International Personal Self-Defense Blog by Robb Hamic

Do Young Girls Need Self-Defense?

I conducted a self-defense training class for girls in grades 3-7 yesterday.  This was a fantastic opportunity for me as a teacher and a father.  I think that I had more fun than the girls.  I had to take a look into their little fears as I prepared for the class.  I train many adults but have done few seminars for kids.  My wife mentioned it to a friend of hers and before I knew it there at least twenty girls signed up.  I decided to keep it fun but had to speak about the harsh reality of self-defense and explain that I was not teaching them a martial art.  I gave them concepts, tools and let them prove their new abilities on me. 

I prepared for the class by talking to several little ones, including my girls.  I listened to the group of girls at the class yesterday and learned that most small girls fear abduction by strangers.  We live in a good area of the United States and it surprised me that these girls were all somewhat afraid about being abducted by a stranger either in a public place or from inside their home.  It seems likely to me that these girls know what is going on in the world and watch or at least hear the nightly news.  Of the girls I surveyed, they stated that they would all be too afraid to take any action once the abductor placed them inside of his/ her vehicle.  In general, girls of this age were not afraid of bullying, fights with other kids or other types of confrontation.

I did some research and found these statistics relating to child abduction:

• 800,000 children are reported missing every year. Approximately two children every day.
• Of the children reported missing, 350,000 are family abductions.  Children are taken away by family members in violation of custody agreements.
• Non – family abductions amount to 204,000. These include kidnappers who are acquaintances or complete strangers to the victims.
• Only 115 of non-family abductions are stereotypical abductions, defined as those in which a child is detained overnight, transported at least 50 miles, held for ransom, intended to be kept permanently or killed.
• The rest of the 800,000 missing cases include runaways, throwaways, or lost children.

Family child abductions

• In 16% of family abductions, the child experiences severe mental harm.
• 8% of the children experience physical harm.
• 7% of the children are sexually abused.
• Mothers take the child away 46% of the time.
• Fathers take the child away 54% of the time.

Non-Family child abductions

• More than 65% of the children abducted by non-family members are girls.
• 46% of children are sexually abused.
• 31% of the children are physically abused.
• 32% of abductions take place in a street or a car and 25% take place in a park or a wooded area.
• The top 3 places an abductor imprisons the child are – a car, the abductor’s home and the abductor’s building.
• Most abductions are carried out within a quarter of a mile of the child’s home.
• 75% of the abductors are male.
• 67% of them are below 29 years of age.

 Stereotypical kidnappings

• 40% of children in stereotypical kidnappings are killed.
• 4% of children are never found.
• 79% kidnappings are carried out by strangers and 21% by acquaintances.

After reviewing these statistics, it seems like the little ones were justified in their fears.  In fact, they were not in denial.  According to one very large survey, over 75% of parents fear that their child will be abducted.  I have to admit that I share in this fear to an extent.  I guess these statistics support why the months of these girls called so quickly after hearing about my “real world” self defense class for girls.

I taught self-defense and Israeli Krav Maga to these girls as opposed to martial arts.  I see the general definition of martial arts not being self-defense related.  I have been a student of various forms of martial arts for half of my life and I see that many of the techniques are just that, techniques for class and not the real world.  The only rule in self-defense is survival.  Where it relates to these young girls, they would never be in a situation that could be confused.  Why would they ne taught martial arts as a means for self-defense and how would these girls understand the difference?  Young girls are easily influenced and they want to do as they are told.   I feel good being able to give them concepts and a number of highly effective tactics for dealing with their fears and statistical possibility for their safety.  In contrast, if I was teaching the girls a pure martial art, I may not feel as good about the relevancy of the material for their fears or vulnerabilities.

I make my training and seminars relevant by addressing a person’s fears first, then building upon the confidence that they gain from physically confronting the fear with concepts or physical fighting skills.  For this group of girls, it was obvious that I need to work on the scenario of a bad guy grabbing them by the wrist and attempting to take them away.  After solving this problem for them in minimal time girls worked the scenario with me as the “bad guy” using full contact against me.  I gave them hard resistance and I didn’t let go until I was in pain.  This is a valuable lesson that the girls learned.  They actually experienced success. 

Next, we moved on to some self-defense concepts and finished with one of the worst-case scenario for them.  Being placed in a bad guy’s car after a successful public abduction.  Each child did this individually with me as the “bad guy.”  I teach simple yet effective ways for them to solve their problems.  In this case, it was a violent solution to a very big concern.  Each girl worked it out in their own time and used her own tools to fight be off while I was in the driver’s seat of my truck.  It was empowering and it worked with each of the girls.

