this question goes out to those who have had to use their martial skills in a real life situation - not in a planned fight, but an actual attack or something similar. I want to know how the event influenced the way you approach or digest your training. to be very clear, what I am not looking for in this thread is: 1) how bad you beat somebody up 2) irrelevant details what I am looking for is: 1) more-or-less what the encounter was like (man jumped out of a parked car and pulled a knife, or whatever was the case) 2) more-or-less how you reacted and most importantly 3) how this event influenced the way you approach training in ninpo or in general myself, I have been lucky enough to never have to engage anyone physically and unexpectedly, and so... for better or worse, all of the training I do (as far as physical combat/self defense) is really hypothetical. I want to know what happens when the hypothetical meets the real. do you view every training excercise in a new way afterwards? I know this is a lengthy post, but I wanted to be pretty clear about my question. does this make sense? if not, please ask for clarification. if so, post away!
If you live long enough, sooner or later you're probably going to get into a "situation" no matter how much you try to avoid it. In the 22 years (as of November) I've trained in the Bujinkan, I've been through a few, as has my wife (one yesterday for her, in fact) and some of my students. When I began, I was an Army officer on active duty, so my perspective from the beginning was one of wanting to train with the potential for actual combat in mind. What I've found over the years, though -- and this also holds true for my wife and for those of our students who tell us of things which have happened to them -- is that events which occur to us don't influence our training. Rather, our training influences the way we handle the events.
Please Dale , tell us more . So your training is so based in reality that your students and you seemlessly meld training and application ?
You're "reading into" what I wrote, in what looks like a potentially trollish fashion. I was merely recounting what my observations and experience have been. To indirectly answer your question anyway: I and my students have all survived so far. Situations have involved attackers with weapons (knives and firearms) and numbers (gang attacks and, another one my wife dealt with a few months back, a stakeout and ambush by a group in a parking lot). Some of my students have been profoundly affected. A couple of years ago I got a call from a former student who had moved away from California to another state ten years before, and had not trained since that time. He was fine -- but, he said, only because of his training all those years before. The previous night he had been attacked by an armed gang as he was out for a stroll, and he was totally convinced that he would not have even survived had it not been for his time in the dojo. He was so moved that he wanted to ensure that others would be able to benefit as he had, and he insisted on sending me a check for ten thousand dollars. (He has now resumed training, with a shidoshi in the state he's living in.) We used it to set up a special "scholarship fund" to enable good students who were having financial difficulties attend seminars taught by other instructors and to get to Japan for training.
No I wasnt trolling this time . I was seriously questioning your responce . I am assuming that you do test and train in full contact and in all ranges then ? Becouse I have found that that is the only way to be prepared for real conflict .
I got into a "situation" a month or two ago, i posted about it in a different thread. Basically(without getting into details, unless you want me to) a guy threw a punch, i evaded and I reacted with a few strikes and backed off. Then some buddies of mine came between us. It was good for me because at the time I was questioning my ability to use what I had learned. Now, I couldve got lucky, or maybe he was slow or something or whatever. But I proved something to myself that day. After that, I have noticed I train differently, its hard to put into words, but I do.
I had a similar experience, see below (copied from another thread) "When I was working in new york I was mugged in the subway by a guy with a knife and I took in all the factors, how big he was.. he was smaller than me how he was holding the knife..awkwardly what he looked like, wearing, etc.. scruffy looking, possibly a street person and his state of being..he looked a little drunk and a little nervous smell...he smelled like he had alcohol on his breath and then used misdirection and taijutsu.. The whole story is, I was getting out of work at 60 hudson st in ny and went to the chambers st subway section, walked past the booth where a transit laday (the ones who sell the metro cards and tokens) was and slid my metro card and went through the turnstile and was about to go down the stairs when a guy who looked a little scruffy asked me for a dollar, I was feeling generous and pulled out 2 bucks and gave him the money, I put my wallet back in my pocket then started to walk away and the guy pulled out a knife and told me he wanted all my money, I turned around and well I did have some major money in the wallet and got really ****ed, but I didn't act ****ed. I pulled out my wallet and shook a little like I was scared.. and then dropped the wallet on the ground like it was an accident..he looked down at it and then I used my taijutsu.. I stepped into him at the angle on his right side (my left), as he was holding the knife in his right hand, just as I was taught and grabbed his right wrist with my left and punched his hand holding the knife real hard with my right hand, and just like in training classes the knife went flying, then I pulled the guy foward to off balance him and he pulled back, so I then went into an omote gyaku and was amazed he went down and then I used the 1st kime waza roppo for omote gyaku to hold him there with his elbowed locked on my knee and screamed at him not to move as I used my body to cause him extreme pain and then advised him that I will kick him otherwise..the lady in the transit booth saw the whole thing and advised me that she saw it and that she was calling the cops, she called a transit cop and 5-10 mins later two cops came and arrested the guy and took my statement and the transit ladies statement and then I got home real late because I missed my train.. note- I had to hold him locked up in the technique for what felt like an eternity before the cop came.. now when I look back on this I was stupid, I should have just gave him the money, if he was skilled I could have lost my life but at the time I believed that I could take him, if it wasn't for me being comfortable with my skills in ninpo I definitely wouldn't have done it. now mind you I know my technique was not the best that night, what happened was fast and choppy but it saved me in this situation and it has made a lasting impression on me that ninpo/ninjutsu works when you need it.."
that is your experince other may vary, and the definition of 'real' varies. I have been unfortunate enough to be set upon outside clubs, when ive stepped in to help a female, when ive been drunk. but i am here today, no firm memories of what happen other than it being over before i knew it started, im glad ive never been seriously hurt, i could be just lucky or maybe just maybe the training worked? ｉ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｃｅｒｔａｉｎｌｙ ｓａｙ ｔｈａｔ ｍｙ ａｔｔｉｔｕｄｅ ｈａｓ ｃｈａｎｇｅｄ ｓｉｎｃｅ ｉ ｆｉｒｓｔ ｔｒａｉｎｅｄ， ｉ ｗａｌｋ ａｗａｙ ｎｏｗ ｂｕｔ ｔｈａｔ ｃｏｕｌｄ ｊｕｓｔ ｂｅ ａｇｅ． anyhow the posts seems to be going in a certain direction?
what direction do you sense...? these are all good responses. some answers are ones I wasn't expecting.
ive been in a number of unavoidable confrontations in the past year all of these local to where i live in manchester ,i think someone has poisoned the water supply near my house as all the youths are barking mad with no manners or common sense !! the last two times that ive been targeted walking home and yes usually fairly drunk have been by no fewer than five people in a gang, the first time i was attacked with bricks and one with a stick,of which i managed to disarm the youth holding the stick and chase them off while dodging bricks at the same time the second incident was by five youths asking me for a cigarette as another proceeded to hit me in the back of the head.i then was chased through a garden where i had to dive and roll over an above waist high fence leaving the gang looking somewhat surprised as i made my gettaway sharpish this only made me realise how my training saved be from a serious beating on more than one occasion and i hope will keep me out of trouble in the future before it starts!!!!!
actually it would be unfair to tar them all with the same brush !!the odd one has been brought up with manners and respect for others! but their in a minority!!!
nelson from the simsons " ha ha!" you guys are so funny, what about the 'fully resisting opponent' i sleep with a smile tonight, [off to put on my jimmy jams] [ha ha!]
