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I just wanted to thank everyone who attended the seminar in Belgium.
First, thanks to Thierry Vaitour and Larissa for organizing the event.
Second, thanks to the 120 people who attended one or both days. You worked very hard and did a fantastic job. It was great to see so many Krav Maga practitioners from so many countries in one place. We had students and instructors from Belgium, France, Italy, the U.K., Holland, Poland, and even Japan!
Thanks to Rudolph for translating practically everything into French…all while training as hard as anyone else in the room!
Gregor and the group from Poland — you guys are amazing! You train as hard as anyone I have ever seen. We are looking forward to visiting Poland soon. It will be an honor for us to train with you.
For me personally, it was an amazing week. First, Richard Grillat and I went to Japan to train the Japan Self Defense Force’s best anti-terrorist unit. Then we got on a plane with Kokushi Matsumoto, our chief instructor in Japan, and flew to Belgium to meet up with Darren Levine and to train with Thierry Viatour. There, we met such nice people, all willing to train hard.
It is an honor to be involved with all of you.
Thanks again!
Hereís my review for this weekend Krav Maga Seminar in Belgium with Darren Levine and John Whitman :
So they were coming to Europe and even better 40 km away from home. Who could be interested in self-defense and not attend an event like this? Certainly not my friend Lem, Luc, Mike (who came all the way from the South of France if that shows dedicationÖ) and good old meÖ Iíve been training in Krav Maga for quite some time (but donít think I consider myself an expert, Iím always learning), Iíve seen the American tapes but recently my personal research had taken me on another journey. I had always enjoyed training with Thierry Viatour but he was now a long way from my home (hey buddy, I cannot come down to Bergamo every week to train with you 😉 ). I was slightly disappointed by how Krav was taught around my place and I was now training with a small group of friends where we could work the way we liked: simple and aggressive. I also had the luck to meet and train regularly with Fred Perrin, the French knifemaker and an awesome self-protection instructor.
Which brings us back to the subjectÖ What could I hope from a seminar with the Americans? I was sure I would sweat as they have a reputation for a very physical trainingÖ But for the rest, I had the misconception that we would be there for an aerobic self-defense classÖ And I was totally mistaken! If I could sum up the teaching experience from the own sweet voice of Darren Levine: ìGuys, youíre not here to exercise, youíre here for your life!î (and itís true that when John give you a very nice warm-up on a rainy Sunday morning, sometimes you fell youíre going to
die or at least meet your breakfast face to face LOL).Back to the beginning, everyone arrived on the beginning of Saturday afternoon for registration. You could see people from every Krav Maga organization in Europe and from some other systems or styles. There was students, instructors all coming to enjoy the Krav Maga Worldwide experience. I met Thierry and his girlfriend Larissa in the hallway running around try to make sure everything was perfect. They have always been in my eyes the best combination of passion and professionalism and today they were facing another new challenge as an organization like this is rarely a piece of cake. Thierry told me he was already facing a problem as Darrenís flight had been delayed because of the weather conditions (but luck was nonetheless on our side as the flight had first been cancelled). Happily for us, John Whitman was already there with Richard Grillat and Kokushi Mastumoto (another great crazy guyÖ How would you described a man that comes all the way from Japan to help John and Darren run the seminar?). So the session could start. The weather is Belgium was rainy and cold but John really knew how to get us to the temperature: run on place and loosen up a little then some shadow boxing and some nice pads work (my skin is still on my pads). What did John wanted from us? To destroy the pads not caress them, to show energy and to never quit… He proved to be a great instructor and motivator facing a big group of proud but nonetheless sometimes lazy fighters. My only complain would be that the work emphasized closed fists work and like mentioned, I left some skin on the pads as in my usual training I favor opened hand strikes and even if I alternated closed fists work with open hands. The work started by teaching the modified fighting stance which the stance one should take when still negotiating and not fighting.
