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September 23rd 2007
On Sunday the 23rd of September we held our second seminar under the UC Ireland banner. At least 25 people were in attendance with a mixed group of lads, ladies and youngsters. This event was hosted by Jon Mackey of UC Ireland with some assistance from Rob Pepper. Both Jon and Rob are apprentice UC Instructor’s who have been training with me for quite a while now; both came from their own respective martial arts background, into the Reality Based Scene sometime ago and are absolutely thriving now. This event was a mixed bag of experience with many coming from more traditional backgrounds, some who have trained with me before along with those employing this as their first experience. Topics for this event were 3 fold; the first focusing on our own Personal Security, or Soft Skills. This module was geared towards avoiding the physical by using Awareness along with an understanding of body language cues and pre-conflict indicators. From here we moved into the Hard Skills and the physical side of the equation from a pro-active perspective looking at pre-emption, continuous attack with forward pressure and controlled aggression. Anyone familiar with the UC curriculum will know that such concepts are covered via the development of a Self-Protection Game Plan.
A visual depiction of the Game Plan training model. This was studied in detail then taken into practical drills and finally into simulation with role-play and dialogue, to give each student a thorough understanding of how the Game Plan works within the context of a criminal assault. Having a prepared game plan response, based around situational awareness, will increase your reaction time and provide you will a pro-active opportunity to deal with whatever you may be dealt. During the course of this module each student is given a complete understanding of what this means and will, by the end of this instructional be able to work towards developing their own said game plan.
Working on the Soft Skill training models during group class discussion…
After the initial introduction, overview and discussion in relation to the said Soft Skills, I employed a mixture of both theory models integrated with physical drills. The first of which focused on dealing with aggression, understanding aggressive body language cues along with gaining a degree of desensitization to the same. This is a great way to start the day; it really breaks the ice and gets everyone in tune for the subjects of the day. As you can see from the pictures everyone took to it like a duck to water.
Plenty of dialogue, salivating and aggressive BL cues were displayed during the aggression therapy drill. Next we moved into the basic hard skills strikes with a focus on pre-emption, body mechanics and impact work on pads. Once the basic gross-motor skill is down, we then focused on plugging in the aggression and emotional intent that will eventually manifest itself as an immediate, direct and explosive response as the physical part of our pro-active game plan.
Situational control to pre-emption with impact and attitude…
Skill and attitude were shown in abundance throughout the majority of the group…
As always there was a strong emphasis on impact training….
From the initial strike we emphasized attachment to continuous attack with forward pressure…
Working with a couple of younger lads on the basics of a pro-active response…
Some of the lads getting with the program…Jon Mackey depicted great form…
The final part of this module took all aspects of the GP in a realistic simulation… The second module for the day focused around dealing with Multiple Assailants. The following information was my introduction into this module and will give you a good idea of the principles that were then put into the practical. With multiples, if escape is not available to you your very best option is to be pre-emptive; this is even more important when dealing with numbers. If you wait for the aggressor to attack, in the hope that you will able to negotiate the attack and counter, you will end up hospitalized or worse. Every second that you delay, you will be fighting on more than one front. In a multiple situation, it will not be like the movies where everyone politely waits their turn to attack one at a time. When they attack, it will be all at once and it will be ferocious. Your only chance is to hit first, fast and hard and to keep hitting until the threat/s subsides. You need to be single minded in your attacks and target selection, attack the eyes, throat, jaw and groin with viscous intent. Though the odds are stacked against you do not succumb to negative thinking, determined tenacity is the order of the day. Remember as a group, numbers alone give them the advantage that they need to over come a single defender. The overall confidence of the pack/group mentality can be destroyed when you effectively incapacitate one or more of the pack very quickly. I say again, ALWAYS pre-empt even if you have successfully de-escalated the initial threat, if you see his mates move toward you, just drop him and move to the next one. You need to get the odds DOWN quickly before it kicks off. The next major principle of importance mobility; you must keep moving, a moving target is harder to track and therefore harder to hit. Also we need to bear in mind the tactics employed by multiples, such as flanking (the pincer approach) and triangulation or surrounding the subject from all positions of contact. The counter principle to employ is of course that of flanking, or to work to the outside of the nearest subject/s. Where possible we must work to the outside as we attack, this keeps multiple subjects in a rough line, allowing us to stack them up and deal (at least momentarily) one at a time. Dispatching three people at once is extremely difficult and dangerous, even if you have great skills, but clinically dispatching one at a time via the brief space in time that stacking gives you is relatively simple enough if you hit fucking hard and have the right mindset.
Next we looked at an excellent mobility drill against 3-4 subjects, with influence here coming from top instructor Nick Hughes’s excellent Zombie drill simply to work the essential principle of working to the outside flank along with making yourself a constant moving target and therefore harder to hit. From here we went onto work a variety of drills employing the above concepts into a variety of 2 on 1, 3 on 1 and potential group attack triangulation drills. Working vertical counter grappling drills…
Here we can see the class practicing a clinch to relocate position drill …
Attach and clinch one subject, then move using him for cover as you blitz with low line tools…
We went on to make these drills progressive before moving on to mass attack (gang related drills) Now the scenario is that you are unfortunate enough to get caught within the confines of a hostile crowd of say ten or more people, there’s commotion everyone is pushing, shoving and hitting everyone. Here your objective is simply damage limitation and escape.
Here are a few examples of a crowd escape drill that we did, working off the premise that you are caught (worse case scenario) in a situation where all attention has been turned on you or simply you are in a crowd and everyone is hitting everyone. Object now is damage limitation and escape…
Here we worked an aggression inducing drill simulating a 1 on 1situation where a well meaning individual is trying to get involved by pulling you off, now you only means to continue effectively comes from accessing aggression to get the job done…
The third and final module for the day focused on the support system aspect of counter grappling. Here we looked at the reasons that people end up in a clinch or on the ground (usually via an ambush or miss-management during the interview stage of a potential confrontation) We then went onto look at dominant position, secondary weapons and tools, attacking from the pins and a variety of ground escapes. Object being to finish quickly and get back to your feet ASAP.
Here we can see the practice of controlling position, this was taken into the realm of non-compliance by adding aggressive, verbalization and the bucking and bronking of a non-compliant subject. This was done to get the feel of manhandling and getting manhandled and also to show the need for the urgency to attack and get back to your feet ASAP…
Subject control on the ground…
Eye gouging from the scarf hold…transition to escape from the scarf hold…
The common scarf hold usually manifests from a standing headlock from where the subject is taken to the ground… of course the ideal is not to get caught in the first place, pre-emption being the key…
Working mount escapes with Jon and Rob…
A quite moment with Jon, Rob and Lee…
Coaching the ladies during a ground escape…
Attacking from the mount, here Jon goes to default before bucking me off during a mount escape…
Dynamic moments during a mount escape…
Here is the UC method of escaping the guard…
Drop both elbows into the perennials to break the hooks then Hammer the balls…
Pass the guard, mount and finish…
Rob and Jon working the guard escape…Lee Morrison with UC apprentice instructor’s Jon & Rob… All in all this was a great seminar with people of a very good standard. Feedback indicated that everyone took something valid from it. The UC student base in Ireland is growing daily for more information on classes please contact Jon Mackey via www.urbancombatives-ireland.com As always thanks to everyone who turned up to take part and show support. Peace L.M.
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