Fit To Defend

How do you survive the first seven seconds of an assault? It's all about educating yourself about the facts of violence. Without it, you're doing what everyone else is doing. Learning techniques for specific situations.

People stumble into various martial arts or combat sports never having once considered why they're doing it. If you're training your body to participate in sport, I'm sure you'll find numerous martial arts and combat sports that provide excellent instruction and challenging forms of competition.

You will be able to exercise your abilities in a safe situation, with rules and supervision. Now, the real world offers very different challenges. I'm talking about real violence. The kind we all want to avoid. It's where social communication ends and real violence begins. You have no control over your opponent. In other words, those situations we all try to pretend don't exist. The real question is, if you find yourself in that unimaginable situation, will you have the ability to defend yourself and your family?

This is a very personal issue for me. Growing up locally, I was a victim of bullying, which escalated to physical assault. As an obese, non-athletic kid, I was an easy target. I learned early on that there are people out there who will act in unpredictable and irrational ways.

I discovered Israeli Krav Maga a number of years ago on the History Channel. Having participated in martial arts most of my adult life, I was immediately drawn to the real world training tactics of Krav Maga. It is the official hand-to-hand combat system of the Israeli Defense Forces. It is also the preferred system for U.S. military and law enforcement personnel. It is a simple, effective self defense system that emphasizes instinctive movements, practical techniques and realistic training scenarios.

There are two groups of people who will not benefit from this training. Those who think violence is never justifiable and those who think violence is the answer to everything.

When every other choice has been taken from you, no rules apply. Violence is an instinctive survival tool. Serious violent conflicts rarely last more than seven seconds. It doesn't take much to put the biggest man down. You don't have the luxury of time to think or take up a fancy kung-fu stance. You only get time to recognize, react and, hopefully, escape.

A large percentage of violent attacks are specifically sexual assaults against women.  One in four college freshman women will be sexually assaulted during their first year on the college campus. This is one of the reasons that the Milburn Short Hills Athletic will volunteer our time and spend the day Thursday, April 19, at with the senior girls.  The statistics are staggering. Some 44 percent of victims are under 18 and 80 percent are under 30. Approximately 2/3 of the assaults are committed by someone the victim knows.

The statistics speak for themselves. We must prepare our young women not only for college campus life, but dating and provide them situational awareness as well. This will be our second year volunteering our time and working with the Millburn HIgh School senior girls.

So why is violence so important to survival? Because it works on everyone. Superior physical ability, knowledge, experience, and iron will are all trumped by a thumb to the eye. You'll only have time to act. You need to be comfortable using violence in a violent situation. It is a tool to survive.