Don’t mess with dojo’s teenage ninja

Like many martial-arts training centers around the nation, the 9-year-old Boulder Quest Center has found that its classes are most popular with adult women. The need for self-defense – evening the odds against a stronger attacker – is a powerful motivator to lure women to a dojo.

But leave it to the young to add a little zip.

Zippora Abraham “Zippy” Paiss, who has attended classes at the center for seven of her 14 years, recently earned a second-degree youth black belt in To-Shin Do, a Japanese ninja martial art form. She’s the first youth in Colorado, second in the nation and third in the world to reach that status, known as “Nidan” at her age.

Abraham Paiss tested for her Nidan degree at the 33rd annual Ninja Festival in Dayton, Ohio, at the home dojo of Black Belt Hall of Fame member Stephen Hayes. A former head of security for the Dalai Lama, Hayes brought the To-Shin Do form to the United States.

The Boulder Quest Center, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Suite 18, in North Boulder, offers 33 classes six days a week including youth and adult self-defense, Ninja fitness, cardio kickboxing, Ninja meditation and Ninja weapons. Free introductory classes are offered.

Local businesses and other organizations can take group self-defense classes and team-building exercises at the center.

Instructors at the center include owner Mary Stevens II, a fourth-degree Black Belt.

The center’s website, boulderquest.com, includes a page to register for a $40 “Day Before Thanksgiving Camp” at the center for children ages 4 through 12 on Wednesday, Nov. 27. “Ninja games” are included, and Zippy will be one of the instructors.

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