Tucson instructor offers free women's self-defense class focused on confidence and awareness

Tucson women will have a chance to learn practical self defense without paying a class fee when instructor Louis Maldonado hosts a free women’s combatives session Aug. 22 at Apex MMA on North Oracle Road. The class is scheduled from noon to 1:30 p.m. and is intended for women of all fitness levels and experience backgrounds. Maldonado said participants do not need to be athletic, aggressive or familiar with martial arts. They only need to be willing to attend and practice.

For Tucson residents, the class offers more than a set of physical techniques. Maldonado’s approach begins with awareness, trusting personal instincts and trying to prevent a dangerous encounter from escalating. De-escalation comes before physical action, he said, with hands-on defense reserved for situations in which it becomes necessary. The goal is to help participants recognize risk and make decisions under pressure, rather than treating self defense as a competition or a test of strength.

Maldonado has trained for 50 years and spent decades running similar programs in California before moving to Tucson. He said offering the class is a way to contribute to the community he now calls home. His instruction is built around major motor skills, or movements that can still be performed when fear and adrenaline interfere with fine coordination. He said a person’s heart rate can triple in a threatening situation, making complicated actions difficult to execute. Repetition is meant to help the body respond when thinking and movement become harder.

The instructor also emphasizes the atmosphere inside the gym. Maldonado said he tries to act as a mentor rather than a drill instructor, encouraging women to relax and enjoy the training. He described the women he teaches as being treated like daughters, an approach intended to make newcomers feel supported rather than intimidated. Last year, approximately 200 women attended six of his classes, and he hopes the Tucson program will continue expanding while remaining welcoming to people with different levels of confidence and physical ability.

Women who train with Maldonado say the benefits extend beyond learning how to respond to an attack. Nettie Bryant, who has trained at the gym for about a year, said women should know how to protect themselves for their own sake, as well as for the children, students and families who may depend on them. She also described the environment as more empowering than a conventional fitness setting. Hyejin Lee, who has trained for about seven years, said practicing defense has strengthened her confidence and helped develop a greater willingness to respond rather than freeze or flee in a dangerous situation.

The relationships formed during training are another part of the experience. Lee said participants become accountability partners and take comfort in seeing familiar faces while working through difficult exercises together. Maldonado said women who meet through the classes may recognize and support one another outside the gym, creating a broader network of people who are more aware of their surroundings and prepared to assist each other. For him, success can be as simple as one woman becoming more alert, using de-escalation effectively or protecting herself.

The importance of accessible women’s self defense instruction has also surfaced in Tucson’s university community. At the University of Arizona, a women’s self defense club was formed after student Bridgette Larsen said there was no comparable organization on campus. The club offered instruction at the Student Recreation Center, with the stated aim of helping women learn what to do if they were surprised or attacked and building confidence through preparation. At the time, instructor Brian Williams had been teaching protective techniques to women for more than 20 years.

That earlier campus effort also highlighted how safety programs can be affected by funding. Malia ‘Uhatafe, then a student director with ASUA’s Women’s Resource Center, said the center had offered free self defense courses in spring 2009 and had created Safe Walk in 2007, allowing students and staff traveling alone at night to request an escort. Budget reductions later eliminated the self defense program and prevented Safe Walk from operating in fall 2009. The center continued distributing pepper spray and keychain flashlights and hoped to offer additional classes. University of Arizona Police Department spokesman Sergeant Juan Alvarez said awareness training can help people identify risks, avoid situations that create opportunities for crime and gain confidence to take preventive steps.

The upcoming Apex MMA class is free, and Maldonado said women may register by sending a direct message to his Instagram account, @maldonado_combatives_arizona, or simply attend. The session will focus on awareness, confidence, de-escalation and straightforward responses that can be used under stress. Maldonado’s central message is that preparation should leave participants more aware of their surroundings and more confident in their ability to act, not fearful of the world around them.