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Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Jade Wang takes a shot at the punching bag in the Women Kick In It studio.

Ring Leaders

All-female classes in kickboxing teach assertion, self-defense By Pam Marino

"MOVE IT! MOVE IT!"

Tony Nuñez is shouting at his student, a woman who is intently concentrating on hitting a punching bag as hard as she can.

Nuñez's background in the United States Marine Corps is evident, but after he finishes barking like a drill sergeant, instead of a scowl, he flashes a broad grin.

"Good job," he tells her. Nuñez's shouting is done all in fun, part of the way he good-naturedly motivates and encourages his students.

It's another evening at the Women Kick-In It studio in Cupertino, possibly the only kickboxing studio in the country exclusively for women. Women travel from all over the South Bay to attend classes.

Nuñez and his brother/partner Augustine Nuñez started the studio last year, and already their encouraging style of teaching women kickboxing has won them plenty of converts.

"The teachers are tremendous. There's no words to explain it," said Jade Wang of Cupertino. "They're so patient."

Word-of-mouth endorsements from women who say they love the kickboxing classes have brought even more students into the studio, forcing the two men to add more classes and expand into the office next door.

Already they are getting requests to bring their teaching to other parts of the Bay Area, and a home page on the World Wide Web has brought inquiries from all over the world.

"I never knew it was going to be this big," Tony Nuñez said.

What the brothers teach is actually a blend of boxing and karate, reflecting the background of the two men. Tony Nuñez, the former Marine, boxed for years, beginning at age 12. Augustine, a former police trainer, is a karate expert who specializes in American GoJu-Ryu.

"The karate part gives you the self-defense you need," Tony said. "The boxing is a good workout because it gives [women] shoulder strength."

Women interviewed raved about the blend of the two styles.

"I used to be in other martial arts, but this was a school I totally fell in love with," said Wendy Javier, a former Sunnyvale resident who now lives in San Jose. She said she tried Muay Thai boxing, but it was too aggressive for her. The blend of boxing and karate that the brothers teach is just right, she said.

"They really teach you boxing moves. ... They stress good forms and kicking," Javier said.

The main focus of the classes is self-defense. The men's goal is to teach women how to react automatically, without nervousness or panic, if grabbed and attacked.

"We knew we had to start this business because it was a necessity," Tony said.

He said women of all ages and from all walks of life have come to the school for a chance to learn self-defense.

Students interviewed said they get something else along the way.

"You learn self-confidence and self-awareness," Wang said. Adding that since starting the classes last year, she has more balance and is more flexible.

"I've actually had no physical activity at all, except shopping," the De Anza student joked about her life before kickboxing. "It gets you in shape."

Katherine Lindeman said she likes the good workouts she gets from the classes.

"It gets my aggressions out," she laughed.

Wang is now a junior black belt, one step away from a full black belt. The slim young woman does not look like she could do much harm at first glance. In a recent class, she was pounding a target with powerful kicks that would send any grown man to the ground.

The studio's belt system is different from that of other martial arts schools. Instead of mastering specific movements or forms, as in other martial arts, belts are earned for proficiency in self-defense tactics.

"I could teach you 20 forms per belt ... [but] you can't scare [attackers] away with form," Tony told some new students last week. The two men teach women self-defense moves from the very first class.

The now-popular business got started in a garage several years ago. Both men were working as security officers at a local casino. A woman they knew wanted to learn boxing and karate as a way to become a security officer herself, despite being less than 5 feet tall. She told other women at the casino about her Sunday lessons with the two men, and soon waitresses and others were asking if they could come, too.

Pretty soon the brothers were regularly teaching kickboxing out of their garage to women. In early 1997, they leased what used to be a small office in a shopping center at the corner of Stevens Creek Boulevard and Blaney Avenue. They thought they would teach a few classes on Sundays only.

A few classes became 10 classes every Sunday. So the brothers expanded to other days of the week. Every class, each with a maximum of seven students, filled up. Soon they took over the office next door. Augustine quit his job at the casino to teach full-time at their studio. Tony, who has children, quit later. They now instruct just over 160 students each week.

On Aug. 23, their studio is joining with another martial arts school for a women's kickboxing tournament in San Jose.

Students said the small class size is part of what draws them to the studio. They get more attention, and beginners even get specialized instruction until they can keep up with the rest of a class.

"This school caters to training and motivating students," Javier said. "Other schools pack you wall to wall."

Wang agreed.

"They take you one-on-one until you get it," Wang said. "Everyone gets to learn at their own pace."

Students also said they like the fact that the studio is only for women. Some students said that at other studios and gyms they felt less comfortable around the men, who were more competitive. They also said they felt like men were checking them out, looking for dates.

"You feel awkward," Wang said.

"There's no one to stand around and gawk at them," Tony said.

Tony said the studio is also attracting a lot of women who used to take cardio-kickboxing classes, because the focus there is on an aerobic workout only, not self-defense.

Women, Tony said, are a lot tougher than men give them credit for.

"My friends said, 'You're opening a school for women only? Aren't they just a bunch of wimps?' I tell them, 'No! I work my butt off--they hit me hard!' " he said. A regular part of classes is for the two men to suit up in protective gear to spar with the women.

"They just don't know how strong women are becoming."

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, June 24, 1998.
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