Extreme self defence

Trevor steward national Coach for the development of children within Great Britain. I have been training in the art of Ishin Ryu Ju Jitsu since 1995 and have been teaching children from the age of four upwards since March 2000. I first met our founder and chief instructor, Kevin Pell (Soke) in 1989 at my local Jiu Jitsu club in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. I then moved to Norfolk to be with my instructor and pursue my teaching career and immediately joined him at our headquarters (Honbu Dojo) in Caston, Norfolk, where I became the first student to pass the coveted Ishin Ryu Black Belt in November 2000. I have had the honour of accompanying Soke to teach in the United States, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Croatia, Ireland, Finland, and here at home within the UK. I have also been exceptionally privileged to take part in many high-profile courses and close protection contracts with Kevin Pell Soke including: • SAS “Surveillance and Anti – Surveillance Close Protection Courses” • SAS “Practical and Advanced Firearms Courses” • SAS Survival Courses • Worked alongside Soke on High Security Close Protection Contracts Bertel sensei promotes traditional Budo Karate of Japan and his mission is to keep the legacy of his late teacher Asai alive. According to him, the Karate practiced worldwide is often a watered down version of the original, a mere sports activity. Karate should instead be studied in a way that develops a genuine Samurai fighting spirit, allowing self-defense in a life-and-death encounter. What does this mean? Of course, it has to be assumed that applying empty hand weaponry like Karate comprises a minimum level of chance for survival. Fighting against machine gun bullets is obviously doomed to fail, no matter how much and hard one has trained before. We are talking about lunatics on drugs or some moron whose mental circuit breaker has tripped. Recall those infected people in “28 Days Later” who turned into blood thirsty running zombies? Picture one or two of them heading in your direction. It’s exaggerated, yes, but the point is that an out of control, freak-style assault is the benchmark, not the friendly sparring partner in a cosy Dojo. André Bertel in Ahrensburg (Germany), and having attended three more workshops with him in Venice (Italy), Blackpool (England) and Krefeld (Germany), I would conclude that these events are an out-of-this-world happening. It is likely that you will be electrified watching sensei demonstrate extremely fast muchiken (whip hand), koshi no kaiten (hip rotation), tai no shinshuku (compression and expansion) and other specialties designed to down an opponent with a single blow. It is a jaw-dropping experience and the amount of energy in the room is beyond description. That is, I believe, why the number of attendees increases each time. We started with 30 people when Bertel sensei was not yet so well known in Europe, next time we counted 60, then 90, 120, 200,…And usually Karate-ka arrive from all over Europe, travelling long distances from 11 or more countries so as not to miss the event!