A fight club to talk about

The statistics are grim.

Every two minutes, a woman is sexually assaulted in America, according to the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network.

And one out of every four women will be sexually assaulted in college, the network reports.

Deciding they didn't want to be part of those numbers, 15 women took matters into their own hands -- literally.

They learned that "fighting like a girl," the name of the self-defense course they took Sunday at Focus Martial Arts and Fitness in Lake in the Hills, is what's going to help keep them safe.

"You have every right and every God-given ability to fight back," said Shannon Mahoney, the class's main instructor. "Fight back immediately and effectively."

During the three-hour course, women and high school girls learned how to punch, where to land blows, why they should yell while they hit their attacker, where their bodies are the strongest and how to get out of situations when a man's trying to choke them.

Four male instructors, wearing helmets and thick pads, made the class even more realistic by portraying the "good bad guys," who attacked the women.

The class attracted best friends, mothers and daughters and a few women who have survived attacks and wanted to take the course to empower themselves.

Mary Cote, mindful of the statistic about college assaults, said she forced her 17-year-old daughter Reannan to take the workshop before she goes off to school in the fall.

"It starts to sink in that it's going to be your little girl, so no, I didn't give her an option," said Cote, a Cary resident.

Reannan Cote, who has taken the course three times, says she used to be the type of person who was totally oblivious to her surroundings in the parking lot -- that's the sort of behavior Mahoney said attracts bad elements.

The class changed all of that, and Reannan says she now walks with purpose to her car and without a cell phone to her ear.

"I feel like I walk with my head taller," Reannan said.