Sun Dragon Martial Arts & Self Defense, NFP

We’ve had a long, very hot summer here at Sun Dragon Martial Arts in Austin, TX, but we’ve gotten a lot done! Here are a few photos from our Beach Training session at the end of July.

Senpai Leila practices sparring for her black belt test at Thousand Waves later this year

As you can see, even when the Sun conspires to keep us inactive, we always find ways to stay active!

After Labor Day, the 3:30 Tuesday/Thursday junior classes will be resuming, starting September 6.

Also, the advanced Youth class will move from Fridays to Thursdays at 5:30. The teen class this will be on hiatus for the rest of the year. We hope to add a teen class back to the schedule in the future.

Sun Dragon holds self-defense workshops for women and children all year long. Recently, we held one for Families With Children From China. Here’s what they had to say about Sun Dragon and Sensei Joy:

” Thank you for supporting the kind of world I want to have my children live in . . . I thought the class was excellent.  Spot-on in its message (use your brain—strangers can be fine and people you know can be not fine), the techniques she taught (basic and just a couple to keep from overwhelming, intent is important!) and her energy (up-beat, serious but not scary). THANK YOU for this! ” was the reaction a parent had to the first empowerment workshop FCC offered with the Sun Dragon Martial Arts school in south Austin.

In a response to families talking to FCC board members about incidents of bullying and racist behavior toward our community, we partnered with Sun Dragon Martial Arts School to offer three age levels of empowerment workshops to our children offering one a month this fall.  These workshops focused and expanded on a five step philosophy of ” 1. think 2. Yell. 3. Run 4. Fight and 5. Tell.”

Sensei Joy Williamson, the head instructor at Sun Dragon taught the classes that stressed learning to speak up for themselves and others, and how to identify safe adults when they need help. They practiced strong body language, basic physical skills to get out of grabs, and how to tell the difference between tattling and reporting.

Sun Dragon and its instructors are proud to be part of a movement that seeks to end all violence against all people everywhere. We thank FCC for having us teach them and for saying such positive things about us.