Box-off Sexual Assault - Thai boxing as a way for self-defense and mental build

Martial Arts has long been a way to connect your body and soul, building mental and physical strength. This week, we wanted to feature an exceptional way Thai Boxing has been used -   a type of therapy and a method to prevent sexual assault.

We reached out to Anne Chen, the founder and CEO of Elite Thai Boxing along with Betty Fu, the Advocacy Co-chair of Zonta Club of the New Territories about an amazing program: the Zonta Women Self Defense Project.

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About Elite Thai Boxing & Fitness

Elite Thai Boxing & Fitness (Elite Thai) is a social enterprise established in 2015 to empower at-risk and underprivileged youths through Thai boxing. Passionate in the cause to assist underprivileged youth, Anne was inspired by a social worker who mentioned how many had talent in Thai boxing. Having experienced the benefits of Thai boxing herself, she decided to start this social enterprise to help youths in need. 

Elite Thai has held multiple social programs in collaboration with NGOs. Their Boxoff Depression 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 projects taught boxing for free for youths battling mental illness. They also hire youths who had undergone training to become coaches, empowering them to build a career and a better future. 

“We really saw a lot of dramatic changes in the youths that went through our program. They gave up their drug addictions, alcohol addictions, and bad habits to excel in Thai Boxing. They wanted to excel in life.”  

About Zonta Club

Zonta International is a leading global organization of professionals empowering women worldwide through service and advocacy. The Hong Kong district is one of the 37 districts they operate in and has 6 clubs within Hong Kong alone.

The Zonta Club of the New Territories has long held many programs aiming to advocate women's rights, especially to end sexual-based violence. They aim to educate the youth with multiple initiatives, for example, teaching secondary school students on dating violence, workshops and education kits for mentally challenged women on self-defense, talks and supporting resources on domestic violence, etc.

“Our vision is that women's rights are human rights. 

To fight violence, the first step is to educate.”

Zonta Women Self Defense Project

Sponsored by Zonta Club of the New Territories and initiated by Anne, this project aims to empower women and teach them self-defense through Thai boxing. The participants were young ex-drug abusing women who were going through rehabilitation. With 52 hours of Thai boxing training and educational workshops on sex education and mental health, they showed exceptional potential in finishing the trainings in limited time and growth in mind and body. 

“Having both boxing training and educational resources meant that aside from gaining capabilities to protect themselves, they also have the knowledge to do so. Coupled with their newly gained physical abilities, they are mentally stronger and tougher. We saw that growth in these girls. They have higher self-esteem, they have much more confidence and they are able to protect their own rights.”  

Research has shown that learning self-defense could lower the chances of a woman being sexually assaulted by 30%-50%. With the physical and mental benefits from practicing Thai boxing, sexual assault victims could also be empowered through this training.  

“We’re confident it will help victims as we’ve seen that practicing Thai Boxing could help with mental health issues from our previous social programs - preventing negative thoughts, training people to become mentally stronger.” 

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Thai boxing presents us with a new perspective to  prevent or deal with sexual assault. Learning self-defense not only strengths the body and makes it more agile, but it also trains the mind to be more aware of danger and more confident in dangerous situations. Thank you Anne and Betty for creating this wonderful program and sharing wonderful new insights on preventing sexual assault!