“I started practicing female self-defense three years ago. First because it caught my attention as a sport and also because I understood it as a tool that can help me deal with situations that arise on a daily basis. With this discipline, we also learn to set limits and make our personal space respected. I would recommend it to all women from a young age.” This is how Carmen Braña speaks, who for three years has been attending the martial arts and contact sports classes taught by David Benito Álvarez at his Warriors gym in Oviedo.
This professional, who has been in this dedication for more than 25 years, opened his own center in 2019 where he also teaches boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, judo, mixed martial arts (MMA), children’s self-defense and women’s self-defense. In this last specialty he has 20 students, including adults, girls and adolescents. “I decided to teach women’s self-defense classes because there were many girls who liked to practice contact sports and certain combat situations with boys put them off a bit. While they play sports, they prepare for self-defense,” she explains.
The professor affirms that “cases of school bullying and mistreatment of women are nothing new.” In this sense, he explains that “a line must be drawn between what it means to provide students with the necessary confidence and self-esteem by practicing this sport and not going to the other side. “Here they come to learn to defend themselves, not to hit anyone.” , he clarifies. Benito affirms that the women who attend this class “gain in self-confidence and self-esteem.” “The tatami is the most democratic thing there is, it is a school of life that teaches you to get up when you fall and makes you resilient,” she concludes. Among the youngest is Carla Fernández, 14 years old, who has been coming for three years. “My father already practiced this type of sport and always encouraged me. Practicing this sport, among other things, teaches you to avoid confrontation and violence,” she says. Marta María Álvarez, another of the students, continues: “With this sport you feel more empowered, more sure of yourself. It strengthens a lot psychologically. “I recommend it to all women.”
“It’s a good initiative. The defense techniques you learn here can be useful in some situations.” Sofía Fernández is 16 years old and for some time she has regularly attended the self-defense classes taught by Lorenzo Potesta, from the Judo Club Avilés. A dozen women gather on the tatami of the Quirinal sports center who, guided by the judoka, try to acquire tools so that, if they find themselves in a compromising situation, they can defend themselves or achieve an escape. The workshop began last year and from the beginning they practice to obtain basic and very simple notions with which to find the weak points of a physically superior aggressor. “What we train most is escaping grips from the back or neck or how to combat hair pulling. Specifically, we use dislocation and protection techniques or how to hit weak points, such as the knee,” explains Potesta. María Gutiérrez is one of the participants. Her son, Hugo Viña, is a judoka at the club, which organizes joint activities for the whole family. “They are very good workshops. I find it very interesting that we learn to defend ourselves,” says Gutiérrez, who considers it essential to know how to react in dangerous situations.
A warm-up is the first task before starting the exercises. Raquel Pascual, judo instructor, also serves as a coach for the assistants. For her, it is essential to promote sports among women, especially when it comes to defense. “The main thing, as in the rest of martial arts, is the grip. It is very important to take advantage of the opponent’s weaknesses. If he pushes, I shoot. If he pulls, I push. You have to recognize and anticipate the movements,” she says.
Young boys and girls also attend the workshop, something that Potesta understands as a consequence of bullying. “Nowadays, bullying is a problem. Bullies look for victims who are not a problem for them. When they get a response, they usually back off,” she says. One of the first exercises is to perform falls. In judo, knowing how to fall is key to avoiding injuries and being able to maintain awareness of what is happening around you. Subsequently, some exercises focus on the attacker’s weak points. The hands and knees, the main targets to make the aggressor retreat.
“Since I’ve been training, I notice that my parents are calmer.” This is what Mónica Lázaro says, a 32-year-old from Gijón who has been participating in self-defense and fighting classes in the sanda modality for four years, a discipline that she had started working on out of curiosity and in which she now even competes professionally. Lázaro is one of the students of a large group, mixed and with a rather young profile, who trains several times a week at the school of the black belt Víctor Gutiérrez, world champion of this discipline in 2022, and who has been teaching since his small place on Luanco street for almost a decade. “We work with mixed groups because there are kids who want to know how to defend themselves against bullying issues but also because it helps you prepare for real life,” explains the teacher. “The fear that four guys are going to pull you out of a van is unlikely. In many cases, having confidence in yourself to stop the situation already helps,” justifies the coach, who claims to notice an almost radical evolution in his students: “I remember them being very fearful on the first day and now I see them in national competitions and they seem like different people to me.”
Along with Lázaro, another of the outstanding students is Yasmin Quintana, 20 years old, who trains, above all, to gain skill in her career to oppose the National Police. “But I also notice that now I feel much safer when I walk alone on the street,” she explains. Alana Sánchez, 15 years old, is the most skilled apprentice in the youngest group. “I’ve been training for about three years because a friend of mine was going to learn and I accompanied her, but also because she wanted to learn how to defend myself after going through an unpleasant situation with a kid,” she says. The three, along with the rest of their companions, learn techniques linked to sanda, a type of free combat “in which almost everything is allowed.” Gutiérrez affectionately calls his students “beasts.” “We are the first school that has managed to have national and international champions in this discipline,” she boasts. The teacher includes self-defense techniques, which draw heavily on this discipline, but with more realistic scenes. The group learns to neutralize a kick, to knock down an opponent – almost no matter how heavy he is – by pulling him with only one heel, to give three or four quick blows and run. “In real life people are clumsy and it is much more useful to have technique than strength,” she says.
2023-11-26 00:51:08
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