Written by: Emma Rodriguez
Collegedale’s Parks & Recreation Department is set to host a free women’s self-defense clinic on February 20th, according to a press release from Bridgett Raper, communications strategist for Small Cities Coalition of Hamilton County.
The clinic, which will take place in the Court Room at Collegedale City Hall from 6 to 7:30 pm, is a collaborative effort between the city and Greg Roy’s Martial Arts Academy.
Opened in 1995, the academy is a martial arts training center in Chattanooga. It has previously provided a series of free self-defense classes in the community. Chase Durham, a manager, instructor and 5th-degree black belt, expressed the organization’s commitment to community service in an email to the Accent.
“Our instructors take it upon themselves to serve their community in any way that they can,” Durham said. “One way that we do this is through completely free self-defense seminars.
In 2024, our academy hosted at least three self-defense clinics for Collegedale, Chattanooga, and Lookout Mountain. This year, we hope to host even more.”
Durham stated the upcoming clinic will be a 90-minute session focusing on practical self-defense techniques and safety strategies. Participants will gain hands-on experience in escape skills, blocking and countering and identifying weak points on the human body. The session is designed to benefit first-time attendees and those who participated in last year’s class.
Self-defense education in modern society is very important because many individuals do not have a plan for protecting themselves in dangerous situations, according to Durham.
“Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in this world who go out of their way to hurt others,” he said. “Some people know how to protect themselves with martial arts, some people carry weapons, but most people don’t have any plans for how to protect themselves if they are ever attacked … If our seminar can make even just a handful of people in our community feel a little bit safer walking to their car at night … then I think we’ve done a good thing.”
Christina Clark, Collegedale Parks and Recreation supervisor shared her experiences and thoughts regarding the initial affiliation with the academy in an email to the Accent.
“Collegedale Parks & Recreation began our partnership with Greg Roy’s Martial Arts Academy a few years ago when we were looking for instructors for events, such as our ‘May the Fourth’ where participants learned defensive skills used in light saber battles,” Clark stated.
She stated that Collegedale Parks and Recreation is always looking for additional ways to reach the community, and partnering with Greg Roy’s Martial Arts Academy was a good solution. To partner, Clark simply asked if it would be possible to do a Women’s Self-Defense class, and the academy quickly responded with a “yes.”
“We had great feedback from our first women’s self-defense class that we wanted to offer more opportunities to help prepare our female community members. It’s all about prevention and situational awareness,” Clark said in the press release. “We are encouraging moms and daughters to participate together, singles and high school students, and our local college students.”
Currently, Clark estimates that they are looking at offering the class two to four times a year if possible. The self-defense clinic is open to women of all skill levels and ages.
Esther Christian-Taylor, a community member who had taken the first class, shared her experience with Clark.
“Thank you for facilitating this class,” Taylor stated. “The instructors from Greg Roy’s Martial Arts were both informative, pleasant and fun. It was an interesting class, and all three of the instructors made the moves easy to learn and were very helpful to all participants around the room with personal critiques on techniques and instructional direction throughout practices and demonstrations.”
Clark encourages interested participants to sign up in advance to ensure a spot in the class, explicitly motivating Southern students to attend the class,
“I would encourage Southern students to attend so we could teach them how to be aware of their surroundings and different ways to protect themselves if they are ever in a bad situation,” Clark stated. “Many people these days are not aware of their surroundings and walk around fully engulfed in their phones and become easy targets.”
For more information on the Women’s Self-defense class, call 468-1971 or email
parksandrec@collegedaletn.gov. The link to sign up is https://collegedale.recdesk.com/Community/Program/Detail?programId=395&ut
Hayden Kobza, managing editor, contributed to this story.
Alissa Flores, news editor, contributed to this story.
