps women prepared, safe, strong

SHARON — Joel Minton, Kitty Visconti and her son, Brad Visconti, are on a mission to train women in self-defense.

The three Sharon residents hold their Defense Mechanics programs at the Berkshire Judo Dojo, located at 15 Academy St. in Salisbury.

The program trains women not only to defend themselves if and when the time comes, but also to be prepared mentally and psychologically.

“It takes more than just physical action to get out of sticky situations,†Minton said. “It also takes psychological self-protection. At the beginning of the class, we show a multimedia presentation that includes interviews of serial rapists on college campuses. In it, you see what kind of techniques and activities they use on their victims. We also talk about predator behavior and examine their mindset, which shows how they choose their victims.â€

Afterward, the class uses role playing to act out situations in which they can see how their behavior could make them a target for victimization.

From there, students learn about basic physical self-defense techniques by  literally practicing those techniques on Minton or Brad Visconti.

Both of them wear special padded suits that allow the student to hit and kick them.

“You can learn any martial arts maneuver, but if you don’t learn how to use it under pressure, it won’t be effective,†Minton said. “We also train women how to use their body effectively in self-defense. Most martial arts are geared toward men. We train women to utilize their best strengths, including their lower body, which is much stronger than a man’s body.â€

Kitty Visconti said she would love to see more students in their classes.

“As a woman, I feel pride when I see a woman succeed in basic techniques,†Kitty Visconti said. “I feel great when I see them complete the class and see them truly empowered and much more confident. I’m trying to convince more women to take the classes, although some young women say they have a boyfriend who protects them or that it doesn’t happen around here.â€

“The ‘doesn’t happen around here’ excuse is not valid because attacks on women happen all the time. You just don’t hear about it,†Minton said.

Currently, classes for two different age groups are being held, one for 12- to 17-year-olds and another for 18 and up.

However, Kitty Visconti and Minton said they might hold more classes in the future, including classes for teenage boys.For more information, contact Defense Mechanics at 860-318-6071 or visit the Web site at defensemechanics.com.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less