MMA Instructor teaches RBSD as well

[i]The art of fighting back
*Girls at TeWinkle Middle School learn to protect themselves with martial arts moves.

By Michael Miller, Daily Pilot

Bear St. Clair is clear about one thing: He may teach fighting moves, but he’s also antiviolence.

When addressing a classroom of girls at TeWinkle Middle School last week, the martial arts trainer offered the first rule for fending off a stalker – and it had nothing to do with a karate chop to the head. If you detect someone following you, St. Clair told the two dozen girls present, turn around and loudly ask them a question.

“Then,” the Costa Mesa instructor and former Kaiser Elementary student explained, “they’re answering to you.”

Sometimes, of course, the situation gets hairier, and St. Clair spent the next hour showing the girls physical defense moves. By the end of an hour, the girls – many of whom had never taken a self-defense class before – had learned how to drop an attacker from behind, how to retaliate after being pushed to the ground, and how to target the knee, the shin and other delicate parts of the body.

All of the students present were members of Girls Inc. in Costa Mesa, which leads defense classes both on- and off-site. The “Action for Safety” program, overseen by Girls Inc., teaches self-defense in multiple ways – physical, mental and verbal.

“It has components of respect from martial arts,” said Orleda Roa, volunteer coordinator for Girls Inc. “It also teaches girls how to use their minds, think quickly, or use their voice to scare off an attacker.”

Lori Wagner, the Girls Inc. project chairwoman for the Junior League of Orange County, contacted St. Clair about working with the older girls. St. Clair, who has traveled and competed worldwide, operates the Bear Essential Combat studio on 17th Street.

During the session last Tuesday, Wagner acted as his assistant as he demonstrated a series of increasingly complex moves. Afterward, the girls found partners and attempted the moves while standing on mats.

The first technique that St. Clair demonstrated involved knocking down an assailant from behind: The girls learned to bend down, grab the attacker’s foot from between their legs and then sit down on it forcefully. Next was the “spider guard,” a complex move that St. Clair offered as a defense after being knocked down.

In the spider guard, the intended victim rests on one haunch, with a leg and arm extended to ward off blows to the head or body. St. Clair and Wagner showed the girls how to pivot in a circle to deny the assailant a clear shot from any angle.

“You never see a snake, when it’s about to strike someone, go out in a straight line,” Wagner told the class.

After the class, some of the girls said they enjoyed their first experience learning self-defense.

“It was weird and funny at first, but as we went on, I got more excited about it,” said Melissa Correa, 11, a sixth-grader at TeWinkle.

Her classmate Victoria Aguilar, 11, said she wanted to take jujitsu in the future.

“If anybody comes to attack me, I’ll already know what to do,” she said.

  • IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot education writer Michael Miller visits a campus in the Newport-Mesa area and writes about his experience.[/i]

http://www.dailypilot.com/education/story/33181p-48798c.html

Thought at first this was your usual krotty or TKD RBSD article filled with the usual crap, but the mention of certain keywords sparked my interest. A quick bit of internet-fu and it seems this guy is also a MMA instructor. Visit www.bear-fight.com for more information about him.

Turn around and confront your attacker sounds sort of like suicide. What o earth are you supposed to say? “You lookin’ at me?!” Hell, get that up in court and you’d be done for initiating the encounter.

“had learned how to drop an attacker from behind,” - nice, if a ten year old girl ever GETS behind her attacker.

“demonstrated a series of increasingly complex moves” - doesn’t sound like the best stuff for schoolgirls who’ll only ever have the one lesson.

“he girls learned to bend down, grab the attacker’s foot from between their legs and then sit down on it forcefully.” - maybe I’m just being picky now, but is the weight of a kid really going to put him off? Is grabbing someone’s foot, one that I assume is holding their weight, really so simple a ten year old girl can do it?

““If anybody comes to attack me, I’ll already know what to do,” she said.” Dammit. Somewhat suicidal mentality. It’s a start but seriously… they gotta teach kids to be realistic.

I agree with you Xiangfei.

Turn around and confront your attacker sounds sort of like suicide. What o earth are you supposed to say? “You lookin’ at me?!” Hell, get that up in court and you’d be done for initiating the encounter.

