Joan has been a passionate student of the martial arts for almost 12 years, and an instructor of martial arts and self defence for 8 years. She began her training in the Korean martial art of Taekwondo, earning her black belt in 2001 (Kukkiwon certified). She competed successfully in numerous Taekwondo tournaments in the Atlantic region and benefited from the experience tremendously. However, as much as she enjoyed competition, she found herself drawn more to the practical, self defence aspect of the martial arts, and began to focus her energies on training in reality-based strategies and close quarters defence. While an instructor in Taekwondo, Joan began developing programs to attract more women to the martial arts and to teach self defence to adults and youth, a path which soon led her to the development of women-specific self defence programs.
Joan is a student of Bushido Kai jujitsu under Sensei Ray MacKinnon. She also trains in Combat Hapkido, a system dedicated wholly to self defence, and has been training in hapkido since 2003. In 2005, she was personally awarded a certificate of appreciation by Grandmaster John Pellegrini, 9 th degree black belt and founder of Combat Hapkido, who was in Halifax for a Defensive Tactics Seminar, for her dedication to and promotion of the Combat Hapkido system. Joan is a former Instructor, Director of Women’s Programs and Director of Youth Programs for Self Defence Canada, but left those positions to allow her the time to focus exclusively on the creation and delivery of women’s personal safety education and self defence programs. In July of 2006, Sisu Women’s Self Defence was officially established in response to the growing demand for women-only self defence instruction.
Joan cross trains regularly in other styles of martial arts, including Jeet Kune Do, kickboxing and taekwondo, and attends additional training seminars whenever possible. She completed PPCT’s Defensive Tactics and Spontaneous Knife Defense certification programs and is working toward further certification. Her women’s self defence programs, including SmartMove, Teen SmartMove and Sisu Basics, have been attended by real estate agents, bar staff, government employees, teachers, hospital staff, small business owners and many others. She has been invited to present workshops in various locations in Nova Scotia, including invitations by the RCMP, the Nova Scotia Community College and numerous public and private schools. Joan holds a bachelor’s degree (Honours) in Social Psychology from the University of Western Ontario, and a bachelor’s degree in Humanities from King’s College, UWO.
Member, International Combat Hapkido Federation
Member, National Women’s Martial Arts Federation
Member, Association of Women Martial Arts Instructors
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