Coachella Valley women take self defense class

I’ve always felt strong, but unless you know what to do during an attack, it means nothing.

Mika Moulton created Christopher’S Clubhouse after her ten-year-old son got kidnapped and murdered. She teaches self defense not just to children but women, too.

She taught my girlfriends and I – women equally confident except when it came to fighting off a potential attacker.

“Pretty vulnerable. I feel like we’re easy targets,” Erin Hyland said.

“We’re smaller, of course. I totally feel more vulnerable,” Angela Pickering said.

Mika said awareness is crucial 365 days a year, but especially at this time of year.

“This time of year is real important. Women are going Christmas shopping, out later, getting off work, it’s dark much earlier,” Moulton said.

“It’s really scary. The statistics of women being raped are sickening and sad,” Autumn Brewer said.

Every two minutes, someone in the U.S. gets sexually assaulted. One out of every six women will be victims of an attempted or actual rape in her lifetime.

‘”My biggest goal in life is that predators would be afraid of us instead of all of us being afraid of them,” Moulton said.

During three classes, Moulton taught us how to accomplish that. We talked about avoiding dangerous situations. We learned how to escape if someone attack us in our sleep. We learned every kind of hit and punch you can imagine.

“I’m definitely learning to be more attentive to my surroundings. Not sit in my car play on my cell phone. Just be more aware,” Hyland said.

All this practice lead up to the final challenge – defending ourself against two pretend predators.

None of my friends thought they could fight off two grown men – but we all did.

“Oh my God. Shaken up. Lot of emotions. Scared excited to know I can do this,” Pickering said.

“It was almost like instinct. Everything we learned totally came together,” Danielle Gersh said.

“We want women to feel empowered, to know what to do. If something happened, they can get away, and now you all can get away,” Moulton said.

For more information on classes and to sign up, visit christophersclubhouse.org.