Self Defense for readergirlz

Hi, girlz!

In the spirit of Ally Carter's strong-girl characters, especially the Gallagher Girls, we Divas think this is the perfect month to show you a few tricks of your own.

I study a martial art called kajukenbo at a place called Seven Star Women's Kung Fu, a group which is part of the Fight the Fear Campagin. Part of what we do at Seven Star is practice self-defense. The hardest part for me is using my voice. I don't like to be loud! But that's why I need to practice. If I'm ever in a situation where I need to use these skills, I'm very glad that the practice has me prepared. You might feel silly practicing yelling and standing your ground, but it's seriously important.

A few months after I'd started training, a creepy guy came to my door. I was half asleep. I thought it was my neighbor. I opened the door. The guy wasn't aggressive, but he was talking nonsense. I calmly, strongly looked at him and said, "I'm closing the door now." I did. Then I called the police. Before my training, I don't think I'd have had the confidence to consider this guy a big deal. I'm glad I did, though, because if there's even a small chance that he would've not gone away once I closed the door, my following through and having the police come around probably made the difference in keeping him away. Self defense is not always about kicking! Sometimes, it's just about standing strong.

Our current readergirlz issue has info on an upcoming self-defense workshop for teen girls in Seattle. Here's a mini-lesson for all you girlz, wherever you are