I love to teach self-defense to anyone.  Girls are fun to teach and really need the training.  It is my goal to train as many kids as possible within the next year.  My goal is to train 5000 individuals in 2011.

About the Author:

Robb Hamic is the managing principal of Summit Security & Investigation® and  Summit Self Defense™.  These companies provide services for self-defense, survival Israeli Krav Maga and education.   In fact, Robb Hamic is one of the only people who combine his skill sets to provide women with holistic solutions to their safety in anti-abduction situations.  Mr. Hamic is written a book about keeping safe and is available for sale on Amazon.com: “Karma’s Helpers”

 

Armed robberies on the rise.

Albuquerque, New Mexico October 4, 2010. 

Albuquerque Police Department is reporting three armed robberies this past weekend. The first was a purse snatching at gun-point in the northeast area of the city. The second incident was reported to be a armed robbery at a popular fast food establishment in the central part of the city. The third incident, and most bizarre, was reported as an armed robbery of a armed security guard at an apartment complex on the west side of the city. Citizens need to be aware of the wide-spread, apparently random escalation of crime in the area. There have been no arrests in these reported crimes and police warn of more to come. The state fair recently ended, the Balloon Fiesta is in town and many visitors remain in the Albuquerque area. Unfortunately, this makes for easy pickings for the would-be criminals. 

Learn how to protect yourself and be aware of your surroundings. Don't be an easy target. Criminals are opportunists, they want the easy way out otherwise they would have a real job. Don't give them the chance. Pay attention to others around you. Make eye contact, stay alert, and be a good witness if you in contact or see a crime. We must all be proactive in our own self-defense.

Summit Self Defense specializes in training people to defend themselves in a violent lethal confrontation, We train men, women, military and law enforcement in the areas of hand-to-hand tactics, firearms, CHL/CCW, OC spray, and Tasers. Contacts us for details.

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http://www.summitselfdefense.com

Firearm Instruction.......... Stay ahead of the curve

We have all heard the same old arguments about shooting stances and methods for a very long time. Do we teach weaver, isosceles, point shooting versus sight alignment and sight picture.If we consider all of the latest information available regarding the physiology of stress and how it relates to our bodies during a dynamic critical incident, it seems that we must also evaluate how we teach today’s warriors as it relates to stress under fire.  Many studies have shown that when placed under an extreme amount of stress, our bodies will react in a somewhat predictable way to protect itself. Some examples of these reactions are; the startle flinch, tunnel vision (the rise of visual acuity), auditory exclusion, lowering of center of gravity, facing the stimulus (indexing the threat), eyes opening wide (both eyes) to focus on the threat. It has been since the mid seventies and the beginnings of the dash cam videos that we have been able to see actual shootings and the chaotic way that they play out. It is unrealistic that we see anyone involved actually stand in a perfect weaver stance, focus on the front sights, squinting one eye, and squeeze off a controlled pair. It is shown repeatedly, assailants and officers, shooting seemingly uncontrollably with poor grip on their guns while running backwards towards some sort of cover or at least away from their opponent.We know that when confronted with a threat, our body is naturally going to lower its center of gravity, orient towards the threat, hands will move up to protect our head, and eyes will both open wide and focus on the threat (the startle flinch). Why then would we train students to blade off thirty degrees from the target and close one eye to focus on the sights. We as Professional Firearm Instructors have a duty to be the most informed people on the training range. We carry such an important load of responsibility when it comes to training people to win an encounter involving firearms. 

 

Self-defense concepts vs. techniques

Many self-defense systems or styles stress high repetition techniques.  I think that this is a potentially dangerous way to teach self defense.  Don't forget that most fights happen out of an ambush and self-defense is almost certainly used in counter-ambush situations.  It doesn't matter if you are unarmed or have a gun to use in the situation.  Many of these "systems" pre-supposes that you recognize the threat.

Most of my readers have had self-defense, martial art or shooting lessons.  Think of the examples that you have been given: "OK, the attacker grabs you by the throat and starts to strangle you.. or  The target presents a lethal threat in front of you and you draw your gun in response to this threat.."  These are two, very common examples given to women, men, law enforcement or in urban military training involving civilians.  Does it really make sense or do we, as students, just listen to the instructor?  Do we question the validity of the training or scenarios that are given to us?  If not, why?

