Aiia Maasarwe murder: women learn self defence to feel safe
Women are turning to self defence classes to make themselves feel safer at night, with a huge social media response fuelling a spike in free and discounted programs.
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Women in Melbourne are turning to martial arts to help them feel safer at night as self defence classes generate huge interest on social media.
A free seminar at the Australian Combat Sports Academy (ACSA) in Thornbury received more than 850 responses despite being limited to 40 participants.
Another Facebook post for a free course at Yoshin Martial Arts in Preston received 894 likes, 533 comments and 772 shares.
Yoshin Martial Arts instructor Alex Kastamonitis said he made the post after the attack on Bundoora student Aiia Maasarwe and wanted to help women feel more confident on the streets.
“You can be any shape, size or form, the whole idea is to teach you to use what you’ve got,” he said.
ACSA owner Denis Kelly said he’d been doing seminars for years but felt he needed to run another one after the attack on Ms Maasarwe.
Instructor Sarah De Cata said she went to her first seminar in 2014.
“I just wanted to learn to defend myself. I would actually not go to my friends’ parties or social events because I wouldn’t know how I was going to get home,” she said.
Ms De Cata now has a black belt in krav maga, runs classes at the gym and is working towards a black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu and Muay Thai.
“I hope I never have to use any of the things I’ve learnt here but I don’t walk around with fear and anxiety any more, I just don’t,” she said.
Mr Kelly said in a one-hour session participants could learn how to punch, elbow or break out of a hold but the focus was on developing a confident mindset.
“You’re not going to learn everything you need to know but you might think it’s impossible to be confident and fight your way out of trouble,” he said.
Ms De Cata said she wanted “other people to find happiness, find confidence and really excel and reach their potential”.
“(Participants) realise they can do it but if they keep training they’ll get better. Every little bit you can do is better than nothing.”
Ms De Cata said she had no plans of stopping her training in the future because at the end of the day it was just plain fun.
“I feel like I could write a book on how much martial arts has helped me. I want other people to find happiness, find confidence and really excel and reach their potential,” she said.
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