Dec 17 2007
Where does Self Defense Start (Part 1)
I received a question a few days ago via email and I have been mulling over a reply ever since.
I was asked when is the best time to introduce self defense in the dojo….shouldn’t it be from the first class?
I understood the question though, when does one start teaching true defensive skill as opposed to the often seen tournament ’sparring’ techniques; of course they are somewhat intertwined but there is a difference.
Not so long ago past masters were training to defend their lives, they trained quietly without much fanfare; over the years they (and their students) perfected their art.
Flash forward to today; what has changed?
The need for effective defensive practice has certainly not left us, however we live in a very different world than our lineage masters.
In older days the master’s reputation could be challenged for the very existence of the school. The master literally put up or shut up. Survival of the fittest; those teachers who could not face the reality of true ‘fighting’ certainly were not fit to continue teaching in the village.
Challenges could be for the school, the student’s tuition, and for ones very life.
Nowadays it is of course much harder for perspective students to find a reputable school. One can simply log onto sites like Youtube or Bullshido to see examples of poor Karate; the really sad part is that people paid their hard earned money to learn what they believed was classical Karate.
For a student, my answer is that self defense starts when you initially look into a school to join. If you want to learn self defense you need to find a system that fits your mode of study, and you want to find a teacher with the reputation and ability you expect.
Your life could depend on it; using a poorly learned technique (learned under the controlled dojo environment) could mean the difference between making it back to the car to call 911 to not making it back at all.