THE 3 IMPORTANT STAGES OF STREET VIOLENCE
Morné Swanepoel's JKD High Performance Street Fighting

Street violence which can be directly related to the unlawful exercise of physical force is a reality which all of us live with on a daily basis. Training to protect oneself for street confrontations is very intense and quite different from training for competitions, even the "NO HOLDS BARRED" competitions that are very popular today. The Pavement arena is where there are no rules, where anything goes and where you can expect the unexpected.

The latest buzz word in the martial arts community is 'reality-based?' It is a police term, though never widely used in the law enforcement community, which refers to realistic Conflict Rehearsal training. The term 'reality-based' was brought to light thanks to one of the world's leading reality based instructors, Sergeant Jim Wagner. He defines reality-based as follows"

"Training and survival skills based on modern conflict situations that the practitioner is likely to encounter in their environment (their "reality"), in an accordance with the use-of-force continuum of that jurisdiction." - Jim Wagner

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word reality/realism/realistic can be defined as: Actually existing or occurring. Practice of things in their true nature and dealing with them as they are. Based on facts rather than ideals etc.

Your duty as a Street Self Defence Couch/Instructor is to expose your students to what is real in today's world of street violence and to ensure that their training methods and techniques is on par with what is actually happening out these important stages.

1: PRE-CONFLICT (before the fight)

Most situations can be avoided by ensuring one exposes oneself to pre-conflict training.
Pre-conflict training consist of various factors such as:

• Threat assessment

• Situational awareness

• Hostile awareness

• Legal issues

• Verbal judo etc.

Learning how to avoid confrontations physically, mentally and socially is imperative to any reality based self defence training Besides the physical techniques and training methods one can incorporated to achieve these results, it is just as important to expose oneself to case studies of various violent crimes to identify the pre-conflict stage and methods of avoidance or minimal damage/injury.

2: CONFLICT (the actual confrontation)

This is the part that most Self Defence and Martial Art schools focus on. The problem is that most of them are based on theory, rituals, tradition and set sequences or forms. Not on confrontation is the same and trying to memorise complex techniques for certain situations or attacks is going to get you killed or seriously injured. The conflict stage has social and asocial violent components which need specific attention such as gang attacks, the way criminals fight with weapons, carjacking, robberies, muggings etc. It is also important that one is able to establish the difference between social and asocial violence and the amount of force you will be using to successfully defend yourself and your loved ones. The importance of getting the most effective results is directly related to the tools that are brought into action focusing on the most vulnerable targets that are available.

3: POST CONFLICT (after the fight)

These are actions you will take after the confrontation/fight. Again there are many factors involved here which need to be addressed in one's reality based training such as first-aid training, escaping methods, citizen's arrest methods, communication with the authorities, courtroom survival, attacker description and incident detail etc.

At JKD High Performance Street Fighting, the focus is on reality based training methods and techniques, which specifically focused on modern conflict situations and eliminating outdated techniques and training methods. No time is wasted on rituals, memorisation of complex techniques or forms, but rather on resisting opponents and scenario training which will give the practitioner immediate results and feedback. Constant evolution and updating of one's potential enemies and the way you are preparing yourself to deal with them is essential if you want to survive the streets of today!

DEFENDING YOURSELF AGAINST THE STRANGLE

Most situations can be avoided by ensuring one exposes oneself to pre-conflict training. In the sequence shown on the left, Aileen, was unable to avoid the attack and is being attacked aggressively.

FOR MORE ON JKD HIGH PERFORMANCE STREET FIGHTING CLICK HERE

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTACT MORNÉ VIA EMAIL, CLICK HERE

Morné will be writing an article for the STAND website on a regular basis, so be sure to visit our site regularly for updates on SURVIVING IN SOUTH AFRICA