There is always a wall in a prison
Published: Fri, 04/11/14
On one of the occasions I was teaching in the USA a gentleman
attended the course who had worked in the Youth Corrections system.
Unfortunately he had suffered a serious head injury in a work an
assault by an inmate about ten years previously and had had to be
medically retired. He was willing to give Stav training a go and
it was interesting when we got on to doing some self-defence
training. This ex prison officer had a well ingrained reflex to
grab an attacker by the right arm. Pull them round the attacker
around sharply and slam them against the wall. 'Then'. He
said. 'You would try and pin them there until reinforcements
arrived to help you restrain the prisoner.'
'Good move.' I said. 'But what if there isn't a
wall?'
'There is always a wall in a prison!' He growled.
So he didn't exactly do a martial art, but he had something
that was well proven to work in the appropriate context.
I have talked to a lot of people who work in various fields where
conflict management (or simply not getting beaten up too often) is
a major part of their job description. Police forces seem to
alternate between having quite elaborate systems of training
recruits in unarmed combat and control and restraint. Then
realising that without very regular refresher training it will
never become sufficiently ingrained to be any use. And then making
the training very simple. One policeman told me that he had been
told; just hit them in the legs with your baton until they stop
fighting back. I have met other police officers who have got
through their careers without every hitting anyone, I guess they
have put their emphasis on people skills rather than violence and
all credit to them.
Geoff Thompson talks about discovering that having a second Dan in
Karate was of limited use when he became a bouncer. In fact the
only preparation that was really of any use in his opinion was some
experience in amateur boxing. Otherwise you simply had to learn on
the job from the example of experienced doormen and work out a
simple and effective system that worked for you. It was in the
context of working the doors that Geoff developed the concept of
the fence.
Many years ago my father told me about one of his acquaintances, a
man in his sixties at the time who turned up a the pub with a black
eye and some other obvious injuries to his face. Apparently he had
been mugged but had successfully fought off the attacker because
his commando training undergone during the war came back to him
enabling him to survive a street robbery and keep his wallet.
So does having the skills required for managing conflict situations
make you a martial artist? Do martial artists have the skills to
manage violent encounters? The answer to both questions is ; not
necessarily and probably no. But regular experience of dealing
with violence will simply mean that you will know what to do if an
altercation starts, you won't panic or become confused (which
often happens to highly experienced martial artists who have never
experienced real violence) Then just make sure you stay close to
the nearest wall.
regards
Graham
P S I have updated the page for the 'How to train in Stav
Course' on the 17th of May. We will go into detail on how to
prepare to train in Stav on your own between training
opportunities. So we will cover Stances (which you should do daily
if you are serious about Stav) three essential staff exercises,
three axe cuts and three cudgel strikes. If the stances and these
nine exercises were learned and practiced regularly you would get
fitter, develop balance, focus and concentration and be able to
participate in two person training at courses or other events.
What is the secret of becoming a martial arts master? As my friend
Lynne likes to say, it is simple, turn up, train, practice that is
really all there is to it but it is much more than most people can
manage. Check out the page at
http://www.iceandfire.org/wetraining.html