10.09.2023 I was invited to teach a two-hour self-protection seminar for a group of 12-14 year-olds as part of a birthday party. We began with the definition of self-protection, establishing the legal definition of self-defence (hard skills) and personal security (soft skills). We then went through some simple escape […]
15.10.2022 My ninth booking for Kingham Hill School was my second morning seminar on self-protection. This particular group took in students aged 15-18, which is a large age range but nevertheless can be accommodated with the right robust principles. We covered the following topics: Purposeful walking Exit identification Escape plans Evasion tactics Fight management strategy Attitude – moral compass, resilience and character Situational awareness – people, places, hazards and changes The fence and pre-emptive striking Covering and recovering The aftermath […]
02.02.2022 My third booking for Wednesday was the the third lesson of my seventh term at Kingham Hill School. We continued working on evasion drills, spending more time moving out of corners and correctly accessing an exit. Then we covered the pre-emptive strike test, looking more into removing decision making. Building on their cadet training, I discussed the similarity between the way we throw hand strikes in self-defence and they shoot. Next we moved onto some soft skills, discussing the […]
12.01.2022 Due to the situation presented with exams at Kingham Hill, the self-defence activity numbers haven’t properly been established. Therefore, I was left with only a few pupils for the beginning of my sessions. Seeing as all three of them were previous pupils, I decided to focus on some new hard skill work. We looked at pre-emptive striking against two antagonists. After a warm-up, we discussed dealing with the dynamics of this situation. I explained the importance of maintaining the […]
24.11.2021 On Wednesday I continued to teach my self-protection course for Kingham Hill School. As usual, this consisted of two lessons taught to two different groups of years 12 and 13. We got to the business of dealing with a grappling attack. The following areas were covered: Grappling is not the first choice for high risk self-defence situations Grappling is a good choice for middle and low-risk situations In order to defend against grappling, students need a rudimentary knowledge of […]
03.11.2021 My two self-protection lessons for Kingham Hill School looked at the hook (power slap) and the offline (rear elbow/hammer fist) strike. These are both circular strikes delivered pre-emptively but under different conditions than the straight strikes. The hook might serve as a preferred variant on the straight strike some people, but these days I tend to teach it from a more sophisticated set-up such as the invisible fence or with a deception. We also trained it from a restrictive […]
13.10.21 My two self-protection lessons at Kingham Hill looked at understanding fear and further developing hand strikes. Training included a look at the reasons behind flight/flight responses, the importance of good training to develop good behaviours under stress and a few tips to handle nerves and emotions. We then continued work from the fence onto the focus mitts, progressing on with removing obstructions and hunting the target. The classes were finished with some pre-emptive strike pressure-testing. Services
29.09.2021 Wednesday’s first two lessons were a continuation of my current course with Kingham Hill School. Today was mainly hard skills based, but with all the underlying soft skills previously covered. We looked at reinforcing the strike when personal space is breached by a confirmed threat reaction. This was performed as a target familiarisation drill and layered onto focus mitts. Having established the importance of boundaries we looked developed a concept of protecting these with the fence concept. This was […]
15.09.21 With restrictions now lifted, I returned to Kingham Hill School for my seventh term teaching self-protection. This time I had two classes to teach on the same subject. We covered self-protection definitions, local violent crime statistics and why “respect and attitude” are basic foundational tenets. After this I taught escape tactics and tested the pre-emptive strike. Services
25.09.20 Friday night saw my client complete her second hour of my basic Self-Protection course for teenagers. Tonight we continued discussing situational awareness, going over the Three Rs (Recognise, Read & Respond) reaction loop, PPHC (People, Places, Hazards & Changes), Threat Triangle (opportunity, capability & intent) and the Cooper Colour Code. We also put tactical escapes into practice with obstacle running with pressure, pre-emptive striking off the fence and incidental combinations.
17.09.20 My client began her first self-protection for teenagers course today. We began with a lecture and discussion on attitude and awareness. This began with the importance of having a proactive and survival attitude as well as situational awareness. As a practical exercise, we looked at posture and target hardening. We also discussed anaerobic exercises designed to test and improve mental toughness. We also began both tactical escape training and the fundamentals of the fence, preserving personal space.
11.03.20 Wednesday lunchtime continued my self-protection course with Kingham Hill School. We revised basic clinch grappling and began anti-grappling training. The solo warm-up began with some simple dynamic stretches moving onto grappling callisthenics and then we drilled moving from a low posture as well as sprawls and double-leg takedowns. Then we moved onto partner work. We revised the main clinching drills from the previous lesson – collar and elbow bulling, plum position neck wrestling, over-hook/under-hook pummelling and wrist-grip […]
05.12.19 Wednesday’s lunchtime lesson saw the end of this term’s course of Self-Protection at Kingham Hill School. Today we focused entirely on symmetrical ground-fighting. Training began with a warm-up of various crawls, snaking and other ground callisthenics designed for good muscle activation. Then we revised escaping to standing from a guard position. The object here was to empower the guard position, a typical place someone might end up in a sexual assault, and to present the best options […]
26.11.19 Tuesday night’s consultation lesson focused on the end point of a young person’s self-protection course. We decided to begin at this point and reverse engineer the process for the younger levels. My client’s mandate in this instance was for me to help provide a self-protection ideal for a first year university student. The below are some rough notes on what I would expect of a student aged 16 years and over who is considered to have completed […]
