The class is taught by Rodger Martin, who has more than 28 years of martial arts experience and who operates his own martial arts studio, Bad Ace Martial Arts, in Minot.

“I’ve been teaching Shou Shu and self-defense in Minot for almost 20 years,” Martin said. Shou Shu is a type of Chinese martial arts.

Martin, originally from California, came to North Dakota to play football at Minot State University in 2001 and has stayed in Minot.

Martin offers the free Women’s Self-defense Class once a year, either as a single class or with multiple classes occurring over the course of a single month.

Audin Rhodes/MDN Martial arts instructor Rodger Martin, left, conducts a self-defense demonstration with Lindsay Bofenkamp, one of the participants attending the Women’s Self-Defense Class Thursday.

This past month, Martin has been teaching the women’s self-defense class on Thursdays. There is one more class this month to be held on Thursday, Nov. 21, from 7-8 p.m.

Martin said he is offering the class free of charge as a way to give back to the community. He has had students in the past who have experienced trauma in relation to sexual assault, violence and domestic violence. Martin said trauma can make people hesitant to commit to an intense self-defense course.

“You don’t have to come in and make a commitment to train, but can come in and check it out and see if it relates to you and see if it can help you,” he said.

Lindsay Bofenkamp, Minot, was one of the participants in the class this past Thursday. She had no previous martial arts or self-defense experience but felt inspired to take the course due to recent political developments in the country.

“People ask, if you were alone in the woods, and you could choose to be there with a man or a bear, always the bear,” Bofenkamp said. “I would choose the bear every time.”

For Bofenkamp, anything that can encourage women and girls to feel safe, confident and empowered is important.

“I think if you’d ask every single woman, if they were being honest, if they’d ever had a threatening experience with men, every single one would say yes,” Bofenkamp said.

Bofenkamp was more than willing to pay for a class like the one Martin was teaching but said the free nature of the class was an added bonus.

“I don’t think anyone should have any barriers to feeling safe – financial or otherwise,” she said.

Martin said he tries to cater his instruction to support what his students want and need to get from the class.

“This session is focused on grabs, how to get away from a choke or if somebody’s grabbing you or two hand chokes or single grabs and things like that,” Martin said. “But I want to know what they want out of it, and then I can go from there to help people grow.”

He said the moves being taught in the course are effective with practice.

“Everything works if you practice it. You have to practice and you have to put in the work for it to be a reactive type of skill. But the plan is for those leaving tonight, that they’d be able to use those skills right now,” Martin said.

Pre-registration is not required and all women and girls are welcome, including trans women and women aligned and femme presenting nonbinary people.

“Martial arts is for everybody,” Martin said. “When I punch you in the face, it won’t matter how you identify, you’re going to want to block it, and you’re going to want to know how to defend yourself and you’re going to want to be able to be safe.”

He said the class is geared toward women’s self-defense and caters to women to create a safe environment.

“Women need to be able to defend themselves against somebody stronger,” Martin said.

The class also welcomes those with no prior martial arts, self-defense or fitness experience.

“When I do the class, it’s up to you how hard you want to go or how intense you’re going to be,” he said.

Bofenkamp hopes to gain confidence from the course and would like to feel less scared when alone.

“I think it’ll be therapeutic to hit things,” she said.

Martin believes martial arts can help many people, and not just women.

“Whether you want to work out and get in shape, or maybe it’s a little bit of mental health, or you want a safe environment to get rid of some extra energy to help your anxiety,” he said. “It’s a huge umbrella so it can help lots of different people.”