Picture this: you’re walking down a dark alley alone and someone attacks you. What would you do?
Many people have the misconception that you need extensive fighting skills to defend yourself, Qin Yunquan notes, but a simple finger lock or a jab to the eye could suffice. “You don't even have to break a sweat sometimes.”
Qin is experienced in this field, having taught self-defence for over a decade. The 31-year-old leads Kapap Academy, a Singaporean social enterprise dedicated to empowering civilians — particularly women and the elderly — with practical self-defence skills.
In her quest to learn how to defend herself, she has explored a range of martial arts styles from Brazilian jiu-jitsu to wushu. It was not until she became acquainted with the Israeli martial art kapap that she felt confident enough of her ability to defend herself, should such a situation arise. Qin explains, “The reason why I chose kapap is because it promises a realistic form of self-defence; it was simple and very effective even against a much larger opponent.”
Qin is committed to teaching ordinary citizens how to protect themselves with realistic self-defence moves. (Photo: Qin Yunquan)
Learning kapap took place at a crucial point in her life, says Qin, as an accumulation of stress and other issues had led her to feel as if her world was spiralling out of control. “As I got into kapap, I saw how I could shift my priorities from being ‘me-focused’ to focus more on others,” Qin relates.
On top of that, Kapap Academy’s mission had inspired her, and Qin eventually decided to become an instructor within a year of training there. “It helped me to regain control of my life in a much more meaningful way.”
It was at this point, around 2010, that Qin wondered if there was a way she could teach ordinary citizens how to protect themselves without even having to get physical.
Enter Modern Street Combatives. Co-founded by Qin and her mentor Teo Yew Chye, who is also a trained psychologist, the self-defence system aims to teach students three “rings of defence”. The first two focus on learning how to recognise signs of danger and extract yourself from such a situation immediately. Physical tactics should always be used as a last resort, she maintains.
Over 80 percent of Kapap Academy’s students are female. (Photo: Qin Yunquan)
To date, the academy has taught more than 60,000 students, over 80 percent of whom are female, according to Qin.
Through the academy’s proprietary system Modern Street Combatives, Qin says she is not just empowering women with the ability to protect themselves, but also battling the stigma of sexual assault.
One student told Qin during a session that her classes helped her confront a traumatic experience in her past in which she was assaulted. “Her words [made me realise] that what I'm doing has an impact on others, whether they say so or not,” Qin explains.
Qin received the Queen’s Young Leaders Award from Queen Elizabeth II in 2017.
For her efforts in empowering the community, Qin was presented with the prestigious Queen’s Young Leaders Award at Buckingham Palace in 2017. The award, part of The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme, recognises young change-makers below the age of 30 in the Commonwealth who step up to make a difference in their communities and transform the lives of others.
Qin, who was nominated by her mentor Teo, is at present the only martial artist who has ever achieved such a feat. “The award has encouraged me to do better and work smarter to progress to the next goal,” she says.
The programme also provided the young leaders with training, mentoring and opportunities to network with industry leaders and like-minded individuals.
“Entrepreneurs tend to feel alone; you can't speak to any other person about your worries because they often wouldn't be able to relate. Having this network made me realise that whatever problems I had were actually very common,” she says.
Qin speaking at the Youth Ecosperity Dialogue 2018.
Hoping to share her experience with other youths, Qin joined the Youth Ecosperity Dialogue 2018 panel on “Inspiring Change”. The dialogue was part of Ecosperity Week, an annual sustainability-focused conference organised by Temasek. The platform brings together young change-makers across Asia to discuss solutions that can shape a better tomorrow.
Qin now aims to expand beyond Singapore and make her social movement regional.
In May 2019, she travelled to Bihar, India, to train about 200 girls in a small village. These girls work at Akhand Jyoti, a non-profit eye hospital that focuses on eradicating gender inequality by providing underprivileged girls with education and career opportunities. They often visit villages to provide routine eye check-ups, Qin says, and it is important that they know how to protect themselves.
As part of a social mission, Qin visited the state of Bihar in India to train about 200 girls and young women. (Photo: Qin Yunquan)
All this is done in the hopes of building a better world by empowering and educating individuals. Qin, for one, strongly believes that youths can leverage their strengths to create social impact.
“The future belongs to the young,” she declares. “The world that we inherit, whether it is worse off or better off, is really in our hands.”
