KEEPING IT REAL!!!
A student from another school in town said, "Your techniques are too rude!"
Some people like to be judged by the compliments they receive, I say judge folks by the complaints they receive. Before I address our complaints, I want to say I respect the folks for contacting us. It's good to know how other martial arts instructors view our material. After reading the following complaint, I highly urge you to read my response before forming your own opinion. Thank you.
Here is what a HIGHLY-RANKED INSTRUCTOR wrote....
"I find it a little shocking that your students are reacting to a minor attack with deadly force. Surely you realize that a kick to the knee could sever the artery and cause death, in response to a punch. Man that is overkill and a convictable offense of manslaughter in Kansas. Also an elbow strike to the base of the neck, again way to much, this is the type of uncontrolled response that has caused such a problem with martial arts. As a certified self defense instructor I find your even teaching this is opening you up for lawsuits. I have a master ranking in ______, with additional black belts in karate, tae kwon do, and ju jitsu. Having received my training from some of the best in the world, including Master _______ in aikido, I find this type of training to be hard to defend. Self defense is a matter of escalation, not to go straight for the KILL. You must learn to control the situation rather then let the situation control you. Just my own personal opinion, so I will not be sending any students to your seminar if this is the trash being taught. It is without defense in any manner. I have been doing martial arts for almost 40 years and all of my peers would never train students in this manner."
Here's my response....
Mr. ________
First of all, I want to thank you for contacting me. I respect you for sharing your views and hope to use them as a teaching point. It is good to know that other martial arts may view us as being too extreme. I wish to separate the person from the problem. Thus my comments are in no way a personal attack on you. While I believe your word choice of trash is a little rude, I am mature enough to realize that one person's trash is another person's treasure.
In my humble opinion, if you are trying to deescalate the situation while the attacker is trying to rip your head off, you have already failed. De-escalation should occur before an attack is made. We dedicate a lot of our teaching to verbal self-defense. Trying to judge what another person has or teaches via a website (or even one class) is nonsense. Some of our students are attorneys. I constantly consult with them as to what is reasonable. I also happen to have a Juris Doctorate (law degree). Students are taught that we are not "playground self-defense." Judging us without knowing us is like shifting paradigms without a clutch.
In many ways, I understand where you are coming from. However, I have learned that the secret to learning is to have an open-mind. One reason I changed was because of an experience that happened to one of my fellow students years ago. Our material was so watered-down that she was not able to protect herself when she was a victim of a home invasion by an ex-boyfriend. Unfortunately, it took that bad experience for me to open my mind.
I will never forget her words. She said, "He raped the sh-- out of me and the bad part of this was that my two kids were in the other bedroom and there was nothing that I could do about it." Our instructor shook her hand and congratulated her for being a survivor. The female student said that was not good enough and left the school. That bothered me and caused me a lot of sleepless nights. No jury in this country would convict her if she was able to use appropriate measures to defend herself and her children. I only wish she had the same training that I currently provide instead of the watered-down material I used to teach.
In a dark alley, how do you know that a punch is a punch? How do you know that the attacker is not holding a knife? I do not know if where you live is a utopia but Topeka consistently ranks in the FBI's list of worst crime cities in the U.S. Can you live with the fact that one of your students may get seriously harmed or killed because you held back in teaching what you know? I cannot. Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6!
Also, the man demonstrating a blow to the neck is less than five feet tall and suffers from minor disabilities. He studied a little bit of Tae Kwon Do at a military academy. Yet, he has been a victim of home invasion.
After his home invasion, he purchased a couple of guns. I met him a couple of years later after his unfortunately event and helped provide some training to supplement the shortfalls of firearms and to provide alternatives. Mr. ______, not everyone is able to move like a super martial artist. This smaller person deserves to empower himself with techniques that will work with criminals. My dojo is a laboratory. If my students fail, I want them to fail here because in the streets, there is no second chance.
As for the seminar, Dr. Remy Presas's material is pure Modern Arnis. It is very different than what I teach. It is not as violent. On the other hand, seminars with Datu Kelly Worden where military personnel and law enforcement were invited and Sensei John Petrone, this year's Budo International Self-Defense Man of the Year, may be considered too violent by some. I do not think that Dr. Presas will offend reasonable people. You and whoever you decide to bring are more than welcome to attend.
As a sign of friendship, I personally would like to offer you free admission. Please let me know if you are coming.
Most of my instructors have written books and produced videotapes. A few are regarded as one of the top 11 knife combative instructors in the world (Tactical Knives Nov. 2003 issue). Just like you, we both come from the best. However, we happen to have different philosophies. Yet, I respect yours as well. <br><br>I do not live in a perfect world.
Respectfully,
Andrew Evans
Hokkien Martial Arts
www.TopekaKarate.com
*Note: A couple of sections and names were edited/omitted for privacy concerns and to improve clarity. And to, um, tone down my attitude. I wanted to add that if one wants art they should buy a brush!! But in all honesty, our first option in a self-defense situation is avoidance. PERIOD! It's when avoidance doesn't work that we work our other techniques. Finally, while we believe we are one of the more effective self-defense schools in Topeka, Kansas, we humbly admit that we still have a long journey ahead of us.
