Tijgertje has been the LGBTI-sport association in Amsterdam for 35 years now. What started as a self-defense course in reaction to the riots on Pink Saturday Amersfoort in 1982, had grown into a extensive platform for sports enthousiasts, ranging from basketball and swimming, to wrestling and yoga. At the same time, self-defense has retained an important position.
Over the last few years, we have seen a major and disturbing increase of violent hate crime against the LGBTQI community. While peaceful protest and inspirational movements, continue to be our hope for change, the necessity of being able to defend ourselves seems inevitable. Krav Maga is, originally, an Israeli self-defence method which is often used by the armed forces. The techniques are based on involuntary reflexes which have evolved naturally and which we all use for survival purposes. These reflexes can be used to your advantage, efficiently defending yourself and disabling an attacker.
Krav Maga focusses on ‘scenario training’. Members of the LGBTQI community are most likely to be assaulted by groups of two or more people. For example, people who are looking for trouble during or after a night out in town or people who want to press their intolerant prejudices on you aggressively. With the basic principles of Krav Maga under your belt, you can prevent, dodge or flip dangerous situations.
Tijgertje (Tigers) Krav Maga / Self-defence has been offering the LGBTQI community self-defence methods for over 35 years. Don’t worry, we don’t expect you to be at commando level after the classes, our goal is to give you the tools to feel empowered, to walk the streets with extra confidence and get home safely. We train every Tuesday evening from 20:00 – 21:30 and everybody is welcome to join, regardless age, gender or sexual orientation! More info? Send us an email at: zelfverdediging@tijgertje.nl.
[Text and image: Tijgertje]
