Fight Like a Girl, which will be held June 30 at Snell-Crawford Park on Williams Drive, was the idea of Fort Dodge Police Officer Caitlin Carlyle.

“We were just talking about different ways to get the community involved,” Carlyle said. “I remembered a couple of events I’d seen around in other communities where they’d done these women’s self-defense classes. Sort of like a ladies’ night. It just kind of sprung from there.”

Carlyle said the event will be teaching women a variety of self-defense skills, but it will also be about empowerment.

“Fight Like a Girl is an event for women who want to learn how to strengthen themselves and learn some self-defense moves for when they’re out and about,” she said. “I think it’s a good way for people to feel empowered and feel that they can handle any situation thrown in front of them.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Deann Faiferlick, at left, demonstrate a self defense tactic for getting out of a choke hold with Fort Dodge Police officer Caitlyn Carlyle who was posing as the attacker in Snell-Crawford Park. The group will be teaching the Fight Like a Girl self defense class in the park on June 30. Participants are reminded to dress for a physical outdoor workout on a grass surface.

For the first 45 minutes, Carlyle said officers will be going over personal safety tips.

“We’ll talk about the best ways to protect yourself,” she said. “Different steps you can take to make yourself less of a target.”

Justin Faiferlick, owner of Faiferlick Martial Arts in Fort Dodge, will be instructing the women in physical self-defense.

“We’ll hopefully tie in some of the things they’re going to talk about in that first 45 minutes,” he said. “And we’ll turn them into specific techniques and strategies in dealing with an attacker.”

Faiferlick added that there are a number of skills that he’ll be teaching.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Deann Faiferlick, at left, along with her husband, Justin Faiferlick, demonstrate a self defense tactic with Fort Dodge Police officer Caitlyn Carlyle posing as the attacker at Snell-Crawford Park. The group will be teaching the Fight Like a Girl self defense class in the park on June 30. Participants are reminded to dress for a physical outdoor workout on a grass surface.

“We’ll work on a few striking skills and some ground defense as well,” he said. “We’ll focus on using the hard parts of your body to some soft topics; different scenarios that would be common and some self-defense moves we can do.”

Assistant Police Chief Cory Husske said that the first 50 women who sign up will receive a bottle of pepper spray as well as a portable alarm.

Husske described it as “a keychain alarm that you pull a pin on it and it releases 140 decibles of alarm sound.”

There have been five demonstration cannisters that have been purchased by the Police Department and the pepper spray will be demonstrated on two subjects; Husske and another police officer.

Additionally, all the women who serve on the Fort Dodge Police Department, Fort Dodge Fire Department, Webster County Sheriff’s Department, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Department of Transportation and dispatchers from the Webster County Communications Center will be helping out.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Deann Faiferlick, at left, along with her husband, Justin Faiferlick, demonstrate a self defense tactic with Fort Dodge Police officer Caitlyn Carlyle posing as the attacker at Snell-Crawford Park. The group will be teaching the Fight Like a Girl self defense class in the park on June 30. Participants are reminded to dress for a physical outdoor workout on a grass surface.

Carlyle said the skills Fight Like a Girl will be teaching are important.

“I think it’s important for anybody to feel they can handle a situation that’s thrown in front of them,” she said. “It doesn’t matter your size, age, background, sex. You should be able to feel confident in your skills in how you would react to certain situations thrown in front of you.”

She added that Fight Like a Girl aims to boost confidence in women and their abilities to defend themselves.

“I think a lot of it is in women’s heads sometimes that they can’t handle a male aggressor,” she said. “Learning these self-defense moves and how to prevent them from even happening is the big goal out of this.”

Husske agreed.

“You want to inspire confidence that, in the unlikely incident that could occur, you actually could handle yourself,” he said.

Those interested in Fight Like a Girl can sign up at the event, 10 a.m. at Snell-Crawford Park on June 30. It lasts from 10 a.m. to noon. It is open to women who are 18 years old and older.

Faiferlick asked that those participating wear clothing appropriate for an outdoor workout on a grass surface.