Self-defense class benefits moms, daughters
By MIRIAM MOELLER Journal Staff WriterCheck out the video in Video Exclusives!
MARQUETTE - Watching Alina Tredeau, 20, choke her mother Joyce is an unnerving sight - even if it is for a good purpose.
"I feel that every girl in high school should have self-defense training," Joyce Tredeau said, as she maneuvered her body out of the choking attack.
The Tredeaus of Marquette were teaching the first section of a self-defense class recently at the Marquette YMCA. It's a class designed for mothers and daughters to learn about simple self-defense techniques, build confidence and have some "butt-kicking" fun.
Joyce Tredeau, who has been practicing the martial art of Soo Bahk Do for the past 22 years, usually starts out her classes by telling the true story "Listen to Your Fear" by Gavin De Becker. It's about a girl who spills her groceries on the steps to her apartment when a man shows up, insisting on helping her. He ends up accompanying her to her apartment, although she has a creepy feeling about the guy.
"You got to listen to it," she said about those intuitive signals. "He ended up raping her and wanted to murder her, but she survived."
Tredeau said she uses the story to talk about tactics used by predators to manipulate women into situations they don't want to be in. She also emphasizes that intuition is always a response to something.
Tredeau said she knows what it's like to be attacked.
"I personally was attacked and sexually assaulted in high school," she said, adding that a desire to protect her first child from predators spurred her to learn martial arts and self-defense.
"One of the biggest fears women have is being raped," she said.
The mother-daughter team is also teaching about awareness and crime reporting as well as physical self-defense techniques, street safety tips and more.
Lorraine Thoune and her daughter Danielle, 18, said they signed up for the class because they believe you can never stop learning about ways to improve your life.
"And we can do something together," Lorraine Thoune said, adding that she would like to learn how to "kick butt."
For more information on future self-defense classes, call 227-9622.
