Learning the keys to self-defense

NASHUA – Bobby LaMattina wants even more women to learn how to let their tiger out of the bamboo cage. LaMattina has been doing just that for a long time, and he marked 30 years of self-defense training by offering a free class for women on Thursday. Letting the tiger out of the bamboo cage means, in the parlance of the grandmaster, a 10th-degree black belt in Shaolin kempo karate, fighting back against an attacker and making noise to startle him or her and to scare them away. LaMattina – or “Grandmaster Bobby,” as he’s known – said he hoped to raise awareness and promote self protection. LaMattina said he started his martial arts career when he was 11. “By the time I was 13,” he said, “I knew I loved martial arts and wanted to become an instructor.” He started teaching free self-defense courses for women in Boston in 1981. He relocated to Nashua a year later and has been at Tokyo Joe’s Studios of Self Defense in Nashua ever since. There are nine Tokyo Joe’s locations throughout southern New England. LaMattina is trained in many forms of martial arts, such as kempo, Thai kickboxing, jujitsu, tai chi and Brazilian jujitsu.