Rob Pincus, Founder of ICE Training and Combat Focus Shooting™, has reinforced my natural reaction to question the lessons that are given to me.  "Challenge the material," is something that I have heard him say that makes a lot of sense to me.    As an instructor, I encourage my students to ask why.  Intellectually and conceptually I want them to know because they bet their lives on me and my material as a self-defense instructor.  This is a serious responsibility and I take it as such.

Tony Blauer, CEO of Blauer Tactical Systems and one of my mentors, once told me that a system or technique won't save your life.  A tactic will and I also believe that a concept has the same effect to keep us safe.  We can't pick our fight and don't know when it will happen.  The bad guy chooses the time and place.  We choose when and how to end the fight in the best circumstances.  

 Combat Focus Shooting™ teaches us that it is far better to recognize a threat early than the athletic ability to shoot fast and strait.  Dynamic critical incidents are chaotic sudden and threatening.  The only thing that you can plan for is your body's natural reactions and incorporate ways for you to respond to the threat in an efficient way, taking less time effort and energy to stop the deadly attack.  Recognition is key in training and in real life.  How do you recognize?  One effective way to recognize attacks is to train in a realistic environment as frequently as possible.  Another good idea is to just pick your head up and look around you.  Trust your gut (instincts) and don't place yourself into bad situations if possible.  If a situation starts to go bad use your intelligence to find solutions.  Enter- the concept.  

If you train for technique then the street never looks like the dojo or shooting range.  The attackers are usually a target or fellow student that doesn't try very hard to be a bad guy.  Real bad guys want to injure you emotionally, hurt you physically and maybe worse.  If you train with static targets at the range or stand in place and take sighted shots overtime under no stress you aren't doing yourself any service or increasing your abilities.  It would be better to consider this time "play time" or "stress relief" rather than training.  If you give yourself unrealistic expectations about bad guy behavior or how you will prevail in violent encounters because your instructor said so, think again.  Don't fall for it.

Find a trainer who takes his training seriously and brings the most relevant and up-to-date training to you as a student.  Find an instructor that looks like a professional instructor and can teach not show.  Any instructor can make his own demonstration look good but does that really matter to you as a student?  We all have different capabilities and we need to find defenses that are intuitive and work well with what the body does naturally.  

If you are looking for a good self defense model for gun deployment consider Combat Focus Shooting™.  It is widely regarded in the self-defense, military and law enforcement industry.  It is intended for new shooters or professional operators and there are many levels of training.

If you are looking for a good model for hand to hand self-defense then consider Summit Self Defense™ for your protection needs.  Summit has trained thousands and specialize in unique and efficient methods to end violent encounters.  Summit provides training by seminar or private sessions locally, nationally or internationally to women, law enforcement, military or men.

Author of this blog post

Robb Hamic is a professional firearms teacher who resides in Austin Texas.  He provides instruction in Combat Focus Shooting™ in Austin and surrounding areas on a private or semi-private basis to individuals.  He is a Certified Law Enforcement Trainer (CLET) and trains agencies across the United States in today's most up to date use of force options.  Robb also trains military units.  He provides a full range of hand to hand solutions and methodologies.  For further information contact him at 512-284-0087 or robb@summitselfdefense.com

College safety by security expert Chris Roberts

Ontario, Canada, April 2, 2010 - In this blog I would like to appeal to all parents and offer them statistics on why they should have their son or daughter participate in a Safe International self defense course.  For so many teenagers, it will be their first time away from home, and they will be involved in scenarios they have never experienced before.  By giving them some self defense tools, they will be much more prepared to deal with a conflict on both a psychological and physical level.  So again I would ask you, "Is your son or daughter going to college or university"? Please read the following:

Four out of five female undergraduates recently surveyed at Canadian universities said that they had been victims of violence in a dating relationship.

That is 80% which is staggering.  Some people say that stats are blown out of proportion, but even if they were only 20%, that is still not acceptable.

Of that number, 29% reported incidents of sexual assault.

These numbers are so high because again we are placing our daughters and sons in an environment with new experiences, new people, new daily routines and they are left on their own to make their own decisions at an early age of 17 for many first year students.

A recent survey on date rape showed that 60% of Canadian college-aged males indicated that they would commit sexual assault if they were certain they would not get caught.

Read that one again!  I find this absolutely stunning and I am completely dumbfounded, how so many young men would feel this way.  If there is no other reason to have your daughter learn self defense, this statistic should scare you and be your biggest reason for them to learn the skills necessary to protect themself.  

