Freeze turns to thaw via Thor

Only too often, women who are grabbed and assaulted, are so shocked and stunned that they freeze, unable to defend themselves, so they can`t fend off the cowardly attacker, who is almost always a man.

That`s all changing, thanks to Denise and Lorne Castle who`ve launched a self defence class for women. This workshop which is free to all ages, involves physically warming up, then boosting  confidence, awareness, reactions, plus how the body reacts to trauma, distraction and escape techniques.

Denise and Lorne have done hundreds of self defence courses at Bournemouth Girls Grammar School spanning six weeks, but this one is open to the general public and it`s a synthesized into a one and a half hour class. It`s aimed at teaching the basics to women who would not normally walk through the doors of a boxing or Muay Thai Gym, but want to learn the fundamentals of self defence.

Denise is slight of build and weighs less than fifty kilograms, yet looks can be deceiving. She was the WBC`s first Atomweight Muay Thai women`s champion and fought for the World Boxing Council boxing title. She expertly shows how to deal with an attack from the back, side or front, block and escape from clinch situations, even from the ground.

Both classes have been fully booked and now there`s a waiting list for more.  There have been inquiries from all over the country. Mothers with daughters have attended and praised the course as a crucial confidence and awareness builder.

Some of the comments are eye openers:

”Fantastic, relaxed and fun event, learning some self defence skills and how me and my daughter can both keep safe.”

”The moves were effective and we enjoyed trying them out.”

”I wanted to find a self defence class for myself and my twelve year old daughter to give us confidence in case we ever got into a situation.”

”We came  out feeling more empowered and now we want to do more.”

The World Boxing Council fully supports the initiative of Denise and Lorne Castle and will help in any way it can.

What is the scale of the problem?

During their lives, one in three women will suffer physical or sexual abuse. That`s 840 million women globally!

Many more will experience phychologial cohersion and intimidation. In most cases this involves the partner of the woman. Sadly, these statistics and their appallingly stark  reality remain mostly unchanged in decades.  This is the magnitude of the crisis.