Many within the Taylor community are aware of the self-defense class offered by Head of Campus Police Jeff Wallace.
This class works to give women on campus the physical confidence to defend themselves if they are ever caught in a dangerous situation, as well as the environmental awareness to prevent them from being caught in these situations.
However, between busy class schedules, extracurriculars, and enrollment space students are prevented from enrolling in the class, and not everyone interested can take it.
Senior Alli Teal and sophomore Dominique Thiessen took the Self-Defense class in the spring and fall of 2023, respectively.
After realizing the value of the class, they decided to create the Self-Defense club both to teach new students basic skills and to give practice time to the women who have already taken the class.
Teal shared her main goals for the club.
“[It’s about] having fun. You'll remember it better if it's fun,” Teal said. “It's a weird balance of hoping you never have to use this stuff, but building that confidence. And even if you don't end up ever using it – which hopefully is the case – having that knowledge and instilling the confidence to walk back from the library yourself or move to that new city. So building that confidence as well and then also growing your community to have another opportunity to get to know people.”
The club is still new, but they are hoping to expand this coming year.
With Teal graduating this spring, Thiessen will continue to lead and hopes to complete the process of making the club official.
Another of Thiessen's long-term goals for the club is to get more leaders involved and to have a beginner and an advanced class. She emphasizes the importance of giving the women one-on-one practice time by showing the distinctions of the levels for the two classes.“A beginning level for women who haven't thrown a punch, and a more advanced one (class) for people who want to learn on top of what they already know,” Thiessen said. “I would love for the advanced class to incorporate guys so that you could feel it strengthened.”
Senior Tali Stichter attends the club to continue practicing and honing the skills she learned in class in the fall. She is thankful for the time that the class gives her to blow off steam and have a good release of energy.
She encourages those interested in joining or attending a session to go for it. The environment is a comfortable one where people learn valuable skills and have fun while doing it.
Additionally, Stichter shared that the leaders and club as a whole do a good job of meeting women where they are at, whether by working through physical barriers or past experiences.
Because of her self-defense training, Stichter has more confidence and feels safer in certain situations.
“I know now how to throw a proper punch… I know that I'm able to get out of situations,” Stichter said. “Part of the class is going over how to be aware of your situations and to watch and be careful not to get into situations where you have to use those skills. but I know that if the worst-case scenario happens, I should be able to at least fend off an attacker for long enough that some of them give up or somebody else can help me or I can get away.”
New to the club, freshman Lily Offringa has enjoyed her time there and is looking forward to attending as often as she can.
“I like the sisterhood aspect,” Offringa said. “It's coming together and everyone hypes you up while punching each other. It's really fun; it's a workout and exercise.”
All the women of the Taylor community are invited and welcome to join or visit a club practice. The club meets on Tuesday evenings at 7:00 pm in the Aerobics Room of the Kesler Students Activities Center.
