This weekend I had the pleasure of teaching a group of 10-year-old girls and their moms an intro to self-defense. This is actually the second I’ve gotten a chance to spread my love of martial art to a group of young women.

Three years ago I helped out a young lady in high school working towards her gold award. For those who don’t know that is highest award you can complete in the girl scouts. It’s essentially the equivalent of an Eagle Scout. Her project was on body image and she asked me to teach a few sessions on self-defense. She thought that women learning how to defend themselves would be a great way to empower them and see themselves in a new light. And I couldn’t agree more. High school girls are bombarded by so much pressure in so many aspects of their life that it is nice for them to have something that is larger then themselves to be proud of.

Back to this weekend…10 year old girls are a little different. They haven’t yet been hit with the social cliques of middles school or the social, academic, and societal pressures of high school. They still think things are possible and are not held back by fear.

When I was teaching them self-defense they weren’t nervous they were excited. Frankly I was impressed, but I usually am when it comes to kids. They couldn’t wait to do the next move or try it on each other or try it with their Mom. It really was amazing to see. We talked about safety as well as bully. The girls were extremely responsive and asked great questions.

At they end of the seminar one of the Mom’s said to me “I think you really inspired them.” Little did they know that this group of girl scouts inspired me. I can’t wait to see what the next generation of women will do.