This fierce martial art developed for the Israeli Defence Forces, has proved extremely popular following the launch of a class teaching women’s self defence in Islington.
“You walk a little bit taller and look people in the eye. You can sort of feel like you’ve got ownership over how you’re feeling and how you’re walking about the world.”
Megan Webster-Shaw is a ballet teacher by day, but spends her evenings teaching classes to parry, block, kick, and punch. Krav Maga is a form of self-defence designed to end a fight as quickly as possible – by seriously harming the attacker if necessary. The discipline, taught in the Israel Defence Forces, combines elements of several other martial arts for maximum efficiency in a street fight. Unlike some martial arts there are no organised competitions in Krav Maga, the sole aim is to immobilise an attacker.
Webster-Shaw went to her first class five years ago, which was overwhelming, but the friendly atmosphere at The Krav Maga Club London ensured she kept coming back. After a few years as a dedicated student, she went on to train as an instructor and now runs the club’s women’s-only classes, which began in October last year and take place weekly at CitySport on Goswell Road .
“I started because someone very close to me got very badly assaulted,” Webster-Shaw said. “It took me about 10 minutes [to find a Krav Maga club], I think literally it was as simple as googling ‘best defence’ or ‘most effective defence for women’, which was the thing that was at the forefront of my mind. It’s all I was thinking about all the time.”
Everything taught in Krav Maga is applicable to a real life scenario and the discipline’s fundamental aim is self defence. You use your own strength and natural instincts to protect yourself, such as throwing an attacker off balance by using their own momentum against them.
Webster-Shaw, a petite, fit, ballet teacher, emphasises that anybody can do it. “It’s meant to be practical. It’s nothing like flashy or to impress anyone, it’s all based on simple techniques, a lot of it is based on just your natural flinch responses, but making those as effective as they possibly can be.”
The Krav Maga Club’s women’s-only classes run on Monday evenings at CitySport. Some women joined the class as victims of assault, whereas some women just wanted to feel safer on the street. The sessions teach the same defences that the club’s mixed-gender group practice, but also scenarios more common to women, such as escaping a pony-tail or hijab grab. Many join the mixed-gender classes after finding their confidence with Webster-Shaw.
“This is a safe space. No one’s looking in through windows. No one’s poking their head around the door. It’s my responsibility to build up their trust in me.” Wester-Shaw said, “It’s about just unlocking that aggression, giving yourself permission to be aggressive when it matters, which is a bit of a hurdle for all of us, but for women especially.”
However, Krav Maga is not entirely physical, Wester-Shaw explained: “It’s easy to assume that it’s mainly aggressive, counter-attacking kicks, strikes to face, all this sort of thing – that is a big part of it, but it’s also a lot of practising de-escalation, practising avoidance, fine-tuning your inner monitor of what’s safe and what’s not. I was already quite good at those, I think most women are quite good at picking up red flags quite quickly, or noticing a shift from what’s appropriate and what’s not and de-escalating. I think learning to use my voice really powerfully was a big thing for my confidence.”
Over a year since the death of Sarah Everard, the conversation surrounding violence against women and girls continues. Jamie Klingler from Reclaim These Streets, a campaign for better street safety, spoke to the Islington Now about self-defence classes.
“It is not a way to solve violence against women and girls. That has to lie with men 100% of the time,” Klingler said, “No matter how many self defence classes people take it’ll never be enough.”
How would Webster-Shaw respond to voices such as Klingler’s? “The onus is on people who commit violent acts, the onus is on them, they are the problem,” Webster-Shaw said, “But this is the world we live in and if someone tries to hurt me or hurt my children or hurt the people I love, I want to be able to defend them with everything that I’ve got. It’s just about arming yourself with as much confidence and as much in your tool bag as possible.”
“It’s a massive, massive problem, but we’re just trying to do our little bit,” she said.
Induction classes cost £15 at CitySport on Monday evenings.