A student from another school in town said, "Your techniques are too rude!"
Some people like to be judged by the compliments they receive, I say judge folks by the complaints they receive. Before I address our complaints, I want to say I respect the folks for contacting us. It's good to know how other martial arts instructors view our material. After reading the following complaint, I highly urge you to read my response before forming your own opinion. Thank you.
Here is what a HIGHLY-RANKED INSTRUCTOR wrote....
"I find it a little shocking that your students are reacting to a minor attack with deadly force. Surely you realize that a kick to the knee could sever the artery and cause death, in response to a punch. Man that is overkill and a convictable offense of manslaughter in Kansas. Also an elbow strike to the base of the neck, again way to much, this is the type of uncontrolled response that has caused such a problem with martial arts. As a certified self defense instructor I find your even teaching this is opening you up for lawsuits. I have a master ranking in ______, with additional black belts in karate, tae kwon do, and ju jitsu. Having received my training from some of the best in the world, including Master _______ in aikido, I find this type of training to be hard to defend. Self defense is a matter of escalation, not to go straight for the KILL. You must learn to control the situation rather then let the situation control you. Just my own personal opinion, so I will not be sending any students to your seminar if this is the trash being taught. It is without defense in any manner. I have been doing martial arts for almost 40 years and all of my peers would never train students in this manner."
Here's my response....
Mr. ________
First of all, I want to thank you for contacting me. I respect you for sharing your views and hope to use them as a teaching point. It is good to know that other martial arts may view us as being too extreme. I wish to separate the person from the problem. Thus my comments are in no way a personal attack on you. While I believe your word choice of trash is a little rude, I am mature enough to realize that one person's trash is another person's treasure.
In my humble opinion, if you are trying to deescalate the situation while the attacker is trying to rip your head off, you have already failed. De-escalation should occur before an attack is made. We dedicate a lot of our teaching to verbal self-defense. Trying to judge what another person has or teaches via a website (or even one class) is nonsense. Some of our students are attorneys. I constantly consult with them as to what is reasonable. I also happen to have a Juris Doctorate (law degree). Students are taught that we are not "playground self-defense." Judging us without knowing us is like shifting paradigms without a clutch.
In many ways, I understand where you are coming from. However, I have learned that the secret to learning is to have an open-mind. One reason I changed was because of an experience that happened to one of my fellow students years ago. Our material was so watered-down that she was not able to protect herself when she was a victim of a home invasion by an ex-boyfriend. Unfortunately, it took that bad experience for me to open my mind.
I will never forget her words. She said, "He raped the sh-- out of me and the bad part of this was that my two kids were in the other bedroom and there was nothing that I could do about it." Our instructor shook her hand and congratulated her for being a survivor. The female student said that was not good enough and left the school. That bothered me and caused me a lot of sleepless nights. No jury in this country would convict her if she was able to use appropriate measures to defend herself and her children. I only wish she had the same training that I currently provide instead of the watered-down material I used to teach.
In a dark alley, how do you know that a punch is a punch? How do you know that the attacker is not holding a knife? I do not know if where you live is a utopia but Topeka consistently ranks in the FBI's list of worst crime cities in the U.S. Can you live with the fact that one of your students may get seriously harmed or killed because you held back in teaching what you know? I cannot. Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6!
Also, the man demonstrating a blow to the neck is less than five feet tall and suffers from minor disabilities. He studied a little bit of Tae Kwon Do at a military academy. Yet, he has been a victim of home invasion.
After his home invasion, he purchased a couple of guns. I met him a couple of years later after his unfortunately event and helped provide some training to supplement the shortfalls of firearms and to provide alternatives. Mr. ______, not everyone is able to move like a super martial artist. This smaller person deserves to empower himself with techniques that will work with criminals. My dojo is a laboratory. If my students fail, I want them to fail here because in the streets, there is no second chance.
As for the seminar, Dr. Remy Presas's material is pure Modern Arnis. It is very different than what I teach. It is not as violent. On the other hand, seminars with Datu Kelly Worden where military personnel and law enforcement were invited and Sensei John Petrone, this year's Budo International Self-Defense Man of the Year, may be considered too violent by some. I do not think that Dr. Presas will offend reasonable people. You and whoever you decide to bring are more than welcome to attend.
As a sign of friendship, I personally would like to offer you free admission. Please let me know if you are coming.
Most of my instructors have written books and produced videotapes. A few are regarded as one of the top 11 knife combative instructors in the world (Tactical Knives Nov. 2003 issue). Just like you, we both come from the best. However, we happen to have different philosophies. Yet, I respect yours as well. <br><br>I do not live in a perfect world.
Respectfully,
Andrew Evans
Hokkien Martial Arts
www.TopekaKarate.com
*Note: A couple of sections and names were edited/omitted for privacy concerns and to improve clarity. And to, um, tone down my attitude. I wanted to add that if one wants art they should buy a brush!! But in all honesty, our first option in a self-defense situation is avoidance. PERIOD! It's when avoidance doesn't work that we work our other techniques. Finally, while we believe we are one of the more effective self-defense schools in Topeka, Kansas, we humbly admit that we still have a long journey ahead of us.