90% of self-defense is making yourself aware of risks to your personal safety and reducing those risks.
OUR MISSION:
TO EDUCATE ALL WOMEN ON THEIR BEST OPTIONS FOR PROTECTING THEMSELVES AGAINST AGGRESSORS.
Our Background
F2 Women's Self Defense was founded by Fran Regan and Franca D'Agostino in September 2015. The almost-daily news stories about women being victimized and the dismal statistics (1 out of 4 women will be attacked in their lifetime!) made us think about the important women in our lives - our daughters, our mothers, our teachers, our neighbors, our friends - and how we might be able to help them avoid becoming one of those statistics. Our passion for empowering women grew, and we decided to find a way to use our personal skills and love of fitness to develop and implement a self-defense program to teach all women to better protect themselves.
In September 2015, Franca and Fran completed an intensive, three-day, 30-hour instructor course through Rape Aggression Defense (RAD), a nationally-recognized women's self-defense program, to become certified instructors. Fran is a retired federal probation officer and defensive tactics instructor. Franca has been teaching various group fitness classes for over 25 years. Both Franca and Fran are also full-time moms, certified personal trainers, and 2017 Ironman Triathlon finishers!
Our Program
Class format may vary depending upon the participants, however, our basic four-hour class consists of approximately 1.5 - 2 hours of lecture and 2 - 2.5 hours of contact drills. First and foremost, because 90% of self-defense is becoming aware of risks to your personal safety and learning how to better avoid those risks, our emphasis is not on physical fighting. Rather, we emphasize improving situational awareness, and conveying strength and confidence through body language and use of voice. Along with risk reduction strategies, we teach simple-yet-effective strikes for the worse-case scenario, when avoiding an attack becomes impossible. The strikes taught are simple self-defense moves EVERY woman can perform - fist strikes, elbow strikes, knee strikes, kicks - which are meant to be delivered at 100% intensity, with the goal being not to engage in hand-to-hand combat, but simply to allow for escape!
In the Summer of 2015, F2 introduced its Find Your Fierce 101 program. This class is specifically designed to help prepare the college-bound freshman, high school student, or recent graduate to safely navigate her college campus or work place. In addition to general campus safety, we also cover information regarding the added dangers of alcohol and "date rape" drugs, and potentially abusive romantic relationships. While our general classes are open to young ladies ages 13 and up, this class covers topics more relative to older teenagers and young adults. Mothers and/or female guardians are welcome (encouraged even!) to attend as well!
Additional Information
10/29/2026: AUTUMN IS HERE!! And what a gorgeous fall it's been so far! Usually, we try our hardest to hold an open-to-the-public class in November over Thanksgiving break, but this has proven impossible this year. Fran's youngest-of-four-kids plays college football, and Franca's youngest-of-four (copy cat!) plays high school AND club soccer, so we both have been traveling every weekend. We DID schedule an early-January date in Mechanicsburg, PA, (see below) that we hope works for some of our college and high school students. And we expect to get busy with a few more classes in the Spring and Summer 2027, so stay tuned!
F2 is, of course, important for ALL women. As always, though, during our winter-break and summer classes, we especially like to reach out to those young ladies attending, or preparing to attend, college. It's so important to arm our young ladies with the information they need to stay safe while navigating the college campus. Did you know that one in five female college students is the victim of assault or attempted assault during their time at school? Young women are testing their limits, meeting new people, and, unfortunately, coming into contact with alcohol and party drugs. It's important to have knowledge and confidence to face the potential threats so that the college experience is a safe and positive one. We can help!
As a reminder, if you can gather a group of eight or more girls/women, we would be more than thrilled to do a private class at a place and time convenient for you! (See below for more info!)
Finally! Please visit this site periodically for additional session dates and times, as well as cancellations and class updates. Our usual disclaimer: Admittedly, there are times that we forget to update our beloved website. Please know this! We may not always be great administrators. But we ARE excellent self-defense instructors, we promise! :):) Please - if you are on this site and don't see something fairly recent, do give us a call at 717-443-1935 or email us (f2@f2womensselfdefense.com) so we can let you know what we're working on.
WHAT ELSE: When you get to a class (and you MUST get to a class!), please dress comfortably, wear sneakers, and remove all jewelry (with the exception of stud earrings and wedding bands). And be prepared for a Fun and Informative day! Plus, we always have good snacks!
HAVE A GROUP OF 8 OR MORE?
We LOVE book clubs, mother/daughter gatherings, neighborhood or church groups, sororities, etc.., and can even conduct workplace workshops over lunch at your place of business. If you'd like to set up a private workshop, please contact us, and F2 will work with you to make it happen! All we need is a few tables and chairs, and a little bit of space for the physical portion.
How to Register
To register for our Basic 4-Hour Self-Defense Class, which includes two hours of instructional training and two hours of physical training:
Step 1) Signup by email at f2@f2womensselfdefense.com or by phone at 717.443.1935.
Step 2) Send payment using one of these options:
- check made payable to F2 Women's Self-Defense (address provided upon registration);
- Venmo @ F2-WSD; or
- online at the "Register Here" link below.
Please note registration cutoff dates. Class size limited to 20 participants, so register early!
