Instances where Aikido didn't work
Date: Sat, 22 Jun 1996 03:43:19 -0400
From: Spiritu <thart@SUFFOLK.LIB.NY.US>
Subject: Re: Non-working Aikido
While stationed in Korea a training partner and I went out one evening
to one of the local clubs. Neither of us drinks alcoholic beverages, and
consequently we weren't intoxicated at the time of this incident, which
occurred during the summer of 1985, I believe. We had been sitting and
conversing for a short while when another off-duty soldier approached
our table and began accusing the both of us of calling him names of some
sort. (We had neither spoken to him, or about him, nor had either of us
ever laid eyes upon him until this time). He was very angry, enraged actually,
and began spilling our drinks on us. Neither one of us wanted to become
involved in any type of confrontation with this man, but we both found
it impossible to talk to him at all. When my friend stood up to talk to
this person, the man shoved him backwards and promptly turned and began
punching me until I managed to scissor one of his legs with mine and cause
him to lose his balance momentarily (although I did not cause him to fall),
he then proceeded to kick my friend in the groin, and ran out of the club,
leaving us both more or less dumbfounded. I had to receive Five stiches
to close a laceration over my right eye, plus an additional twenty stiches
to close a through-and-through laceration in my lower lip. My friend was
in considerable pain for awhile as well.
Both of us were Yu-Dan-Ja (Korean)/Yudansha in more than one Martial Art,
and we had been both soundly beaten by One angry man who simply used surprise,
speed, and violence of action as well as a very high level of intensity
to his advantage. At first we were both terribly embarrassed, but over
time, and after a lot of discussion and soul-searching, we both more or
less became determined to modify our training methods to contend with
this type of opponent.
What I have done is to attempt to first and foremost improve my general
conditioning level.
The next order of business was to identify various psycophysical attributes
- such as coordination, speed, strength, body mechanics, line familiarization,
balance, agility, attitude, endurance, touch sensitivity, flexibility,
comprehensive speed, etc (there are many, many others) and train with
an emphasis on improving these attributes. I feel that it is attributes,
more so than technique that ultimately determines who will survive a physical,
and potentially injurious or lethal physical confrontation. Although technical
skill is considered an attribute, it has proven true time and again that
the person with the superior attributes rather than the superior technique
generally emerges victorious. (If two equally matched boxers fight, utilizing
the same techniques, the fight should always be a tie. But there is always
a winner and a loser, and this is due to the attribute development level
of one of the combatants).
Lastly, I focus my training on concepts and principles, as opposed to
technique due to the fact that personal combat rarely coincides with preconceived
notions, molds, or patterns. Since we are rarely attacked by someone who
is smaller or weaker than us or who is alone or unarmed, we can generally
state that if and when we should be attacked, we are already at a disadvantage.
Since this is so, it is safe to say that we will be under an enormous
amount of stress. Under great amounts of stress, many people display an
inability to perform fine-motor coordination skills, so under these circumstances,
the ability to *APPLY* knowledge derived through the study and understanding
of sound principles that have been tested under stress inducing situations
becomes of the utmost importance, from a survival standpoint.
This situation forced me to look at my training from a realistic viewpoint,
and I was forced to admit that, while much of my training had validity
in other ways, and although I DID derive various benefits from my martial
arts training, it did not come close to preparing me to contend with a
blitz type of attack from a goal oriented individual who obviously had
no compunction about injuring whoever he so desired. I now teach my students
to fight at various ranges, i.e. kicking, boxing (punching), trapping
(infighting), and grappling ranges as well as weapons range although I
teach weapons primarily to develop attributes such as spacial awareness,
visual acuity, line-familiarization, and coordination. Once they have
a good basic knowledge (Approximately 300 to 500 hours) within all of
the five ranges, they can then begin specializing in the range or ranges
that they prefer, or show particular aptitude in. I can't say that my
system of teaching is "correct", but it has worked for me in improving
my own personal training, and it seems to work well for my students as
well. I have been a Law Enforcement Officer since 1989 and I have been
forced to defend myself on a few occasions from subjects armed with edged
weapons, subjects under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and subjects
who were either unarmed or armed with various other types of weapons and/or
dangerous instruments. So far I have managed to stay relatively intact,
and have been equally successful in preventing serious or lasting injuries
to those individuals who sought to hurt me. Additionally, one of my students
who is also a police officer recently was attacked by a 6'5" 285 lb weightlifter
who was mixing alcohol and steroids.
My student is about 135-140 lbs, and although the defendant managed to
punch, kick, strangle, and knee the arresting officer (my student) numerous
times, in addition to almost gouging out an eye and attempting to gain
control of the officer's weapon ( which would have almost certainly been
fatal to the police officer ), my student managed to apply the knowledge
and skills he had developed and subdue this subject and his friend and
place them both under arrest. So, I feel that I am at least on the right
track with respect to the training methods that I employ. In retrospect,
I suppose that what had originally been an unpleasant and sobering incident
for me ultimately resulted in some degree of improvement in my training
methods, and in my attitude. I learned to always have quite a bit of R-E-S-P-E-C-T
for any and all opponents that I should ever face, both on and off the
mat, and to never take anything at face value until I have thouroughly
tested it and determined it's validity for myself, because I may be called
upon to stake my life upon my ability to apply my knowledge and skills
effectively. What works for another person may not necessarily work for
me, and vice versa. And the time to identify potential training weaknesses
is BEFORE you are called upon to defend yourself or someone else, NOT
when you are having your head served up to you on a platter! I apologize
for the long-winded answer, but I gave it my best shot.