CROYDON COMMENTARY: On International Women’s Day, TIA DEAN, who works as a teacher, talks about how her training in a Korean martial art can provide lessons in confidence in everyday life
Black belt: Tia Dean says the confidence she has gained from her martial art provides important life lessons
This International Women’s Day, I’m thinking about confidence – for me and the girls I teach at Overton Grange School in Sutton.
I’ve been teaching RE and philosophy there for six years, but martial arts has been part of my life for 18.
I’m a fourth-degree black belt in Choi Kwang Do, a South Korean martial art. It’s not really a hobby, it’s a massive part of my life.
I wouldn’t be who or where I am today, without it.
It started when I was 10. Growing up in Croydon, my mum entered me into a summer fair competition. I won six months of free martial arts training and a uniform. She dragged me along, worried about me starting secondary school in a tough area.
I fell in love with Choi Kwang Do on Day One, quit football and everything else, and stuck with it even when my two mates who’d started with me dropped out. Soon, my mum, stepdad, and brother joined in – it turned into a proper family thing.
The community kept me going. The self-defence and fitness were important, but the belonging was something else.
Now I’m a teacher, I carry that into my classroom. Teaching’s not just about facts – it’s about making a space where pupils feel part of something.
By the age of 14, I was running drills for my instructor, showing younger children the moves I loved. That’s when I knew I’d teach – I wouldn’t have chosen this path without it.
International Women’s Day has me thinking about the girls at Overton Grange.
Croydon’s rough edges showed me why confidence matters – my mum had to use her training on the streets, and I’ve been close. If I was at the Department for Education, I’d make martial arts a compulsory PE unit. Knowing you’ve got two or three moves in your back pocket if you’re in danger gives you real confidence, and that’s valuable.
I run self-defence sessions at the school sometimes – for staff and students. Colleagues said an hour of moves left them lighter, less frazzled.
Wherever you are in the country the challenges for girls aren’t very different – streets, social media, you name it.
Martial arts taught me discipline and patience, wrangling ADHD and autistic children when I was barely much older in the drill hall definitely helps me to handle lively Year 9s.
In RE and philosophy, I tie in Choi Kwang Do’s pledge – respect, perseverance – not far from the ethics my sixth formers debate. This week, we’ll chat about women philosophers, rare as they are, and whether gender affects their importance to the world. It’s my nod to International Women’s Day.
After a long day, I head to the training hall – teach a class, punch a bag, sweat it out. It’s my reset when marking piles up or a lesson goes sideways. I’m a better human for it, 100%. For girls everywhere, I want them to feel that quiet confidence. I’ve never had to land a punch, but knowing I could keeps me quietly confident.
So this International Women’s Day, I’m celebrating what got me through my teenage years and early 20s, martial arts and the strength it gave me.
It’s made me a better teacher and a better human. I’d love every girl to find that strength too – through a kick (if required), or just knowing they’ve got the power.
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