As someone with a sixth-degree black belt in taekwondo who has represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games and Great Britain in the European Championships, Lyndzie Jeffrey certainly knows how to handle herself.
Brimming with confidence, determination and an unshakeable resilience, the 43-year-old who lives in Aberdeen, is now on a mission to empower other women to feel the same through her free self-defence classes at Tillydrone Community Centre.
“A lot of women who have contacted me about the classes have thought it was too good to be true because it’s free,” says Lyndzie.
“But it is free as through Granite City Taekwondo, the club I run, we got funding from the Health Improvement Fund to facilitate it.
“So the class is open to any woman aged 16 and over who wants to learn self-defence.
“It’s a great opportunity as you’ve got me, a sixth-degree black belt martial arts instructor and taekwondo master facilitating it.”
Sixth degree black belt
It was 28 years ago when Lyndzie – whose taekwondo title is Master Lyndzie – first fell in love with taekwondo, a Korean martial art that combines combat and self-defence with sport and exercise.
“I started taekwondo at the age of 15,” says Lyndzie.
“My instructor at the time saw potential in me as I picked things up quickly so he asked me to be an assistant coach with him very early on.
“So I’ve been coaching long before I became a black belt.”
With a natural flair for the sport combined with an incredible work ethic, it wasn’t long before Lyndzie started competing on the world stage.
“I have travelled the world as part of the British team doing European Championships, World Championships and Commonwealth Championships,” says Lyndzie.
“I was also part of The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton Relay team.”
Breaking down barriers
Competing at the top level of the sport did come with its challenges though as Lyndzie discovered after having her son Alex.
“In 2011 I fell pregnant and had my son,” says Lyndzie.
“I was still number one in my category in the UK for taekwondo so they still wanted me to compete for the country.
“So when my son was seven months old I was selected go to Alicante to the Europeans but I had no support.
“I went myself with my son and I had to get one of the other parents that was going over to look after my son while I was competing.
“Everything was a bit of a headache and I felt that everything was against me representing my country.”
Building confidence and self-esteem
Smashing her way through all the barriers being placed in front of her, Lyndzie’s steely determination never wavered as she celebrates 21 years since setting up Granite City Taekwondo, her grass roots community club.
“I started my own school when I moved to Aberdeen in 2002 and I’ve been running it now for 21 years,” says Lyndzie.
“Over that time it’s gone from a not-for-profit club to a registered charity which allowed me to apply for funding to start the self-defence classes.”
Since starting the women’s self-defence classes in May, Lyndzie says the feedback has been really positive.
“I’ve had a lot of positive feedback from the ladies who have come along,” says Lyndzie.
“During the class, we don’t focus too much on the fitness side of things but they learn a variety of self-defence skills that would help you if someone tried to attack you.
“So if someone was to attack you we teach them how to retaliate and escape.
“I’ve kept the coaching team female as I wanted it to be a safe space where women can open up and say what they’ve experienced if they want.
“When the women leave the class, they always say they’ve enjoyed it and they can’t believe it’s free.”
Strong posture
For Lyndzie a huge part of the class is about building women’s confidence and self-esteem.
“Sometimes by just changing their confidence and self-esteem, women carry themselves differently,” says Lyndzie.
“They might tend to roll their shoulders forward and put their heads and eyes down.
“So it’s about changing their posture so they carry themselves straight and strong.”
By teaching women self-defence on a weekly basis, Lyndzie hopes the skills will become muscle memory so that if the worst happens, they will automatically know the best way to react.
“If you keep doing things in repetition it sinks in and it becomes an automatic response because muscle memory kicks in,” says Lyndzie.
“It’s like any training, whenever you’re learning a sport and activity the more you do the same thing again and again it becomes something that you almost without thinking about it.
“That’s why it’s important that we go over the different locks and escapes so that as soon as someone grabs hold of you, you’re out of it before there’s any chance of them getting full strength on you.”
Positive impact
Seeing the immensely positive impact that her taekwondo club is making on people’s lives in the local community makes Lyndzie determined to reach more people.
“I’m a paediatric nurse so I work with children with additional support needs and people with very complex conditions,” says Lyndzie.
“I’m very passionate about my work so my plan is to do taekwondo classes for people with additional support needs free at the community centre.”
Never one to sit still for long, Lyndzie is constantly fundraising so she can support more people in the community.
“I’ve been told that I’m resilient, motivated, determined and that I have a passion and drive,” says Lyndzie.
Lyndzie’s free women’s self-defence class is held at Tillydrone Community Centre every Wednesday at 6.15pm for women aged 16 and over.
For more information contact Lyndzie on 07746 595935, and you can check out Granite City Taekwondo on Facebook.
Conversation