Last weekend I was rather surprised to have a couple of people from Rotorua contacting me to ask about my self-defence classes. One lady was particularly interested in the Women’s Self Defence course that I ran back in 2010; she wanted to allay her fear of violence by learning some practical self-defence skills. I was a bit tickled to hear that people of Rotorua were still talking about my martial arts and self-defence classes and seminars from two years back.

After a hiatus, I am once again teaching martial arts. It has been a while since I put my thoughts, philosophies and insights into a blog. I am once again in that period of limbo when in between jobs I have some time on my hands. At times like this, my mind starts to wander as a deluge of memories and nostalgia comes pouring in.

Last weekend I ran my Intro to Krav Maga seminar at Glenfield. I was fortunate enough to have the editor of PhysicalArts attend my seminar. I think all who attended had fun and walked away with a few useful techniques. Those attending got to experience the rawness of the system with its direct striking methods (combatives), its tactical approach and simple self-defence applications.

What has always bothered me about the many people involved in martial arts is that their style becomes almost like a religion, where they refuse to think outside their own discipline. The emergence of MMA as a mainstream event has remedied some of this wrong thinking however I still often come across many martial artists who refuse to accept that they may end up having to grapple or may get taken down. Krav Maga deals with all situations encountered in MMA as well as much more. In my classes I go over easy, effective defences for situations involving striking, grappling, ground fighting and weapon attacks.

As rookie bouncer learning the ropes I used to observe how quickly and explosively the head doorman would grab and eject someone as I helped or watched his back. Rapid response and most importantly teamwork were the principles I learned in becoming a bouncer. The venue where I started work was used for student nights during the weekdays but on the weekends was the watering hole of all those turned down by the more upmarket establishments of the city. Working the weekends I would often get the butterflies of the slow adrenaline dump when starting my shift knowing I will almost certainly be dealing with a fight before closure.