Our Session with L’Amoreaux CC at Stephan Leacock CC, Scarborough (ages 10 to 18)

Our Session at Success Beyond Limits - JaneFinch (ages 13 to 18)

Session with Albion Boys and Girls Club & Rexdale Community Health Services (ages 10 to 18)

This Year’s Highlights: Sumera’s Youth Self-Defense & Dance Series

By: Sumera Garcia-Quadri

This year, our series had a different feeling to it. It felt GOOD knowing that we could plan a movement and safety series, under particiPACTION’s community better challenge, that we didn’t have to cancel or restrict in size due to COVID-19.

In collaboration with awesome youth organizations that we have worked with me for years such as AlbionBGC, Rexdale Community Health Center, L’amoreaux Community Center, Weston Frontlines, Success Beyond limits-JaneFinch, Stephan Leacock CC, and our self-defense coaches Nikki at Six Krav Maga and Jesse from Krav Maga Maleh Canada, we engaged over 65 youth across 4 under-resourced communities.

During a FREE month-long series, youth ages 7 to 18 years put down their cell phones and joined us for sessions that included fun dance warm-ups and street-style self-defense activities.

Participants gained awareness around potentially life-threatening situations and got the chance to practice techniques on how to escape such situations in both pairs and a group. They were taught how to escape different attacks such as wrist and backhand grabs, choke holds, strikes, and knife and gun attacks. The instructors did their best to gear the activities based on the age group and demographic so that it was both engaging and appropriate.

Key Highlights

All of the participants moved for at least 60 minutes (we did not allow phones and asked parents to sit outside)
Each workshop had at least 12 participants in attendance (our goal was 8 per workshop)
All of this year’s participants were NEW to our programming which in turn allowed our instructors to teach them basic Krav Maga self-defense training
We introduced a female Krav Maga instructor for the first time and she did a great job at adapting her lesson plan to meet both the boys and girls in attendance
All host organizations were contacted in advance about how they wanted us to deliver the series so that we could have a better run session (i.e. ages, topics discussed, class sizes) and revisions were made in a timely manner in order to deliver the sessions successfully to all hosts
All of the participants left with basic self-defense training and some were connected with other services in the area
The hosts and parents expressed an interest in us returning in the future

Are you an organization/youth club interested in bringing us to you?

Please contact me HERE and mention your location and dates, your ideas, age/demographic, and budget.

The girls at Stephan Leacock CC learning situational awareness

The girls at the Rexdale Hub learning about situational awareness

The girls at Success Beyond Limts, Jane Finch learning situational awareness

The youth at the Rexdale Hub learning how to escape hair grabs from the back

The youth at Stephan Leacock CC learning how to escape side choke holds

After 2 years of pandemic-related restrictions placed on Toronto recreation, we returned in-person with a fun dance and safety series under particiPACTION’s community better challenge.

In collaboration with AlbionBGC, L’amoreaux Community Center, Weston Frontlines, Success Beyond limits-JaneFinch, Agincourt Services, Rexdale Community Health Center, and our self-defense friends at Krav Maga Maleh Canada, we brought together over 75 youth living across 4 at-risk communities.

During our month-long workshop series, youth ages 7 to 19 yrs-old put down their phones and joined us for some fun dance warmups (Socacize, Bollywood, and Latin) and street-style self-defense sessions.

Youth gained awareness of potentially life-threatening situations and got the chance to practice escaping these situations in pairs. Participants were taught how to escape certain attacks such as wrist grabs, choke holds, back grab holds as well as knife and gun attacks. The instructor geared the workshops based on age group and demographic (girls-only/co-ed).

To ensure the workshop's success, all hosts and youth were consulted about the workshops and had a choice in part taking.

Key Highlights

All of the participants moved for at least 1.5 hours and met a part of their weekly exercise recommendations
Bot the hosts and participants enjoyed the workshops and expressed an interest in us returning again (both in our next series and through their own services)
Each workshop had between 10 to 20 participants in attendance (our goal was at least 8 per workshop)
All of the participants left with basic self-defense training and some expressed an interest in training further

If you’re an organization that is interested in bringing us in to get your group moving through a fun dance and self-defense workshop, please contact me here. Please do mention your ideas, demographic, location dates, and budget.