Fighting On the Buses: Very Successful Seminar
We did a very well attended Seminar re how to defend yourself on a bus on Sunday at Plumstead Bus Garage. Thanks to the South London police force who arranged this for us. This sort of training is crucial for us and we may make this a monthly event. All reality based self defence systems need to account for the fact that if it kicks off it’s unlikely that you’ll be there ready with your hands up and feet nicely spacedshoulder-width apart in a regular left-lead fighting stance. Good chance that you could be sitting down in a confined space, as unprepared mentally as you are physically, and surrounded by other people – some innocent bystanders, some working with your attacker.
You need to train for this sort of situation as much as you do your basic blocks, strikes, bridging, positioning from the closed guard etc. We worked on defending (i) knife threats if trapped by the window seat (ii) knife threats and strangle holds from someone seated behind you, (iii) someone punching, hitting and stabbing you from a standing position (iv) fighting/defensive techniques if attacked when standing in a corridor. (v) using the environment of the bus e.g. back of seats, support bars, to help you in all of these situations.
Obviously there are some general skills that can be applied in most of these situations but all the students on Sunday realised that there are skills/techniques specific to this and similar environments that make it a different fight game. I hope to make this a regular part of our training, please call me to let me know if you’re up for it.
Stewart