Basically for those who know this looks like a cousin of the ìFenceî of our friends from Britain or Richard Dimitriís ìPassive Stanceî . First, we were ask to strike in a non telegraphic way and then we were reacting from an adversary coming towards us. Then we were ask to react after the adversary hit us with a pad. Thatís a part I really like about Krav Maga as most systems or martial arts make you take the first to move or allow you to always block or slip the first strike which is not always the case in the streets. All the drills were done with aggression and forward drive as we were told to go to the fight and not run away from it. After that we ran through some more drills less physically demanding but very interesting to help us detect the kind of strike our adversary was about to launch or to try to keep a peripheral vision even if we had someone standing in our face. Then John told us he would quickly review the strangles, chokes and headlocks defenses from all sides. He wanted to go quick as a large portion of students were already training Krav Maga and among those there was also a large proportion of instructors. But not to put the beginner at a disadvantage, he separated us in two groups and left the beginner in the warm and gentle hands of Richard Grillat. In that part of the seminar, I had the opportunity to train with an instructor from the FEKM in France that I had knew over the net but didnít had the pleasure of meeting before. Thatís also a great part about event like this, being able to meet and work with people from different horizons. He proved to be a very nice and knowledgeable partner and I hope he enjoyed the experience as much as I (hell, he must, he kneed me square in the forehead 😉 ). Once in a while John stopped our training to explain us point of details and why they were important. He asked us to try them but said that if we were not convinced, it was our choice at the end of the dayÖ
By the time Darren arrived quietly between 4:00 or 5:00 pm we had already started to work on gun disarm. He didnít make a big entrance as I think he didnít want to interrupt Johnís teaching which tells a lot about the manís character. He was surely not coming to Europe to show off but to pass knowledge. John seeing that his friend and teacher had arrived let us finished the drill and then introduced us to him. If John is looking really athletic, Darren is truly a beast with great physical presence. He gave us a little speech about how happy he was to be able to teach for the first time in Europe thanks in great part to Thierry investment. The introduction was short as he knew we were there to learn and thatís also why he was there.We continued working on gun disarm principles which, like every one in Krav Maga, are quite simple: control the line on fire with the smallest movement, put your weight on the gun to avoid redirection and beat the shit out of your aggressor. I was lucky in that part to work with a group from Poland which proved once more to be great and even funny partners. Information were given about being careful about using a gun we donít know after having taken it from a stranger (alas in Europe we cannot go for our weapon as thereís no concealed carry allowed, or any carry for the matter) and staying aware of our surroundings on the retreat for other threats. We moved on from techniques to techniques getting slowly to more and more high risk situations the last being taken hostage with a gun to our head. Darren told us that we had to work in every possible situations even if sometimes we were in a nearly impossible position. The goal was to give a lot of stimulus to avoid freezing in place when faced by something new. He also told us that it was our decision to defend ourselves when threatened and that there was no magic guarantee that we would not get shot. He also told us that what would more than probably save us would be our will to survive and not quit.
And the first day was over… My first impression, which was shared by my friends, was that you could clearly see from their presence and their teaching skills that John and Darren were used to teach big groups which is not always an easy task. Furthermore, we were really impressed how they were interest by realism. Everything was simple and directed towards improving our skills. They were not coming to show their Krav Maga, their were coming to show how Krav Maga was always supposed to be. Ok they was not a lot of talk about psychology or verbal de-escalation (even if it was mentioned) but thatís not what Krav Maga is renowned forÖ Itís a military system after all.Sunday morning the wake-up call was slightly harder. I felt stiff and sore all around and so did my friends. We were hoping that todayís warm up would be a little bit more easy and forgiving but thatís not knowing John who apparently slept really well and felt greatÖ So we were in for another sequence of torture: running (not fast enough for the taste of John as he told me), doing push-ups, crunch and squats (please John, my goal was not to be able to wear a thong at the end of the day 😀 ). And we started again with gun disarming techniques on the groundÖ I know that that can sound stupid to some shooters but gun disarming is interesting when itís taught by a good instructor and as last chance options.
Before moving to knife work, we were given a video presentation by Darren about real cases of violence involving knives. He really wanted to ingrain in the instructors the responsibilities of teaching counter knife techniques and the need to respect the blade which is a far more less forgiving weapon than the gun. He also talked about the psychology of the criminals and how some had no respect whatsoever for life. You could see on some faces that some people were really awaken by this presentationÖ Guess what guys, self-defense is not about looking cool on the mat, itís about saving your life and the one of your loves ones on the streets..
And of we went to knife work working mainly on static threats. If you could call them static as Darren ask the aggressor to move us around and really put us under pressure. I appreciate two things: first Darren mentioned that if you could jam the weapon hand before itís out you should do so (which is rarely mentioned in my opinion) and he didnít emphasized so much the disarm as he mentioned turning the light of the aggressor off (I personally think that too many instructors insist on fancy disarms when in reality itís hard enough to control the weapon and strike).
Once more we moved up the ladder of risk but all principles sounded logic and were tested under pressure.
We did some ground work to learn how to stand up faster and we finished the day with some really good advices about third party protection (and the goal here was more to help you protect you wife or a friend than some pseudo-bodyguard garbage as all intelligent people know that professional protection is done among a team).At the end of the day, I felt all beaten up and washed up but really had the impression that Darren and John brought the best out of me (if there was anything good to bring out 😆 ). At least I tried to be a worthy translator… Itís not often that you come out of a seminar with more than you thought you wouldÖ So I cannot recommend you enough to attend a seminar with John and Darren if they come near you place and I would like to thank them (and also Richard and Kokushi) once more for their professionalism.
On a final note, I also wanted to thank my friend Thierry and Larissa Viatour for organizing this seminar. I know it was quite an emotional moment for them and a recognition for years of hard work. And I have no doubt they are looking forward to the new challenges ahead of them.
Best regards,
Rod
PS: Sorry for the long review but there was so much to say…
Re:
quote \”taikei\:John, are you still holding Kokushi ?
I want him back sometime, haven’t seen him since November.Kokushi is now somewhere in the Netherlands (probably Amsterdam…. 😳 Don’t know when he will be back!
Good luck and try searching Paris, because that’s where he’s heading!
GerwinNo, no…I believe the seeds he is trying to plant in Amsterdam and Paris are of a totally different nature. 😀
Darren, John, Richard and Kokushi,
Thank you so much for the Brussels’ seminar.
Larissa and I were honored to host you and take part in your team!This was great!
This was the best seminar we have seen in ages.
Your teaching was superb and fresh. Students loved it!
They couldn’t have asked for a better Krav Maga experience.All my team and I miss you.
We already look forward to see you soon!
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