Everyone wants to know what is self-defense and what is being taught in a self-defense class?

Self-defense is one style of martial arts; the hand to hand technique is what mainly being taught in the class. But we also cover the skills for using cold arms like knife, Nunchaku and etc.

How old are you and what is your athletic background?

I am Fahimeh Ghesty Choobdary, I was born in 1977; I started learning taekwondo when I was 22 years old. And almost at the same time I begin working on armed self-defense. I now exclusively work on the latter. Self-defense is really different from taekwondo; you learn new skills every day. My uncle was my first teacher; he is the head of self-defense division in martial arts federation.

How old is self-defense combat in Iran?

The division began in 2001. It was at first a branch of public sports federation and latter on it became a division under martial arts federation. Men’s self-defence started a year earlier in 2000.

People often imagine that self-defense is similar to a street fight? They have the image of a woman fighting a man in the street.

Well, defending yourself in a street fight is one part of self-defense. Of course it doesn’t encourage any street fight; but when someone is being robbed or being threatened by knife what should he or she do in these cases? Before teaching any skills in these classed we prepare the student’s mind and try to establish a high level of self-confidence.

Are there any real injuries involved when practicing?

We mostly learn and teach defense strategies; but naturally we have free style combats and competitions and while in a competition we will have injuries. When we practice armed defense we use covered and fake tools.

So do you design your moves based on the attacker’s moves?

Yes, usually. But in Iran because of the Islamic limitations we cannot practice with men. And the attackers are mostly men. We first teach the students that by learning self-defense we aim to know ourselves better and to gain self-confidence; in fact for engaging an act of self-defense one needs to be in control.

We believe getting frightened in an attack situation makes things worst and begging the attacker only adds to it. But in case of an attack if we are panicked and forgot all the skills, we should start working on the head of the attacker; the eyes are the most vulnerable parts of body. Since it is illegal to carry pepper sprays, I advice the student to se their perfume spray.

I am curious to know how did women receive this field, were there enough interest?

Oh, it was received very well, especially by governmental agencies. Women in the police force are our regular clients. And we have older women was well. Students are also interested to learn. I think all women should learn some parts and some small skills in defending themselves.

How long will it take for a woman to be able to defend herself?

It really doesn’t have a fixed period for preparation. It depends on the person. But they have to have at least Brown Belt. But that is also depending on the person.

How are the athletic competitions in this field? Is there any team competition?

There are two types of competition; one is a performance skills and the other is a hand- to – hand and person-to-person combat. So far, in Iran we have had Nunckaku speed performance and combat. We still don’t have a national team in terms of international competitions. The federation wanted to form a team but we disagreed. It is soon still.