Don’t Put Out the Flame

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This is something I read from John Will in his recent blog which has inspired to me to write something about why we train.

Many of us learn martial arts to basically to defend ourselves but those who continue training is because they want to build confidence, become stronger and feel good about themselves. To continue training is like trying to keep that flame alive. How easy it is to put it out. How many times do Instructors hear from parents or students they've decided to quit because something else has come up, usually because little Johnny wants to be with his mates and play football. What Johnny should be doing is telling his mates to come and train the martial arts if they really want to be with him. Once you put out the flame then you have to find a new source to get it going again because that's what happens when little Johnny realises he'd rather be a martial artist.

To get back on track, John Will talks about the need to have some measure of control over our world which can be a hostile place and our martial arts training can prepare us in many ways for the challenges ahead.

The very challenge of martial arts training is a platform which can be extremely rewarding. after attaining the skills that help us prevail and prosper in our environment. Let's keep that flame going.

Eyes in the Back of Your Head

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Our Qld Head Instructor, Darren, has been an operational police officer for 29yrs and is in charge of Tin Can Bay and Rainbow Beach (just opposite of Fraser Island). He runs the Budoshinkai Rainbow Beach and Tin Can Bay schools. He also teaches BJJ and MMA to a handful of students mainly comprising of police officers who work in the area.

He has always been interested in the practical aspects of his Karate and BJJ training. He is totally aware of the difference between Dojo training and what happens in the real world. Adrenaline, suddenness and kayos of a street situation cannot be replicated in a training environment. Darren says, “The instincts and skills that are instilled in you through your training will give you that definite edge and confidence when all goes bad.” Darren gives an account of a recent incident which shows out training is quite valuable to police officers, but to anyone who might need to get themselves out of trouble. However, it turned a bit ugly for one of Darren’s colleagues and student.

Recently I and two colleagues went to a disturbance at a local hotel which necessitated the removal of what we thought were two people. Whilst myself and Lee were escorting one struggling offender from the bar in wrists locks I saw that my colleague Jason who is a BJJ student had arrested a 2 person for urinating on the footpath I watched as this person started swinging punches at Jason and was then in awe as Jason executed a perfectly timed hip throw which resulted in the offender landing squarely on his back I was so impressed with the throw that I commented on it as I approached Jason who was now kneeling over the person in the process of applying handcuffs.

<b>X-ray of injury</b><br>'you can see the clear break'Unfortunately things went sour from here as Jason was kneeling over the offender another person came running from the bar and crash tackled Jason from behind driving him into the concrete footpath and causing a severe dislocation of his shoulder. After seeing Jason get belted in such a cowardly manner I let go of my offender and landed a front kick into the stomach of the person and then took control of him with a guillotine choke whilst standing up. As I was maneuvering this person to the police vehicle I looked back to see that Lee had been surrounded by three persons throwing punches at him, however some quick thinking from Lee saw him deploy his OC (Capsicum) spray into the face of all three people, whilst it made the offenders more agitated it brought us some time and distracted the offenders enough to separate them and for us to deal with them one at a time.

We wish Jason a speedy recovery so we can see him on the mats once when I am up there in a few months.

When Things Heat Up

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I want to congratulate the brave people out there who have to weather the heat. Special mention goes to the Fire Fighters, Road Workers and even the Cricketers. Others worth mentioning are the people who showed up to martial arts training this week, particularly Belmore and West Pennant Hills; I really admire these people. It’s true the heat does keep people away! So does the cold, so does the rain etc, etc. Training in essence is not about comfort, in particular, martial artists are athletes and can endure more ‘punishment’ (if you want to call it that) than the yuppie who takes the escalator to an air-conditioned gym holding a bottle of Powerade. I was wrestling with guys last Sunday and Monday evenings in that ‘over 40 heat’. By the end of the night I was dripping that much sweat the steering wheel of my car was slipping from my hands. I did think about the heat, I said, ‘Too bad, maybe better luck next time.’ Training in the heat is a challenge because your body reacts differently and it is important that you condition yourself to perform in one extreme temperature to another. Remember, if you ever come across trouble, you can’t change into comfortable clothes and you can’t change the terrain or weather.

When it gets this hot again, spare a thought for one of our senior Instructors, Victor, who moved 2.5 ton of dirt this week in the sun then turned up for training in the night and weekend. Or even spare a thought for the older blokes: Drinking water during training, in the earlier days, was unheard of. What we did is sneak into the toilets and line up for a drink of water from the tap in the wash basin whilst somebody else is using the urinal next to you.

Can’t wait for the rain to cool the place down! Maybe, I shouldn’t have said that, some of us haven’t got umbrellas.