A Free Skills Clinic Built for Adult Women — Offered by the People Who Patrol Your Streets
The Anna Police Department is running something worth penciling into your fall calendar: a free, two-part women’s self-defense clinic open to any adult woman 18 and older. Sessions take place at the Anna High School Field House, 1201 N. Powell Pkwy, Anna, TX 75409, and are listed in the city’s 2026 Fall Activity Guide covering September through November.
The clinic is free. It is two sessions, not one, which matters — a single afternoon can introduce ideas, but a follow-up session is where muscle memory and scenario recognition actually start to take hold. The Anna Police Department is leading it directly, meaning participants learn from the same officers who work the streets of a city that has grown fast and continues to grow.
What the Clinic Covers
The program is structured around two practical pillars.
The first is situational awareness — learning to read an environment before a situation escalates. That means understanding how to move through a parking lot, a store, or an unfamiliar neighborhood in a way that reduces vulnerability and increases your options if something does go wrong. This is the component most people skip when they think about self-defense, and it is arguably the most transferable skill in the curriculum.
The second pillar is physical: basic techniques of defense and striking. These are not black-belt maneuvers. They are the kind of gross-motor responses that hold up under stress — moves that a person who has never taken a martial arts class can execute if they have practiced them at least twice in a low-stakes setting. Two sessions at the Field House gives participants exactly that kind of repetition.
Why the Field House Location Makes Sense
Anna High School’s Field House on N. Powell Pkwy gives the clinic room to work. This is not a folding-chair-and-PowerPoint event. Physical techniques require floor space, demonstrated movement, and the ability to pair up and practice. The Field House provides that environment without the cost of renting private studio space, which is part of how the department keeps the program free.
For residents in north Anna or anyone commuting from the newer subdivisions along Powell Pkwy, the location is also logistically convenient — it sits on one of the city’s main corridors and has parking.
How to Sign Up and Where to Find Dates
The clinic is part of the broader City of Anna Fall Activity Guide, which covers programming from September through November 2026. Because the city’s calendar updates frequently and specific session dates for this clinic were not yet pinned at time of publication, residents should check the city’s official calendar at annatexas.gov directly to confirm the exact dates before showing up at the Field House.
The registration process, if any, will also be listed there. Given that this is a two-part series with hands-on components, there may be a cap on participants — another reason not to wait.
The Bigger Picture: APD Programs Reaching Beyond Patrol
This clinic is one of several community-facing programs Anna PD has on its fall calendar. The department is also scheduled to present a residential crime prevention session for adults 50 and older at the Anna Community Library, 111 W. 5th St. Those two programs together reflect a deliberate effort by the department to show up in non-emergency contexts — building familiarity with residents before anyone ever needs to call 911.
For a city that added thousands of residents over the past several years, that kind of outreach fills a gap. New neighbors do not automatically know the officers, and officers do not automatically know the community. A free two-part clinic at a high school field house is a practical, low-barrier way to close some of that distance.
Bottom Line
If you are a woman 18 or older in Anna — or you know someone who fits that description and has been putting off learning basic self-defense — the Fall 2026 clinic at the Anna High School Field House is a concrete opportunity. Two sessions. Free. Led by Anna PD. Check annatexas.gov for the confirmed session dates and any registration requirements before the spots fill.
