Best MA for self defence

Looks intresting. Is it a generic term or is it only a specfic group of people doing it?

 

SIM is for "simulation" and although many claim to do it few do it properly - John's days are world class and I brought him to Canada to pass his knowledge on to my Pack

When you consider the only people I have flown in have been Masters and Grandmasters in their style that should give you some idea of how highly i rate John.

Simon is my UK Director for HAVOC, and he continues the training relationship between the two organisations. Many claim to teach and practice Self Defense - John delivers

Anyone who has the opportunity to train with him yet neglects to do so simply is not serious about their self-defense training or development

 

NINJERED BULLDOG!!!!!!! BOW TO THE HOUND!!!

 

Thanks to those who've mentioned the experience and insight they've gained from my Sim Days. The physical element of the day is the tip of the iceberg - it's what people can take away from analysing each little event afterwards that is important.

I would agree with Hannibal that while Karate clubs that do unscripted training with elements of pressure are still not the norm, they are more common than HEMA groups and the number is continuously growing. There will always be a place for non contact child orientated clubs, and they serve a good purpose for a lot of their students, and there will also always be a place for those that want to high skill level WKF kumite type of Karate too, but the number of clubs in the UK offering a broader syllabus with greater aliveness in the training is continuously growing. When I wrote my Pinan Flow System series my aim was to provide instructors with a safe pathway to incorporate that sort of training into their syllabi from a static base skill development foundation all the way up through dynamic to alive training. Obviously any individual can pick up applications from any instructor or develop them themselves, but my core aim was to give them a template training methodology foundation that gave the benefits of competitive sparring while staying closer to a violent confrontation dynamic.

Bristol was mentioned in the thread and in fact Bristol is home to an excellent Karate Dojo that understands the commonality of karate with other arts (as a striking and grappling art) and hosts complementary classes in multiple arts - providing a great training base for people interested in physical fitness, core combative skills or combat sports.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFvaUZpmhD0

Returning to Sim Days - there are a few Mappers giving their perspectives on the training method in this video (and more in the footage).



Every event is different and tailored to the participants. I'm always looking at ways to ensure that people get more out of the days despite the necessary compromises made for safety. It's not simulated pressure - it's pressure. There are a number attendees posting here who are very experienced in having to deal with real danger and real violence and while they would admit that this is different, the consequences of failure different, the decision making pressures are what are being trained and these can be very real and very sobering for a lot of participants. As Smurf says - it's a wake up call. Watching how you physically respond (and taking that away to improve your training) is a wake up call. Analysing your tactical responses and their ethical and legal implications had the event been real is a wake up call.

 

Like they all said ...

SIM days are an excellent way to check your training and skills in a safe enviroment...as long as you dont shake hands with me !!!

 

What!
Are you kidding.
Too far guys surely.

It's all right for adults to buy into this fantasy violent reenactment stuff but too far with children

 

Some back-of-the-napkin calculations based on stats from the BBC from around 5 years ago:

Chances of under 16 year old being abducted: 1 in 230,000 (0.0004%)

Chances of under 16 year old being intended victim of failed abduction: between 1 in 23,000 (0.004%) and 1 in 100 (1%) - so obviously those stats are not conclusive in any way, and account for non-reporting of abduction attempts.

Half of successful abductions are by a parent and over two thirds involve the abductor being in a vehicle. I'm wondering how these are simulated?

Children are at far more risk from their peers, both in real life and on the internet. Abduction seems like a strange scenario to focus on for child safety.

 

Sorry, too late to edit my post. Forgot to include the source: How common are child abductions?

 

I don't wish to derail this thread.

In the case f the child abductions, I've written about the training here
The sobering reality of a fake abduction
and a short video can be seen here



We were all well aware of the safety compromises we were making in addition to the built in falsehoods (they didn't know how or who and had not witnessed prior attempts, but they did know we were going to attempt it). We did however learn a great deal from the training (a number of commonly cited tactics were quickly shown to be useless) and the speed and ease of the event made an impression on all concerned.

In a strange quirk of timing the following week a safeguarding message went out to all the local schools as a white van had been cruising junior schools in the region attempting to entice children to get in.

I try to include juniors on all my Sim Days where possible because their presence takes adults into a different mental zone and allows for a far greater range of scenarios. They are also invaluable for the juniors in highlighting the importance of all the non physical elements of self defence as well as the difference that size and strength can make.

 

Too late for that

Which commonly cited tactics were quickly shown to be useless?

Is there any age limit for children being in your Sim Days?

What do the kids get out of it?

 

Every bear hug drill I've ever seen demonstrated in any style. The idea of bracing against the vehicle - (it can work, but if you've got a receiver in the vehicle it's not going to happen). We will be doing more trials with (mainly) adults and scrap-able and breakable vehicles next year to play with more variables.

The youngest I'd take is 12. I don't allow children to participate blind - all those so far have been my own students or the students of instructors whose judgement I trust such as Mitch. I think the youngest we've had is 13. More often the juniors are mid to late teens (15-17), but as Sim Days are a grade requirement with me for 3Kyu through to 1Dan these juniors were offered places and both the participants and the parents were keen.

Fun (there is a rollercoaster element to the training - anticipation - then argghhhhh! - then smiles/laughter/handshakes), physical skill development, decision making experience, a reality check with regard to the advantages of adults over children (quite important for some cocky youngsters), and like the adults a significant insight into their current mental and physical responses to stimuli and a detailed seminar on the legality and ethics of using violence. Of the six hour day about one hour is spent on acclimatisation and safety briefings, probably about twenty minutes on scenarios, about an hour briefing the scenarios and about three hours forty on footage analysis and discussion. It's amazing how the time flies by.

 

This was one element of many during the day (which included things like peer violence, theft from a person, and child presence in adult directed violence in public places). It was included as we were doing road rage incidents as an element of the day (all the adults were returnees so we were covering some scenarios/dynamics that they had not worked on before). It was not the focus of the day, rather an option provided that all were interested in.

 

Thanks for the detailed answers, John.