532 - Scenario drills: Common strikes / protecting others / multiple aggressors
A workshop aide- memoire: Adapting a skillset for different contexts
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This was a three part scenario drill that I wrote for a local mixed level workshop. Several people were brand new to fight training of any kind, and others were veteran martial artists.
So, a couple of guys need to learn what to do if someone throws a punch at them, and others are multi black belts looking for additional ideas and perhaps grading content, so a bit of a mix! But this is as it should be, out in the real world, there’s a myriad of different combinations of people that are going to have tussles with each other and classes should mirror that closely - as far as possible anyway.
This is always an interesting challenge in terms of coaching and keeps things fresh for me as I needed to use a seemingly simple set-up premise to cover basics, while at the same time allowing scope to go deeper into nuance, and perhaps completely separate ideas for trained guys.
And while I believe that basics are important for all and should be drilled regularly, it also stops me getting bored!
(As an aside, I thought I’d find an old photo to illustrate me looking bored but on some reflection, realised that I look more like the guy on the right now - perhaps annoyed at book reading being interrupted… anyway, the thought was there.)
So, here are my coaching notes from that night. The base part of the drill was to have both partners standing in orthodox stances and squaring off as in a fight that was already on.
A common striking assault is initiated and we used this idea to explore several different concepts and configurations of defence that all ended in the same highly impactive take down that leaves the defender still standing, while the attacker enjoys the experience of going to the floor, coupled with henceforth scoring pretty low on IQ tests, and a bonus broken arm, should he wish it!
When would you use this?
Now, this level of damage is not put forward as a blanket response to any situation without any concern for whether it is justifiable or proportionate.
The scenario is constructed, as I said before, to show a chain of events linked by logic, several different rationales, and for different levels of trainee. Feel free to break it down and use only the parts that apply to your situation as you wish.
Set - Up
(#1 = “Defender” / #2 = Aggressor / #3 = second aggressor)
#2 will throw an unarmed opening and follow up combination: Jab followed by a rear hook. This generic combination or something very much like it, is really common to see in altercations.
From here we’ll look at the first scenario in eight parts, the various ideas that each part contains, and then move on to the second and third variations, changing the pattern slightly to adapt it to differing circumstances, including protecting others and dealing with multiple aggressors.