tags: Let's eradicate fear of the streets with confident, capable people out in our communities! Women's self-defence - kids' self-defence - seniors' self-defence - real world self-defence for every day people First, avoid danger; if that's not possible, minimize the risk of injury and create an opportunity to escape All too often a weapon is turned against a defender; an ineffectual kick or punch is grabbed and the defender is thrown to the ground. Effective self-defence is about awareness & avoidance first, escape & control second & counter-attack only as a last resort. There is more to self-defence than the use of force. In fact the use of force should be the last resort You may not be able to knock out someone twice your size, but you can learn how to escape Street-proofing = awareness;
Preparation & self-confidence = empowerment Discover your inner warrior! #ProtectYourself! #Confident_&_Safe keywords: self-defence self-defense defence defense grapple ground grappling street safe safety protect protection

What do we mean by real world self-defence?

Self-defence for the real world is not about flashy techniques that are out of the reach of ordinary people. Neither is the objective of our self-defence training to learn how to destroy an attacker or potential threat.

We train in order to learn to first avoid, and, if avoidance isn't possible, second, to control and finally to escape a dangerous situation while minimizing the risk of injury to ourselves as well as to other parties involved. However, in some circumstances, it may be necessary for the defender to be prepared to inflict pain or injury in order to create the opportunity for escape -- any form of fighting back that doesn't create an opportunity to escape or otherwise end the encounter just escalates the level of the conflict, increasing the chance of injury.

Our program is based on the 4 Star Self-defence System of techniques, knowledge, skills and habits accessible to ordinary people. Of course, you may be surprised at what ordinary people can accomplish with a little training and practice. You don't have to start out as an experienced martial artist or an athlete of exceptional ability to benefit from or apply what you learn. If you do have previous martial arts experience our training will build on what you already know to expand your self-defence options.

We don't just teach traditional martial arts techniques. In real world physical confrontations things are very rarely as neat and predictable as they are in a class. You can't stop and ask an attacker to choke you in the way you learned to defend or turn a little to the left so you can get at a particular pressure point. Things get scrappy and sloppy and you're going to have to improvise, employing the principles and skills you have practised repeatedly in class rather than relying on choreographed moves. We're not training for the movies. We're not concerned with looking good and we're not expecting the luxury of retakes. We're concerned with what works.

Real world also means we practise situational self-defence using situations drawn from your own experience, from the news and actual crime reports and statistics. We also draw from multiple martial art disciplines, conflict theory and conflict and crisis management concepts as well as other sources for our theories, techniques and training methods.

If your objective is to become the next action movie star, a fearsome killing machine or to wreak havoc on an attacker or bully you've probably come to the wrong place. However if you want to equip yourself with the confidence and ability to gain control of and extract yourself from physical confrontations while minimizing harm, we should be able to help. If you have special challenges or needs let us see what we can do to adapt to them.

Finally, although we are pleased to be able to welcome people to our workshops and short courses for an introduction to self-defence concepts and techniques, we strongly believe that practical real world self-defence depends on skills and habits that, like the oak tree in our logo, can't grow and flourish overnight. Because of this, our program is based on the regular training and practice, carried out in a friendly, supportive environment. We train regularly because we enjoy the exercise and the people we train with, not because we fear that the skills and habits we develop will necessarily be called upon to save ourselves or those around us from a dangerous situation. Of course, should the need ever arise, with regular training and practice, those skills and habits will be ready: reflex responses.