14/10/2026
Iโve always thought it was a bit โickโ when headlines turned tragic - another woman lost to violence - and suddenly the promotions for womenโs self-defence classes would appear.
Or Iโd see a completely fear-based advertisement from an academy I otherwise respected.
Those things never felt right. And eventually I understood why.
๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ ๐โ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป.
I know what itโs like to be on the receiving end of a manโs bad intentions. Another womanโs traumatic experience will never be my cue to sell a class.
At Iconic, we've always sought to inspire instead of frighten. To build confidence instead of feeding fear.
Women-only spaces are important. Weโve created them ourselves, and weโre working on more opportunities for women to learn and train together very soon. But the reason behind those opportunities matters to me.
๐ช๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ.
Many of us already know the fear. That is part of our experience, but it isnโt the whole of who we are.
We are strong, capable, athletic, curious, competitive, smart and funny. We are students, training partners, coaches and leaders. We get to train for all of those reasons, too.
Honest training takes time, skilled coaching and repeated practice. Thatโs how you build the ability to make decisions and use your skills under pressure, giving you a better chance of protecting yourself if you ever need to. ๐๐ผ
But thereโs also the challenge. The friendships. The laughs. The satisfaction of getting something right that you couldnโt do before.
๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ผ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐น ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ. ๐๐บ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐๐๐ฎ๐. ๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐โ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ. ๐
