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.

Celebrating Canada Day Long-weekend with a delicious & nutritious loaf made with Canadian Blueberries and Maple Syrup

Ingredients

1/4 cup salted vegan butter (room temperature and soft) (options nut/coconut milk)
1 large free run egg (room temperature)
2 cups blueberries
1/4 c pure dark maple syrup
1/4 warm maple tea (option warm water)
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup almond flour
1 1/4 cup long oats
(Nutritional option add in 1 tbsp of ground flax seeds or Chia seeds)

Method

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and blueberries. Lightly fold together. In another bowl, combine all wet ingredients and mix together well with a large fork. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and fold until you get a thick batter. I fold the mixture to prevent the blueberries from falling apart. Pour mixture into a loaf pan that is 8 x 8 and lined with parchment paper. Place pan in a hot oven that is heated at 350 degrees C and bake anywhere from 30 to 35 minutes or until the top is medium brown or an inserted knife comes out clean. When baked thoroughly, take the loaf out of the oven and allow it to sit for 1 hour. This loaf is crumbly and moist and cuts best when cold.