Sarah Draht holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, has competed at the largest tournaments on the planet and holds two world titles and seven Pan-Am golds.
After teaching martial arts for a number of years, Draht was interested in holding a four-week self-defense course for women in Kelowna.
She had intended to sponsor one lucky lady who was interested in participating, but after releasing an online form and asking why an individual might be interested in snagging the free opportunity, she was shocked by the overwhelming response.
“I knew that violence against women has gone up and assaults, and it’s just been mentally a really hard three years because of COVID, and so I knew this was needed, I just didn’t realize how much,” Draht told KelownaNow.
Draht had received over 435 applications, some looking for tools to be preventative in an attack whereas others explained some of the graphic instances on when Jiu-Jitsu could have helped them.
Realizing the intense need for self-defence classes for women, Draht and The Yard owner Rob Evers, decided to offer free 75-minute courses for interested participants.
With the first-class booking up almost immediately, an additional two classes were added to the schedule.
“Throughout this workshop, the one thing I do not teach is kicking or punching, and very commonly self-defence workshops say ‘just kick the knee out’, and we discuss that,” she said.
“If someone has your hair, and if you go to kick their knee out or gouge their eyes, that’s gonna make a bad situation worse. What happens if it’s a bigger guy, or I piss him off that wouldn’t put you in a good place so I show techniques from there. You don’t have to be big, you just have to move quick.”
She went on to explain that one of her students recently found herself in a bad position, in which the skills she learned in Jiu-Jitsu essentially saved her life.
Draht hopes that women coming into these classes will not only learn the tools to protect themselves but also learn to strengthen their minds and listen to their intuition.
“It’s a way to give back and a way for women to really learn something. They want to be preventative or they want to change a pattern of what’s happened in the past, and both reasons are really important.”
People who are interested in joining the free classes can head over to The Yard and sign up online, or those interested in signing up for one of the four-week self-defence classes can check them out here.
Draht added: “I have one Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon, and I’ll open another one if I need to; and if there is a waitlist and that time works, still register because you still might get in.”
In the future, Sarah hopes that she’ll be able to open a woman's only Jiu-Jitsu program.
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