|
Briefly, can you tell us about your beginnings in martial arts and your current affiliation with taekwondo Master Russell Macarthur?
I was nine years old when I started in judo in 1972. Shortly after, a taekwondo club opened and in my attempt to emulate Bruce Lee kicking, I dedicated myself to taekwondo. By the early '80s I was cross-training in a number of martial arts. When I moved to Brisbane in the mid-80s I met my current taekwondo instructor, 7th Dan Master Russell Macarthur and transferred to his club. I had also continued to train in other styles including Wing Chun, Tong Long kung fu and kali. With Mr Macarthur's encouragement I opened my own club on the Gold Coast where we follow the Jidokwan syllabus. We are honoured to be affiliated with Master Macarthur and 9th Dan Grandmaster Sung Soo Lee.
You recently completed Personal Defence Readiness (PDR), a reality-based training course under American defensive-tactics guru Tony Blauer. Why did you do his course when you were already so accomplished in taekwondo, another art of self-defence?
I first became aware of Coach Blauer's work from a martial arts magazine, around 1986. I had been asked to do some door work for pubs and night clubs. I learned very quickly that sparring is not fighting and there were vital skills such as people-reading and speech - as well as physical skills - to be an effective security person. As I read Coach Blauer's work, there were many sudden ‘light-bulb' moments.
During my security work I had already witnessed (self-discovered) the importance of PDR's ‘Detect, Diffuse, Defend'. I had already experienced the effectiveness of using non-violent posture and choice speech. Perhaps the biggest realisation was after being caught in an ambush moment by a sucker-punch from a much larger and very aggressive opponent. It was a really explosive and violent fight; I remember getting hit and being physically and psychologically off balance. There was a massive void between my current compromised position and my usual fighting stance. Only sheer will and survival instinct saw me gain the upper hand.
Everything Coach Blauer was doing made a lot of sense to me. Another martial artist and close friend of mine, Mark Piepers, and I had already started working on close-quarter fighting and ambush drills, however, Tony Blauer was already years ahead of everybody else. I started replicating Coach Blauer's sucker-punch drill and the results were staggering. I changed my self-defence strategies completely. I was now in action as opposed to reacting.
The recent course was the ideal opportunity to be assessed by Tony Blauer as a certified PDR Coach and be able to teach PDR as part of my taekwondo and WASP.
What did the course teach you that you didn't already know as a TKD practitioner?
I could probably write a book to answer this question.
Top athletes and fighters do a lot of visualisation and psychology. Experienced combatants and self-defence coaches will know a fight is typically 70 per cent psychological, 20 per cent emotional and 10 per cent physical. Since the mind navigates the body, it makes sense that Coach Blauer has included a lot of psychology and emotional training into PDR. In all my martial arts training, every sparring match and self-defence technique started from an on-balance position. From early security work days I knew first-hand that true violence is ugly and typically catches you off-guard. The moment there is consent, there is awareness, which means there is preparation.
The SPEAR in action
These psychological components completely change your mindset. In a real situation, there are so many emotional and psychological factors that the sensory overload can negate all those years of training. The remedy is to address the problem of how real fights occur and what is behaviourally realistic.
The course taught me that training with high levels of energy and aggression (i.e. full contact) is still not adequately preparing for an ambush.
In a true ambush moment, your brain experiences a delay between stimulus and response. In reality, it's not a response; it's a reaction. This is the paradox of martial arts training. When we agree to fight, we can mentally adjust and respond. But when the attack is a true surprise, we are more likely to react rather than respond.
The drills developed by Coach Blauer over the years are brilliant and the best I have experienced to prepare yourself mentally, emotionally and physically for a violent encounter, especially when preceded with an ambush.
Have you done any other reality-based self-defence courses, and how do they compare?
Yes, I have. In my 38 years of self-defence training, PDR using SPEAR is the only self-defence method I have found that fully integrates the body's reflexive responses and instinctive survival mechanisms making it the easiest and most natural way to protect yourself.
How do you marry the two methods within your club, being that PDR and TKD are quite different approaches?
I always structure my classes so we do a psychological shift, not to separate taekwondo from PDR but rather to define a clear distinction between our sport-orientated training and self-defence training. Everyone loves sparring. Before we spar I instruct the students in a process to ensure everyone adopts a friendly, sport-oriented mindset and spars according to WTF rules.
When we train self-defence our mindset is completely different. We follow specific actions and train in a very different manner to infuse a mental blueprint that is based on that stress, anxiety and duress. This part of our training is associated with defending yourself, not sport. From a self-defence perspective, our approach to TKD and PDR is exactly the same.
How important are physical fitness, strength and flexibility in effectively executing the self-defence techniques and tactics of PDR and TKD, respectively?
Well, needless to say I promote and encourage an active and healthy lifestyle, however, there is no specific requirement for physical fitness, strength or flexibility for either PDR or TKD.
The PDR SPEAR as a tactic can be completed by anyone capable of scratching the back of their head and it's extremely effective. My eight-year-old daughter unleashed a barrage of rapid PDR strikes and invoked a predator-prey reversal during one of our most recent realistic role-plays.
Most people mistake the impressive high, and at times acrobatic, kicks as taekwondo self-defence. I recently completely a self-defence seminar with Grandmaster Sung Soo Lee and not a single technique required strength, flexibility or high levels of fitness. Right now I am working on self-defence for those who are faced with greater physical or mobility challenges than the average person, for example those reliant on a wheelchair.
PDR Bear-hug drill
Reality-based self-defence schools have grown a lot in Australia in recent years but overall have far fewer members than the big sport-oriented karate clubs, etc. Do you think PDR will appeal to the Aussie traditional/sports martial arts crowd or not?
Everyone who experiences PDR absolutely loves it and I think PDR will go from strength to strength in Australia. Experienced martial artists and even the general public are becoming aware of how vital training in a realistic manner is.
If you're a boxer and somebody sucker-punches you on the street, you will flinch. If you incorporate PDR, you can engage the attacker and then disengage using the PDR system to set up your uppercut. If you're a Thai boxer and you are jumped at an ATM, you won't go into a neck- hookup and a knee-thrust; you will protect yourself first by flinching. Using the PDR, you nail the person as he's moving in and create space. Suddenly, you get a chance to throw that knee-strike or shin-kick.
If you're a taekwondo player, it's the same. If I am in your face in a pub and start something, you won't be able to do a jumping back-kick or side-kick, but you will flinch. And if you can hit me from the flinch using the PDR SPEAR, then it allows you to get into kicking range.
Using the flinch, which at close-quarter range and in that context is faster than anything else, ideal in positioning yourself to get tactical.
That's the brilliance of PDR: it complements whatever you're training in right now - boxing, grappling, kali, kung fu, etc. PDR is a bridge to fill the void between what you will naturally do when caught off guard and what your current style or system is.
For traditional martial artists, they can add PDR without concern of their style being altered/diluted. For Mixed Martial Artists, naturally it adds more. In both cases, PDR complements your current style/system.
|
Have your say (0)