We are the only two women in Kent who teach women's only classes.

 

Who are we?

 

I'm Philippa Davidson, 47 years old, so no spring chicken! I started out in Karate back in the early 90's, I lived in Ramsgate so there wasn't that many martial arts about then. I was lucky enough I found a very good club, which gave me a very good grounding which I now realise has stood the test of time. This club was Shuto Kai Karate, a soft style. This means that we don't use strength. Believe me, its harder being soft than using strength. If I said its a soft style similar to most Aikido styles, maybe you will start to understand that you have to blend with your attacker, rather than use brute strength to fight them off.

 

It was very hard work at times, I can honestly say it took dedication and alot of sweat! But I'm glad I carried on and achieved my 1st dan. I still remember being totally shocked that I had recieved it. I didn't expect it, was just awarded it. No fuss, there you are. Then I thought, I'm really starting again. My training is now really going to start. Now the hard work starts. Putting mind with body. That is the really hard part. Every lesson after that, the stakes where raised. My mind was now being tested more than ever. That was the real buzz I gained from karate, stretching myself more than I ever had before. If I was ever struggling with something, I always drew on my karate training, knowing I COULD do it!

 

I moved away from Thanet with work, so I joined a jujitsu club. This was different but again I was training and loving it. I was awarded brown belt and had started to build up quite a repertoire of my martial arts. These days people think nothing of training in different styles. Again, I think myself lucky I had another good style to add to my karate.

 

With work continuing to get more busy, I had stopped training for a while. But as time grew, I missed training, but finding another club of a soft style was very hard. In fact, as time went by I reaslied not even the martial arts community didnt know about my 'soft style'!. So I decided to try something else, and that was aikido. Fab, hooked from the start.

 

So I'm still training in aikido, but in Chatham now. I did start my training in Ashford, but I moved to be with my partner. I have trained in other styles, Hapkido which is a Korean martial art, which was fab. Different karate styles, afew kung fu styles. all of which I have enjoyed and have always learned something.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My name is Emma Watts and I am 33 years old. My background is in retail and animal care. In August 2013 I started work as a full time dog walker and pet sitter. After doing this job for a few months I started to realise how vulnerable I was, walking dogs in the middle of nowhere, hardly anyone else around. I started to feel unsafe. With dog theft also on the rise I was worried for the animals as much as I was for myself. This is when I started looking into taking self-defence classes. But they either were not operating in this area or the websites and social media pages came across as very matcho and male orienated, which I found a bit intimidating. 

 

I met Pip through the dog walking business and one day she approached me and said she wanted to teach self-defence classes to women and did I want to help out. I thought it was a great idea and agreed to help, since then it has been all systems go! We qualified as self-defence instructors in October 2014, and since then we have been working to make the business a success. We are both very passionate about what we teach and how important it is in this day and age for girls and women to feel safe.