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[TwoGun]

I’m fairly new to the forum so please forgive me if I’m rehashing old topics but here goes.

First I’ll say that I have done martial arts on and off many years.  I’ve trained in Tae Kwon Do, Kempo, Aikido and a little Hapkido and Judo.  I’ve been training regularly for the last four year and I’m at the tender age of 48.

I have also looked at numerous so called “modern systems”.  And I’ve spent a great deal of time contemplating such things with a lifelong friend and fellow martial artist that occasionally frequents these pages.  Here’s what I’m getting to:

I think that you can define three distinct types of martial systems.  The first I call martial sports.  These are people training for the ring.  They are trained to score a point on a more or less evenly matched opponent.  Certainly most schools that teach such systems have an element of self defense that is taught but most of the emphasis is on the sport aspect.  There is not a thing wrong with this if competing is what you want to do.  And if you get a person that trains for a number of years and it good physical shape they can probably take care of themselves on the street more often than not.

Next there are traditional martial arts.  These are arts that are steeped in tradition and most have much more serious take on fighting.  Yet they were designed with a rather old understanding of human anatomy and for social conditions that were far different from what we have today.  These tradition martial arts are sometimes complex and sometimes still have a lot of opportunities for artistic expression.  They require a great deal of dedication and usually require that you are in good physical condition to perform.  Many also have a forms or routines that in my opinion have limited value for self defense.

Finally there are modern systems that do away with much that is taught in traditional or sports oriented styles.  They use modern knowledge of anatomy, neurology and kinesiology to develop techniques.  Certainly some are better than others and I won’t get into a what’s what or a who’s who here.   Suffice to say that for the “average” person who wants to train for self defense without investing three nights a week for next three years, I feel that these modernized systems are the best course to pursue.

I also feel that what is taught in H2H should transition to edged weapons almost seamlessly and require very little shift for blunt weapons.  Full fledged courses often include firearms training.

Here’s the rub.  While these systems are often great training and efficient for personal defense, they tend to be taught in seminar form.  You get a weekend seminar or even a week long training session.  So you learn a lot of good stuff but then there is often no follow up.  The skills you learn are perishable and if you don’t practice on a regular basis they are often are degraded or lost in short order.  Normally there is not a school for this kind of training, a place you can go on a regular basis and practice under the watchful eye of an instructor.  So while you might get some great training, keeping what you learned was difficult.

Some might take objection to my view of martial arts and if so, that’s fine.  I’m not attempting to bash anyone or any style.  I am simply trying to point out the differences in both the types of training and in the way they are currently taught.  The school style and the seminar style.  I much prefer the school approach but it might never fly from a finical standpoint.  So I continue to train at a martial arts school.  I live in a very small town so I’m fortunate that there is enough interest there to keep the school, let alone something as specialized as a school that teaches strictly modern SD.

Does anyone else feel they are in this same boat?  Is anyone aware of a school that is full time dedicated to teaching a modern SD system?  For those of you who do MA and SD for a living, is such a thing viable?

Thanks for any input on the subject.

[Nick Hughes]

TwoGun,

That's what I teach and yes, I do seminars but I also have a regular class in my home town.  I think you'll find there are plenty of others who do the same here on the forum.  Where do you live?

N

[TwoGun]

I live in Pierre South Dakota.  While its the state capitol, it only has a population of about 15K.  The only other towns that are large in the whole state, (and the largest is 130K) are several hours drive away.  In Pierre it self we have only a Tae Kwon Do club, a little Shoto Kahn school and the place I train.

At least the place I train has an instructor that spend five years in law enforcement in Montana on a Crow reservation.  It was rather a rough neighborhood according to him and he got spend some time finding out what does and what doesn't work.  The style he teaches is a hybred that is part of an association that has 54 school, many out west and many in the Chicago area.  The teach a combination of Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, and Judo.  There is also some small circle Jujutsu thrown in forthe self defense portion which consists mostly of Hapkido.

Pierre wouldn't finanically support a strictly self defense type of school.  I have my doubts about the the other two larger cities doing so either.  South Dakota is a pretty peacable state with little enough violent crime.  Heck I know people here who NEVER take thier keys out of thier cars.

[Hock]

I live in Pierre South Dakota.

Looks like you are going to have to travel!

Surrounded by
MN.
NE
IA
...you are long drive away from many folks.

Your email could have been written by me circa 1980 thru 1986. Then I realized I needed to travel. Travel to learn to teach. Multi day privates, seminars...become a class organizer to attract work-outpartners. That builds on a two point progession.

1) you train regularly, develop skills...
2) you begin to attract attention and have work-out partners...
3) become an instructor, continue above. You don't have to have a storefront school I almost recommend against it. You want work-out groups.

The list to the left contains regional instructors and Dr. Jim Farnum in MN is nearest. All these guys will do privates.

Or fly into a vacation spot and do the same.

(I may by in Nebraska this summer or fall, myself)

Something is better than nothing.
Hock

[JimH]

Looking at the crime stats for your city they show No real need by the populace for your self defense:

Pierre totals for 2004:
Murder     0
Rape        9
Robberies  0
Assaults    28

You might be better to do as Hock says,develop a base/training group and grow from there,travel, learn and teach outside of your area when you have a skill to offer.

Good Luck

[TwoGun]

I'm not so much interested in trying open a business in Pierre as I am continuing my own training.  Pierre is a really safe place to live.  But what I tend to lament is that there is no mechinism for doing just a regular self defense practice.  I have really mixed feelings about martial arts in terms of strictly self defense.  So yes, I can travel and go to a seminar and then I get back home and I'm really limited in practicing those skills and if I do manage to practice them with someone, am I doing them all correctlly without an instructor there to supervise?

There seems no reasonable way around it.  However as our little martial arts school here continues to grow, we may produce enough persons that we could do a once a week purely self defense class.  The instructor is very open to such things.  That seems to be my only reasonable choice.

I am a firm beliver that in an emergency you will respond how you train and if you just train to score a point, there is a very real chance that is how you are going to respond in a SD situation.  I am leery of this kind of training for my needs and desire.  Yet a martial arts setting is my only real choice at the moment.  I do know the fellow that runs the states law enforcement academy and while the have a somewhat different agenda, they do a fair amount of H2H stuff.  I would like to see if I could at least sit in on one or more of those classes.  They train with the PPC system that I have only a vauge familuarity with.

I am well aware of the brotherhood of LEO that would pretty much prohibit an outsider like myself from doing training with them.  As we are the state capitol however we have a LOT of different LEO entities here.  Highway Patrol, Pierre Police, Hughs County Sheriff, Capitol Police, FBI, US Marshal's service and Game, Fish, and Parks all train here.  Anybody that wants to be certified as a LEO in the state comes here to the states only academy.  A lot of activity, but not much oppertunity I'm afraid.