26.01.2022
Wednesday morning’s first session was a teacher consultancy lesson with Drum Kempo Ju Jitsu. This excellent martial arts school in Ireland has drastically altered its syllabus to be more pragmatic in its approach, focusing the early grades on self-protection. I was booked to discuss ways to help advise on the way forward in their continued development.
We went through the various current influences in the martial arts world and what was the best approach for recreational students who needed a pragmatic base. I discussed my 10-hour course approach to self-protection prior to cross training. The role of soft skills and how that should be delivered in order to keep students engaged as well as what a hard skills syllabus should look like was all covered.
My main argument is that self-protection, in order for it to be efficiently absorbed by civilians, needs to be minimalistic in its approach. That integrity has to be maintained, but it also has to be balanced by the natural desire to pursue a combat art. At the end of the session I briefly touched on how I taught cross training and the way it worked to enhance self-protection.