Tanya Panizzo – A Fighting Spirit for Personal Safety
Midwest Tae Kwon Do in Plymouth, Michigan celebrated its 20th anniversary party on July 24, 2026. For two decades, school founder and owner Tanya Panizzo has been providing the community with a welcoming training environment where everyone can feel at home – but her contributions in her school are just one part of her impact as an instructor.
Before ever owning her own martial arts business, Tanya was coaching part-time while working in engineering. Once her daughter was born, she knew she wanted to change things up.
“I certainly loved [engineering], but I wanted more flexibility,” Tanya said. “I was traveling a lot for engineering. I was leaving the country a lot and my life changed. Being a small business owner gave me a lot more flexibility, and that is something I really love to do.”
The school opened in 2006, focusing solely on Tae Kwon Do for all types of students in the Plymouth area – from beginners to advanced competition athletes. While teaching, Tanya noticed a trend among many of her students coming to train: they were interested in self-defense but didn’t want to train just Tae Kwon Do.
Through this discovery, Tanya knew that she could do something new and impactful for the community. In 2007, she began a new life mission by starting Fighting Spirit while still running Midwest Tae Kwon Do.
“Fighting Spirit really was the result of me trying to separate [martial arts and self-defense] so that people who wanted to do martial arts could do that and learn self-defense in a more traditional way, but then people who really wanted self-defense but didn’t have the time commitment for another activity could do it under a different umbrella.”
Fighting Spirit is focused on teaching self-defense and providing education on sensitive topics to any demographic. Students of all ages receive training tailored toward their age, gender, and situations they may find themselves in. It’s not just simple hand-to-hand combat – Fighting Spirit covers a variety of tactics and has expanded to a total of nine programs for students’ personal needs.
- radKIDS Program
- 10-hour safety education program emphasizing essential decision-making skills
- Stay Safe! for Kids
- Fall and spring program that bridges the gap between summer radKIDS programs and time spent in school
- Girls-R-Pearls
- One-day program helping young girls with subjects that they’ll have to face as they grow up
- Basecamp Empowerment Education for Boys
- Anti-bullying program meant for 13-to-16-year-old boys
- College Programs
- Self-defense for college students on campuses
- #NOTINMYSPORT Athletic Programs
- Helps define the appropriate coach-player and teacher-student relationships for parents, coaches, and youth group leaders
- Women & Teens Program
- Comprehensive approach to safety training that provides options and includes awareness, risk reduction, posture, and verbal skills as well as physical skills
- Women’s Night Out
- Fun program that covers a variety of topics about staying safe while introducing a safe space for women to discuss sensitive topics
- Corporate Self Defense
- Self-defense training for corporations about workplace safety, bullying, and confidence
“I did a lot of Women’s Self-Defense in the beginning. But then, my daughter was born and I heard about the kids version (radKIDS). I went to the training and I was amazed. I thought it was fantastic, so I got certified. Then I started teaching kids and then there was the gap between the kids and the adults. So I started doing the teens (program) and over the course of all those years, we were able to fill all of the demographics.”
Each program has something special to help students keep themselves safe and track their progress. While the majority of training has been in Michigan, Tanya has traveled to a variety of locations and events to spread her knowledge of Tae Kwon Do, radKIDS, and Fighting Spirit, including:
- Olympic Training Center for Tae Kwon Do
- Notre Dame Law School
- Referee Camps
- Sororities
- High School Athletic Teams
- Many Companies
No matter who Tanya is teaching, she makes sure students are learning more than just different martial arts-style moves.
“The one thing that I emphasize with Fighting Spirit is that every program is multisensory. So I’m not standing there talking to you and you’re not just running around without some form of curriculum. There’s an element of using their voice, of hearing, of touching, of hitting – it’s very multisensory.”
One of these multisensory tools Tanya came up with was The Purple Key Moment. Students in the women’s programs are given a purple key once they complete a program, signifying their ability to recognize an unsafe situation and KNOW WHAT TO DO.
It serves as a physical reminder that they have trained and learned the necessary skills to defend themselves. The key was created to serve as a physical reminder to stay aware and emphasize the need for self-protection.
“With the women’s program, I wanted a way to be able to stay with them after they left the class and [provide] something that would connect them to everything that they learned. So when they finish a long program they all receive a purple key, and it stays on their keychain. It’s a way for them to either collect them with more training or for people to ask what is that about and they can say ‘let me tell you about that class, or ‘I know where to get resources if you need help.’ It’s a way for them to kind of stay connected to safety when I’m not there.”
The Purple Key Moment is not the only special experience offered at Fighting Spirit. The radKIDS program is the only program offered by Fighting Spirit that Tanya didn’t create. RadKIDS was started as a self-defense organization for children in 2001 by Stephen M. Daley. His mission has been to help children stay safe and provide them realistic choices in different scenarios.
Tanya took the training for the course and instantly knew she wanted to make it a part of Fighting Spirit. She became a certified instructor and adopted the program into her organization. They host the program and follow the detailed curriculum that Stephen developed for radKIDS. The program is not just helpful, but also provides true education for students.
“What differentiates [radKIDS] from a lot of other safety programs that kids go through is it [that kids] actually get a trial practice at the end of the session. The kids learn about fire safety, home safety, we talk about bullies, what to do if they find a firearm playing hide-and-seek in somebody’s house, and good, bad, and uncomfortable touch. We also talk about physical skills, like how to fight to get away if somebody’s taking you away. At the end of the day, what differentiates it is that we have a trained instructor come in and they practice that. They walk on this little sidewalk, they try to lure the kids. The kids practice their physical skills. So it’s an adrenal stress stimulation for kids done in a very friendly way for them.”
Through her work with radKIDS, Tanya has been proud to see the number of ‘saves’ the program has helped with. A save is considered any situation where a child used their skills and the curriculum to find a safe space. And these have not just been kids fighting for their safety, though those stories have been featured on multiple national media outlets (CNN, CBSNEWS.com, Good Morning America, etc.). These saves have included:
- Reporting sexual abuse
- Identifying unusual cars in neighborhoods
- Finding and correctly alerting an adult to an unsecured firearm
The saves mean the world to everyone who dedicates their time to training both kids and adults on how to stay safe. Still, Tanya has found a main benefit that radKIDS and Fighting Spirit provide, which is quite similar to martial arts: confidence.
“A lot of anxiety – in particular with children – but also with adults – comes from not knowing what to do about something; either not having a plan or not having skill and knowledge. So, what’s really great about radKIDS is that they can handle a lot of different types of situations either with safety or not safety because they have confidence in that knowledge base. The more they take it, the better they get year after year.”
While Tanya is dedicated to helping people through Fighting Spirit and radKIDS, she still makes sure to focus on where her heart and soul lie: Midwest Tae Kwon Do. She has balanced out her schedule to teach regular Tae Kwon Do classes, go to corporations and schools, and host the safety programs.
Her passion and dedication to helping others have kept her busy throughout the past two decades. She’s opened a school that has transitioned from a competitive powerhouse to traditional Tae Kwon Do while forming a safety program – both changing lives for the better.
“Time flies when you’re having fun. I can’t believe it’s been 20 years. I mean, there have been some rough moments along the path, but I mean, that’s life. But I can’t believe it’s been 20 years because it’s been a lot of fun.”
As 20 years of martial arts was celebrated in Plymouth, students of past, present, and likely future came together for a special event. Tanya was able to see the lasting impact her martial arts journey has had on others.
“My purpose in the world of martial arts is to just help people feel like they belong somewhere because, when they belong somewhere, their confidence can grow and they will always have a safe place to return.”