The majority of date and acquaintance rape victims are young women aged 16 to 24.

This is the reason Safe International has taught more than 100 000 high school students throughout Ontario.  This is the age range that is more susceptible to attacks due to the nature of lifestyle, daily routines, lack of street smarts.

Teens 16 to 19 were three and one-half times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault.

This just goes to emphasize the statistic before that was given. In Canada, we are know for waiting until something unforunate happens before we take any action.  This is one aspect of US Culture that I think we should appreciate.  Maybe the crime rate is higher but women and men are much more likely to put personal safety as a top priority.  Without feeling safe, nothing else matters in my opinion. 

Contact me, Chris Roberts, at Safe International to discuss how we might educate you, your children, their friends, etc to help ensure they have the tools to protect themself.  You can reach me at

chris@safeinternational.biz

To read more about this go to

http://www.pressreleasepoint.com/user/infosafeinternationalbiz

Chris Roberts: Teaching Self-Defense to High School Students

Teaching Self-Defense to High School Students

January, 25, 2010- Toronto, Ontario, Canada-  Safe International teaches men and women in corporations, privately and to women's organizations, our reputation was originally built by   teaching in high schools.  Safe has now taught more than 100,000 students and continues to grow each year.  Teaching teenage students poses unique and exciting challenges.  With the bombardment of media and entertainment, trying to entertain teenagers can be one of the most challenging aspects of teaching self-defense. 

 The curriculum is serious but we think  it needs to be taught in a way that is both entertaining and educational or as Tony Robbins says, you need to “Edutain” to both capture their attention and keep it throughout the 4 to 5 hours of instruction.  It is very common for students to greet the instructors with a feeling of boredom at the thought of sitting through a 60 minute talk on how to avoid potentially dangerous situations.  Within minutes the students quickly realize that this is not your average self-defense course.  We don’t give one-way instruction or “Don’t Do This or Don’t Do That” talk on personal safety.  But rather, it is an interactive roller coaster of potentially life saving information and at times comedy. 

 Through the years many competitors have criticized Safe International’s use of humour in teaching such material.  Ask any teacher or student who has experienced one of the Safe courses and they will virtually all tell you that the method in which it is taught is the key and biggest reason they call Safe back year after year to instruct their students whether it be males or females. First, capture their attention and teach it in a way that really leaves a lasting impression even in the case of a possible attack.  Here is a perfect example of how effective this teaching method is:

 A mother called and indicated that her daughter had participated in a Safe course about 4 years earlier.  She was in the parking lot of a popular mall in Ottawa, ON with one of her friends who also participated in the course.  The one woman was getting in the driver’s side of their van while the other young woman was getting in the passenger side. 

 Before getting in on the passenger side, a man came out from behind a pillar at which point he put a knife to her and said “Get in the Back”.  The woman on the driver’s side decided to start yelling for help at which point the man took off in fear of being caught.  They informed their family not knowing that about an hour later the same man went to another mall and attempted to force a woman and her child into the backseat of their car.  Some bystanders saw what was happening and they pursued the perpetrator.  They caught him and held him until the police arrived.  When the original young women read about this in the paper they called the police at which point they were interviewed.  Apparently the criminal had already spent time in jail for a similar crime.  He was sentenced to 4 years in jail. 

 The police informed the women that if they had not yelled the circumstances might have been much different.  Now one of the keys to this story is that the young woman told her mother that although it had been 4 years since taking the Safe course she remembered to yell because of how crazy the instructor was which in turn caused her to remember what to do even though in a high stress situation.   I am proud to say the crazy instructor was me. 

During this first hour of instruction we cover topics such as awareness and intuition, elevator/stair Safety, being followed, why cell phones can be dangerous, how being too polite can harm you, distraction techniques like asking for the time or direction, I-pod® Dangers, etc.   We cover the situations that people encounter everyday. 
 Many students feel that you are more likely to be attacked in some back alley where in reality it will usually be during your daily routines.  Once the stage has been set the students are more than comfortable sharing their stories, fears, concerns. 

We discuss how you will be effectedt emotionally first and that it is important to deal with it in advance and not at the end a possible confrontation.  This class is generally 60 minutes in length but could easily go on for hours if time was available. 