If I catch someone looming, I always ask if everything’s ok. Thats my tester question. If I’m satisfied, I proceed as usual. Partially satisfied, I may speed up a little. Now, if they respond in a manner which worries me, I flip the inquiry. Are WE ok? If they get flustered, since they have nothing to do with me, then I diffuse the situation. If they give any indication that they DO have something to do with me, but are still evasive, I explain myself. You sure we ok? Cause you’re walking up on me kinda fast. And this point, I’m pretty concerned, so I’m ok with the situation being a standoff, which is what it is. Its a pretty big improvement over them stalking me. Now, I’ve always understood this situation as one of both sides needing to talk fast, back down, or get their ass beat so if I don’t like their responses, I have no qualms about hitting them first. I’m saying “Hey, I feel threatened, so explain yourself”, at which point they’d better.

Would you confront them if you were a twelve year old girl? Or would you advise it to your daughter?

I think it’s fine for a bloke to confront a creepy bloke. I might consider doing it if I thought I could take him easily, but if he looked a damn sight bigger I’d probably just keep making to escape.

I don’t use it if I KNOW someone’s stalking me, but if I’m suspicious. Confrantation clears things up and lets me know whether or not I’d need to sprint full speed down the street.

True. Thinking about it, I’d probably just take the polite-but-firm “Can I help you?” or “You alright?” as if I think they are lost or confused, with an edge in the voice that states “however if you’re an arsehole then I am on to you. And the fact I am on to you instead of running away should be making you think twice about whatever you were thinking.”

Not a bad idea, actually. Sure beats a quivering girlie “gosh, why are you looking at me?” or keeping my head down and walking faster.

Xiangfei,

The key thing to understand is that most attackers are concerned about two things:

  1. Not getting hurt
  2. Not getting caught

Therefore the more resistant the mark, the more hesitant the attacker. For that reason, the eariler you can confront someone who is giving you a bad feeling, the better. This is especially the case if you can do this at a distance. Working to get these girls the awareness to acknowledge that someone is giving them a bad feeling and the confidence to confront that person early is far more useful than any physical technique.

Osiris’s comments are exactly the case.

  • Matt

Possibly. But when they’re only ten, I doubt it’ll make a lot of difference. Intention and expectation is different. A man about to ‘bother’ a ten year old girl - either murder, sexual assault or just stealing her mobile phone - knows that she will not defeat him in a fight, her hits probably will not hurt and his risk of injury is low. He knows he can pick her up and silence her quickly.

Her confronting him may put her on the upper edge, but not by much. He’s just got a bolshy ten year old. It won’t change the physical situation. His chances of winning are almost the same as they were if she’d have done nothing.

With an adult female, if he gets one that turns and confronts him, he now has to weigh up his options. She might get a good shot in. She could take his eye out or knee him in the groin. She will scream, she will run, she will fight - be that skilled fighting or not, he doesn’t need to know. He’s got resistance and that really has changed it for him. He’s gotta assess now if it’s still worth it.

But the ten year old’s position won’t change. If she was doomed before the confronting, she’s doomed after.

Therefore I think it’s better to teach the kids to run, kick, scream, bite, gouge and on top of all things, don’t end up in private places on your own, rather than ‘confronting’ your attacker. It wastes valuable running time.

The point with confronting is to do it at a distance if possible. And it is quite possible for a small child to create an escape opening. Especially in a public/semi public place. There was an example not to long ago of a young girl who escaped an attacker in an elevator by biting him and then running as soon as the doors opened.

The strategy of confrontation isn’t to have a long discussion. It could be as simple as turning and saying loudly “are you following me.” That can, and often is enough, to prevent an attack. And if the person is unphased or doesn’t respond then the child (or adult for that matter) goes into a full defense mode. Again, the ability to have awareness and the confidence to confront are the key skills here.

This is material that has been researched by both law enforcement groups and good RBSD folks.

  • Matt

I think the question is a great idea, even for a ten-year old. You have a good point–a stern question probably isn’t going to change the attacker’s intentions. But it does the following for the girl

  1. A loud question from a young girl to some strange person in any public or semi-public place is going to immediately draw attention.
  2. It might not change the attacker’s intentions, but it gives the assailant a great way to size up the situation instead of just moving along quietly. They should be able to figure out this person’s intentions quickly and know to start running, instead of just moving along normally while being afraid.
  3. It still could throw off any potential attacker, even if briefly. This could be an opportunity to buy more time.

You are teh correct!

In a way, the voice can prove useful.

My mom was once almost robbed by a man in downtown Houston four years ago. When the dude cornered her and said, “Lady, give me your purse.” What my mom did was scream the loudest she can and the robber turns around and runs.

I don’t have to tell you what my mom’s scream sounds like. She talks as if she’s screaming, and when she screams, there’s no way I can imagine how fucking scary it would sound, let alone annoying.

And I’m not exaggerating, my mom’s scream makes you go deaf for weeks.