A few months back I received a phone call from a guy enquiring about my club and classes; while I was explaining what we do, timetables and prices the guy interrupted me and stated: “My main purpose is self defence. I am very busy and I have not time to train 2-3 times per week for years: could you please teach me, in 2-3 classes, a few moves to defend myself? I understand and respect the effort you guys put in the martial arts training but I would really like just to defend myself and I simply don’t have time for that”.
I was initially a bit confused about this sentence then I merely replied that if I had a formula, a few magic moves, to help an individual to defend himself/herself I could have made millions. I also tried to explain that self defence is a very complex science that depends on a large number of factors including situation, size of the attacker(s) and reason of the attack. I also added that despite my 30 years of experience and confidence in my own knowledge of martial arts I cannot feel 100% safe in every situation. I simply concluded, after a few attempts to explain myself, that there was no point for me to spend extra time on the topic. In invited him to do 2 things:
- Come and I have a look at what we teach, to understand the flaw in his knowledge about self defence
- Look for teachers that could in fact satisfy his request and once found put me in touch with him.
I never heard of him since.
I guess you can teach him in 2/3 days self defence.
Supply him with a magnum (not the ice cream) and teach him how to shoot, that should do the trick.
I always tell people that Self Defence (actually Self Protection is a better description) is 98% Awareness, Avoidance and Assertiveness and only perhaps 2% extreme violence, when necessary as a last resort. The trouble is, as stated above, you cannot properly teach the 2% over a couple of days, due to all the other factors involved.