The Self-Defense Training Community “Circus”

I wanted to add to the title “Coming to a town near you…” but feared it would be a little long. This post however, will no be long, as this blog is dedicated to more fruitful topics to actually help people. I could not ignore this issue any longer however and wanted to give my two and a half cents.

There is a big problem in the civilian self-defense training community, and the problem is itself. Peruse some of these forums and you will see what I mean. Most of the bandwidth is taken up with incessant bitching and moaning about some trainer who said this or that, or did this or that and like most political discussions, end up nowhere with no solutions. There is some underlying problems here, and for those of you not privy to some of these companies and “personalities” (notice the term I used..we will come back to that later) here is the short list:

• Ego of Instructor
• Instructor Worship
• Lack of True Experience

When I say “Lack” of True Experience what I really mean is ZERO. Most of these people who work for these training companies have never been in any altercation with a gun, knife, stick or fist, other than that fight in the Tenth grade where they got their ass kicked anyways. They may have read a book or two and been “certified” by the company they work for, but real life experience is ZERO. This can create problems when you are trying to teach people HOW to survive deadly situations IMO where experience would be a premium.

Ego of Instructor. The problem here is not really the arrogance of the person themselves, I mean my Dad used to say “You don’t have to look very far to find an asshole.” The problem is that most of these people have the Arrogance to believe that their unique “system” (and belive me when I say this, ALL of THEM have some unique SYSTEM that is better than the rest, whether it be a way to load a gun, a way to use a knife,  etc.) is the ONLY way to do something, and that all other Instructors who teach something different are WRONG.

Instructor Worship. You cannot have the Ego issue without the worship of the ego, right? I mean without somebody kissing your ass all the time, what is the point? This is rampant in the training community. Part of the problem being that most of these so-called “Instructors” are  more “Personalities” than teachers. They remind me of a  Used Car Salesman to be honest. They are there to take your money and have the charisma and ability to make you forget that fact.

Will things change? I Doubt it. People love drama, whether or not they want to admit it or not..it is just another way to drive their business.

You can check my credentials. I think they speak for themselves. Experience does not come cheap.  I don’t claim to have any “special” way to make you into the next mall ninja, I am just taking proven techniques and making them accessible to the common civilian. I never want any of my students to think what I teach them is the “only” way…this is narrow-minded and counter productive. On the contrary, you will find that I teach people to question everything..that is how we learn. 584 words..I doubt this topic deserved that many, but there it is.