Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Knife Defense Video

In "Poetry and Other Deadly Pursuits" I made the point that a fight is a fight is a fight is a fight. In the video clip below, Jim Grover (a.k.a. Kelly McCann) demonstrates that principle. The introduction of the knife also introduces some tactical considerations, but his technical response looks a lot like any other self defense situation.

Things to look for:
  • The legal question of assault vs battery (when does attack begin?)
  • Where should you look in ANY potentially violent confrontation?
  • Look for what Tony Blauer calls the SPEAR, and I refer to as the combat wedge (see my "Startle Response" series of posts)

1 comment:

Stephen said...

According to the video, which I really enjoyed, btw, the other guy has to strike first.

Question: If your life or the lives of your loved ones was at stake, would you risk spending time in jail for anticipating the attack and defending against it? I know I would.

We should look at the hands to "cold read" a potential attacker, as well as anticipating the next strike. I've learned that Keith Pascal really advocates this technique, contrary to the popular line from Karate Kid :"wook eyes".

I really liked the "combat wedge". That looked like a very utilitarian position.