THE weakest sibling always gets picked on. That is something Tuncurry woman Haley Stewart can tell you first hand after growing up with two brothers.
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But when Haley was 11 she found out about the martial art fudoshin and enrolled in the Tuncurry dojo Fudoshin Budo Ryu.
“After I started training I think my brothers realised I wasn’t such an easy target anymore,” she said.
It is this - how to avoid becoming a target - that Haley and the Tuncurry dojo wants to teach women.
The dojo, where Haley is now an assistant instructor, recently took 12 women through a self defence class to raise domestic violence awareness and give women vital self-defence skills.
The dojo also raised $400 for the Great Lakes Women’s Shelter.
“We took them through basic self defence techniques like how to get away from an attacker, avoid dark alleys and to walk under lights at night” Haley said.
“We also taught them how to identify potential violent situations and how to avoid them.”
Haley and head instructor sensei Graeme Dunning spoke about how domestic violence is under reported and how women can build safety nets of friends to identify and prevent violent situations.
Fudoshin, unlike other martial arts, does not have a competition format.
Haley said it was a tradition-based martial arts steeped in budo, which means the warrior way in Japanese. Students train specifically to learn the martial art and to use weaponry.
“After the class a lot the participants said they had a lot of fun,” Haley said.
“They left with the idea that they could build networks for themselves and for others. They enjoyed the fact the techniques were simple, so they could practice with their husbands and friends.”
Haley is now hoping to attend the University of New England.
While in Armidale she hopes to continue teaching fudoshin to give even more people confidence and so they can learn to avoid becoming targets.