By Devan Mighton
A collaboration between Safe Falling, the Community Support Centre, and the Budo Judo Club of Tecumseh aims to bring the knowledge and know-how of safe falling to the Windsor-Essex community.
A free conference with Benoit Séguin, an expert on safe falling and “Bien Tomber” judo-based program, will take place on Saturday, Feb. 28 and will be aimed at seniors 60 years or older, adults concerned with balance and mobility, and anyone who is interested in learning how to avoid fall-related injuries. The event will take place at 2:30 pm at the Royal Canadian Legion at 12326 Lanoue St. in Tecumseh.
“People should not be afraid to age and they should not be afraid to be active just because they’re getting older,” explains Hans Peter Pfeifer, who helped organize the event. “With falling, you can’t avoid it. Learning how to fall properly and safely will hopefully help to keep people out of the ambulances and hospitals.”
Séguin is a fifth-degree judo black belt who created the Safe Falling program to aid people with mobility issues, including people with multiple sclerosis. He is also an author, and wrote a book on the subject—How To Protect Yourself When You Fall.
Pfeifer says that it is important for people to realize that falling is something that needs to be taught to protect from serious injury. “If you want people to get in the water, you have to teach them how to swim so they don’t drown,” he states. “With falling, you have to teach people how to fall so they don’t get hurt.”
With a growing Seniors community in Windsor-Essex, and the proliferation of fun and exciting sports like pickleball, it is important to realize that falls do occur—whether in the home or out doing recreation. “It’s not just for pickleball,” he adds. “It’s for everybody who is growing older because the probability of a fall increases with age.”
For those who want some hands-on training, starting in March, judo instructor Tomasz Jarosz will be conducting a five-week course in “Fall Safety & Prevention” at the Budo Judo Club at 333 Lacasse Blvd. in Tecumseh in conjunction and as a continuation of the teachings of Séguin’s Safe Falling seminar.
For more information on the free conference and to reserve your spot, please visit www.safefalling.ca, and for the ongoing training at the Budo Judo Club, please visit www.budojudoclub.ca.