Local children striking out at bullying

MARTIAL Arts experts helped local children join the fight against bullying last weekend, teaching them valuable anti-bullying tactics skills and giving them the courage to stand up for themselves and their peers.

Anneke Wright from the Zen Dan Kwan School of Martial Arts in Wollongong lead a free Bullying Awareness Seminar at the school on the weekend.

She said Zen Dan Kwan Martial Artists see it as their duty to protect the Wollongong community, and want to equip children to stand up to bullies.

"We feel our job as Martial Artists is to make our community safer and this is the way we do this," she said.

Ms Wright said Zen Dan Kwan started the anti-bullying workshops when they realised a number of the their new students were joining with bullying issues on their mind.

She said physical conflict is not the answer to bullying, but backing down isn't always helpful either,

"Fighting back might make the problem worse but walking away isn't always the solution," she said.

Ms Wright and the other instructors work through role-playing exercises with children at their seminars and give them tools to stop themselves and others being bullied.

She said past sessions have seen bullied children take control of their situation.

"We had a child who had been bullied for years at school and their life changed after (the seminar). They weren't afraid to go to school any more," she said.

"That was a really special thing to be involved in."