In Search of A Training Program

Hello Everyone,

My name is Blue Bear. You at the Dojo will know me in my more pale incarnation -- a sun-deprived Australian ju-jitsu and judo student.

Today Joey Danu and myself created a 9-month research program for the Kusanagi Dojo aimed at developing a reality-based self-defense program.

The basic questions we're trying to answer are:

- What are the most common street attacks ?
- What is the best way to train a beginner's mind, body, and nervous system to deal with those attacks ? (This means all body types, from delicate, 4 ft. 5 " waif to 6 ft. 6 " and above giant).
- Which martial artists, of all shape, size, and philosophy have dealt with these problems ?
- What can we borrow from them to develop our own curriculum ?

To answer these questions, we'll be traversing all sources we have, including DVDs, books, living teachers (Pak Saleh and Sensei Ben), as well as the Internet.

We're especially interested in the following categories:

Techniques
Training Methods
The Four Ranges, kicking & striking, trapping, grappling & groundwork.

We'll be organising our research findings into these categories:

1. Bibliography- alphabetical & everything
2. Techniques: URLs & web addresses organised alphabetically by technique
3. Teachers: URL & web addresses organised by teacher, ie Moni Aizik etc.
4. Attacks: URL & web addresses organised into a database of security camera & video street attack.

Our basic plan is as follows:

Phase 1: April 6-July 6; Surveying & Mapping' 'The Truth Is Out There' ;
Phase 2: July 6-Oct.5; Consolidation; 'We have the technology'.
Phase 3: Oct.5-Dec7: Refinement; 'Putting the Polish On.'

Phase 1: Surveying & Mapping: drafting a 'blueprint' for levels 1-3 over two years, what should a self-defense student know, what's out there on the internet, which thinkers, what do they have to say about:

Phase 2: Consolidation: assessing the material gained in Phase 1. Emphasis is on assessing techniques gathered. We'll continue to gather more and plug any weaknesses or holes. But the aim here is to move the program forward to the polishing phase.

Phase 3: Refinement: we'll be aiming to have a 'final draft' by this stage, including:

level1 curriculum
level 2 curriculum
level 3 curriculum

As well as an ongoing program for those who want to study the martial arts and go further.

This is just a rough road map, not the Holy Bible or Koran. It's an aid in our journey of discovery.

Blue Bear.