Seniors Getting Kick Out of Karate Class

Cecelia Chapman enrolled in Tony Ransdell’s karate class last week because she thought it would be good exercise.

Then she found out she could be a weapon.

“I liked the kicks,” said Chapman, 66, of Reseda, one of a handful of older students who met in the Valley Senior Service and Resource Center run by the Organization for the Needs of the Elderly. It was Chapman’s first class Friday, but already she felt like jumping into a Jackie Chan movie.

“Most of the movies are really just for show,” warned Ransdell, 70, a Reseda resident and retired magazine ad salesman. “Those flying kicks really make the kicker vulnerable. Kicks at and below the waist are all we have to do.”

Ransdell, who has a black belt in karate, has been teaching karate for 26 years--the past 2 1/2 years to seniors.

“Everyone has different capabilities,” Ransdell said. But, he said, even seniors can learn to use their arms and legs to defend themselves and find the vulnerable points on an attacker’s body, like the knees.

Ransdell teaches his students to use enough force to get away, not to pick a fight. “The object is not to win,” he said. “The object is to protect your life.”

Even so, when an outraged motorist yelled at 84-year-old Alex Andres at a service station recently, Andres said his karate training kept him calm. “I wasn’t frightened,” said Andres, a Woodland Hills resident. “It gave me confidence.”

Fortunately, a station employee backed up Andres before it became a fight, he said. By projecting an aura of confidence most attackers will be deterred, Ransdell said.

For details, call the center at (818) 705-2345, or Ransdell at (818) 343-5600.