This evening I was fortunate enough to hear a story from a student which reinforces my vocation to teach Krav Maga to all who wish to learn.
Last week, my 76 year old client (who I will refer to as “Joe”) was forced to wade through a sea of protesters on his commute home via Grand Central Terminal. Joe was just trying to make his train, so he was not interested in engaging verbally with anybody at this rally.
While pressing through this crowd, that was packed shoulder to shoulder, a large man confronted him, shoved him in the shoulder and yelled “Are you with us or against us?!?” Joe simply replied that he was just trying to get to his train and continued to try to press on. The aggressor, unsatisfied with this response, hit him again across the shoulder, only this time more violently.
My client has studied with me for years and thankfully has learned Imi’s principle of “going with the force”. As soon as he felt the energy across his shoulder rotate him, he let the rotation transfer to his opposite elbow which he perfectly directed at this attacker’s chin. It landed flush and sent the bad guy backwards into the crowd, allowing my client to quickly move away and continue towards the entrance of GCT.
As if this was not already a nerve-wracking episode, before Joe could progress much further, a second attacker confronted him. This new aggressor went chest-to-chest with my client and, again, challenged him to express his loyalties. I’m happy to report that Joe learned and remembered the soft targets of the human body. He realized that a throat shot with his middle finger was easily available to him so he sent his right hand to the man’s chest and slid directly into his trachea. The attacker immediately fell away to try to recover, again giving Joe the opportunity to leave and get into Grand Central Terminal without further incident.
I could not be prouder of Joe. Under sensory overloaded conditions and while wearing a suit, tie and overcoat, he was able to execute two different self defense maneuvers against bigger and younger attackers. He wasn’t trying to recall any particular technique so much as to apply basic principles of Krav Maga as Imi taught.
Joe is the poster child for what we teach: he was older, slower , smaller and disadvantaged in what he wore, yet kept himself calm, executed tactics and principles as he has been taught, and then immediately left the situation by moving towards safety.
Joe is the kravist we should all strive to be.