Focus is always on detecting and avoiding danger but there are times where a physical confrontation cannot be avoided.  The next phase of the Safe program is on that aspect of self-defense.  Students are taught that self-defense is not martial arts and the worst thing to do is to adopt a stance indicating any knowledge of self protection. While it is important to look confident so attacker does not choose you as a victim, once they do, you need to play into the scenario in a way that will empower you and give you some advantages like the element of surprise or the ability to defuse and talk your way out of a situation. 

If an attack has not started and the person is talking they can usually be talked down or out of the situation.  If that is not effective then the final phase is physical self-defense must be utilized.  We teach adopting a non-violent posture and using choice speech you can catch them off guard and adopt the stun and run .  By adopting sequence of events.  Using this non violent posture and feigning some fear the attacker will usually become over confident which gives you some obvious advantages.  An important factor is that an attacker only chooses someone who they feel will make a good victim. 

 Students are then taught basic, gross motor movements including strikes to some of the most vulnerable areas of the body.  This is not martial arts which might require complex motor skills.  When someone is involved in a high stress situation such as an attack, the ability to remember any fancy skills goes out the window.  You start to get tunnel vision and making split second decisions become limited. When students take the Safe course you see the timid nature as most have never struck anything or been struck themselves.  Students are taken through some striking drills using shields to experience hitting an object.  Within an hour you see the confidence build and the knowledge that one can defend themselves if they just keep it basic and simple.

The next topic is on different ways an attacker may grab, restrain, or strike you whether on your feet or on the ground.  The instructors at Safe put an emphasis on not waiting to be attacked but rather to strike immediately to avoid any further attack.   Students are taught that they might just remember 10% of what is taught.  That is being honest!  Many companies teach students techniques and then have no problem guaranteeing they will work.  At Safe we say that nothing is guaranteed and that avoidance is always first priority but if physical assault cannot be avoided that they must fight back with an unrelenting attitude of survival and indignation.  

The culmination of the Safe course is our Simulated Attacks which allows the student to experience while not real, still the adrenaline one would have and the nervousness of a real attack.  We take the students through the attack and while we want them to develop confidence we feel it is our duty to make sure they do not get over confident by discussing this a drill and not a real situation.  Our goal is to have them leave with some confidence but understanding that the avoidance strategies are still the most important.  Some of the quotes we have received from students after this portion of the course are:

“This was the most tiring one to two minutes of my life!  I better keep in shape!”

" It felt like it was real even though I knew you would not hurt me”

“This class made me understand that my karate training is different than real self defense”

“I thought having my black belt would help me but it was totally different than the way I train."

Every year teachers tell us that students rate our course as their favourite activity in physical education for the year.  This is why we offer advanced courses in future years.  Year to year, we can see the confidence and skills increase just from participating in the Safe course for a few hours.  The four hours of a Safe course might be the most important four hours of instruction your daughter or son might receive in all of high school.  Many people put priorities on trivial useless information when none of it is possible without feeling safe on a day to day basis.  To finish off here is a story from a student we taught years ago.  I share this story because it is very typical of the stories we consistently hear.

I am a student from Holy Name of Mary S.S. and I recently took your course in Phys. Ed. class. I wanted to share a quick story.

“A few nights before my Phys. Ed. class' Attack Day I took my dog for a walk. It was about 5:30 and it was getting dark. I wasn't planning on going very far, just along the field close to my house. Towards the end of the filed is a mailbox. As my dog and I approached the mailbox he began to act strangely. He's part hound and I figured he had seen a cat or some other small animal so I made nothing of it. As we got closer to the mailbox I noticed two males leaning against it. That did it for my dog, the hair on his back raised like a cat and he began to growl (something he rarely does), I freaked. For all I know the males were just checking their mail or hanging out but I didn't risk getting any closer. I turned around and headed home. I started off with walking, then it turned into a light jog then running - they didn't follow. Maybe I was over reacting and was letting the stories from class get into my head, but I remember being told that it was better to look like a freak and be rude then to stay and see what happens, putting myself into a stupid position.”

Thanks again for coming top our school and teaching us about being S.A.F.E. It's an amazing course and something I will take with me everywhere I go.

Student (proof on file)

Chris Roberts is the Teaching Director and founder of Safe International, based in Ontario, Canada.  Chris and his company are affiliates of Summit Self Defense and he is a guest author of this blog.  Mr. Roberts has extensive experience teaching men, women and high school aged students.  He has an extensive martial arts, self defense and combatitives background.   Stay in touch with him through his social networking sites!

FaceBook:     http://www.facebook.com/safeinternational

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/chris__roberts