Women Turn to Boxing for Self-Defense, Self-Respect

Hearing guttural, gut-wrenching groans, screams and the occasional obscenities coming from offices near Kirtland Air Force Base, one might think Irene Garcia is running a torture chamber.

It’s close.

The unassuming office space has been transformed by Garcia, a boxer and kick-boxer, into A Woman’s Place, the first all-women’s boxing gym in town.

It’s not only a gym. Garcia’s place is an oasis for women to master a sport overwhelmingly dominated by men--and to gain self-respect.

“Training with Irene isn’t easy,” said Christiana Cooper, a 22-year-old college student.

“Sometimes it gets a little noisy in here,” Garcia said with a wicked smile. “But they can grunt, groan, scream--whatever it takes to get it done.”

With running drills, squats and jumping jacks, Garcia pushes, prods and, most of all, encourages her students to do their best in her practice facilities, in the ring and in life.

“We’ve never been given permission to defend ourselves,” Garcia said. “We’ve always had to rely on brothers, fathers or other men to take care of our safety.”

While 11 students grunt through grueling leg lifts, Garcia shouted over the din: “What are you?”

“Boxers!” the women screamed.

“I say I’m a boxer to people I don’t know well, and they all look at me so funny,” Cooper said. “They all say, ‘Show me your hooks’--but I don’t advance my secrets and what I know to anyone.”

Cooper, who has been under Garcia’s wing for about three months, already shows the subtle moves and grace of a more experienced boxer.

“I had a friend who boxed at a men’s gym, and it sounded really cool,” Cooper said. “I’m very fitness-oriented, but with this, I feel like I’m able to defend myself as well.

“There’s no doubt I would be able to defend myself on the street. I’m prepared--and I think that’s pretty cool.”

“We try to make their upper bodies powerful without adding bulk,” Garcia said. “They’ll be tight, but not big.”

Trine Ortegon, a 29-year-old part-time student and full-time worker at a shop, has the makings--and the looks--of a fighter.

Decked in all-black bike shorts covered with boxing shorts, a tank top that slightly covers a series of tattoos, and a black baseball cap, Ortegon bound her hands in bright-red wraps then squeezed them into red boxing gloves.

“I’ve always wanted to be a boxer, but I’ve always had a fear of hitting,” she said. “I figured that if I take boxing, I’d get over it.”

The rookie in Garcia’s program, Ortegon also shows the discipline and natural talent of a fighter. Her moves are smooth; her pivoting feet move her body in rhythm with the punches she throws.

“This is a lifelong thing--I would want to teach this someday too,” she said after her workout, resting on a bench near a wall of windows that lit the practice space. “I’ve found my nature call.”

Garcia’s students say she provides inspiration on a personal level as well.

As the first woman involved in kick-boxing in New Mexico, Garcia, 44, has a background in Kempo karate. She was a boxer for three years but said she had a hard time rounding up female opponents.

Now there’s a sense of camaraderie in Garcia’s gym. Several plan on actually going into the ring--Garcia is working on a card for sometime this year--while others box purely for the workout.

It’s a kind of sisterhood, fused by the intense workout and an open-arms policy that make all feel at home.

Garcia said the sport is gaining popularity.

“Now that it’s a fad, it’s becoming a lot more acceptable--especially for women,” Garcia said. “That’s a good thing. It takes down those barriers and gives women permission to learn to hit.

“Here, they have a sense of their own physical power. No one here is allowed to say, ‘I’m sorry,’ when they hit--if the person who’s slipping [receiving punches] gets hit, she didn’t do her job.”

Along with the physical workout, the women in Garcia’s gym also can work at sparring, although it’s not required. The women aren’t allowed to spar until they learn defensive skills. Since her gym is so new, most haven’t worked to that point.

The training is much the same for women as for men, Garcia said, but most of the time, she has to start with the basics.

“Most women don’t even know how to make a fist,” she said. “It’s abstract to them because they have no role models before them.”

Until Garcia builds enough female fighters in her arsenal to have role models for younger fighters, she said she will take her students to men’s boxing gyms.

“That way, they can see why they do what they do--they’ll have a better understanding,” Garcia said.

The inspiration for this endeavor, Garcia said, is the assaults on women.

“Since many women don’t know how to defend themselves, they’re stuck mentally and physically,” she said. “Boxing is the perfect vehicle to change and become strong within ourselves.

“The women that train here may wear skirts and heels, but they’ll hit like a Mack truck.”