Important Women Dojo

Things To Know Before Your First Session At The Dojo, York RI, Queen Street.

For some of you to step into the training arena could be a moment of anxiety. You don’t know what to expect. It's a bit scary. I know it is because I've done it myself many times over the years.

But - CHILL OUT! There's nothing to worry about! We are a fun and friendly team and the others you'll be training with are all good fun too. So, no stress, right? :)

Our aim is to work collaboratively and without excessive competition.

In other words you won’t be beating each other up but you will develop progressively to points where some skills will be tested under a little more pressure - but leave that for us to take you there safely. It’s not something you really need to worry about.

We’ve done this for a while and hopefully know what we’re doing.

Your job is to turn up, have fun and learn some very valuable skills, in a safe way.

However, learning self defence can have some inherent proneness to injury so we do require everyone to pay attention to your own and everyone else’s safety and we do require that everyone read and adhere to the below prior to attending any session.

Thank you

Who Are The Classes For

Our classes/courses are for women and girls of age 14 upwards.

Ages 14 and 15 must be accompanied by an adult female who is also taking part.

One parent/guardian is sufficient as a minder for several girls. We don’t require a 1to1 ratio.

Women’s self defence has different requirements to men’s. Such things as the method of approach, the locations women are approached and the methodology and progression of what happens differ to that of men’s self defence needs. For that reason these sessions are not as applicable to men. For men wanting to do self defence we offer that as a separate service.

How Fit Do You Have To Be?

The sessions are suitable for most ages and abilities. The skills we teach have easier versions as well as more athletic versions that most can progress to over time.

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For most of our sessions you can take things at your own pace. If you’re less fit or super-fit, doesn’t matter too much.

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Our sessions are not just for athletes! Our feet will remain firmly on the ground. No flying kicks that will help you kick a giraffe in the head. Those things don’t work in the real world and we only teach skills that have a high probability of working.

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We have a non-intrusive medical declaration that we require each participant signs. This basically requires you to be in good health overall and have no injuries at the time of participation.

Footwear

Sessions are held in the dojo, which is generally considered a sacred training area in the martial arts.

Some of the training will require us to train on the dojo mats and for that section of the training we cannot wear shoes of any kind.

So please be ready to participate in some of the class barefoot (or in non-slippery socks). Don't worry, we will tell you when you need to take your shoes off.

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Clothing

Standard gym gear is just fine.

Please avoid items with exposed zips or free-flowing chords, such as hoodies with zips or chords etc.

Bear in mind there will be kneeling and training on the mats, so you might want clothing that covers your knees and elbows so you don’t get friction burns from rolling around when we learn ground techniques.

Please also note that in some sessions we have to grab clothing to learn how to escape from clothes grabs and suchlike. So it is best to bring items with you that are reasonably resilient to pulling and grabbing, such as a sweater.

However, we have martial arts jackets with us and you are welcome to borrow these if you didn’t bring more suitable clothing with you. No issues there.

In short: avoid zips and chords, have long sleeve and long trousers if you want to protect your knees and elbows from friction burns, and have a sturdy piece of upper body wear in case of it being grabbed during training.

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Fingernails

Long fingernails are less suitable for this type of training. They can catch in clothing or could scratch and hurt others.

Please be wary of your fingernails for your own and everyone’s safety.

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Jewellery

Please remove all earrings, watches, rings and other jewellery prior to the start of the class. Otherwise these could be injurious to you or others in the session.

If you cannot remove a piece of jewellery then you can tape it up with medical tape that can be purchased at a pharmacy. If you use this, please make sure the piece of jewellery is fully covered and no sharp edges protrude through the tape.

You can, if you prefer, keep items in a bag or coat and store them in the room we are training in. This will be at your own risk and we cannot accept responsibility for items if they are lost.

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Who's Coaching

Chief Coach Hafiz Younis and Lead Coach Naveed Younis will coach these sessions.

Both coaches are highly experienced and if you want to check out their credentials (and see what they look like!) please jump to www.power-for-women.org and click the link to the bios.

Expected Code Of Conduct

We encourage everyone to work in a collaborative manner so that everyone helps everyone and the whole group improves as a unit.

However, there will be short moments of controlled competitiveness as this is necessary to make the training more realistic.

We will be grateful if you can make these brief periods controlled and fun rather than pushy and serious.

Please always discuss with your training partner if they are happy to raise the intensity of a skill prior to raising the intensity. We need to be cooperative, considerate and consensual in our practice.

Please conduct yourself with concern for your own safety as well as concern for all others present.

If you think something might be unsafe, then please STOP right away. In fact do not be scared to tell the other person to immediately STOP. Do not continue anything that could be unsafe. Do not let others continue doing something that could be unsafe.

So please be collaborative and competitive, have fun and help one another. But you were going to do that anyway.

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We sincerely appreciate your cooperation with regards the above safety measures and really look forward to guiding you to your new level of power and ability.

Thank you and have an amazing day!

Hafiz Younis and The Team at Power For Women Self Defence.