When I was working in security, part of my job was to train the new officers in the proper uses of pepper spray and the collapsible baton. I enjoyed doing this because I liked teaching and it got me away from my main assignment for about a week every other month. Of course, I had to stick to the organization’s curriculum and could not deviate from what they wanted me to teach. I’m pretty sure this had more to do with legal reasons than anything else. We, the instructors, had to be recertified every two years.
I didn’t mind the recertification too much since I really enjoyed being an instructor. I mean, I really loved it! Why else would I have allowed myself to be pepper sprayed five times in the past ten years? Yes, I got pepper sprayed every time I had to renew my instructor certification. Just when I thought I was getting use to it, the state decided to raise the level of Scovil Heat Units. This just meant it burned even hotter when it hit my eyes.
I stopped doing this over two years ago. It wasn’t because of getting sprayed with the hot sauce every two years; rather, a position outside of the security field opened up where I had more opportunity for advancement within the organization. I miss teaching, but it was the right move for me and my family.
During this time we had several different organizations come to our facility to test us during the recertifications. There are two people from these organizations that I remember vividly. One was an older white gentleman who was a master at empty hand skills. The most recent was a man from Israel who had expert skill and knowledge.
Despite the fact that I found our most recent instructor to be impressive, I did not find him to be as impressive as my fellow instructors did. They seemed to be in awe of the new techniques and drills he was having us do. It was as if they had never seen these movements before. I’d been doing them already for almost two decades by this time. In our baton training we teach seven strikes. The two new ones that were added on this day were the basic number one and number two strikes taught in every Filipino stick fighting system. He also went over how using the baton for a front jab was a bad idea because they can close on you when you don’t want them to and thereby pinch and tear your skin.
He also went over why joint locks were a good idea because they inflicted pain in order to trigger cooperation without causing any permanent damage. Our director of training wrote this down as if he was being spoken to by a prophet from on high and that he must take this knowledge back to his people. Yet I remember pointing out and questioning why we didn’t use joint locks a long time ago. They are very effective when done correctly, although difficult to apply to an uncooperative person.
I’ll admit I was a bit offended by this. In many cases I didn’t feel like I was learning anything new when outsiders came in to teach us and that my opinions were disregarded because I didn’t have the proper qualifications (meaning paperwork or certifications). Everyone knew I absolutely had the training and experience. Many of the other security officers called me “Karate Man” for a reason.
As I look back though, I realize that much of this was politics in the corporate world. Mr. V wasn’t writing down that joint locks could be useful because he hadn’t known this before. He was writing it down so he could take it to his bosses and use it as justification to possibly update our training program.
While I understand this need for certification in the corporate and business world, I do feel it gets overemphasized when it comes to combat training. There are styles I’ve trained where I have certificates hanging on my wall and other styles I’ve trained in where I have almost no written proof that I’ve studied these systems other than my ability to use them.
Isn’t that the real test when it comes to a martial art? Can you use use it effectively when you’re in danger and need to defend yourself? I’ve received instruction in the area of combat in both martial art schools as well as garages and back yards. To be honest, I’ve learned some of the most useful techniques from one on one instruction.
For the longest time, I was leery of learning from anyone with a certification. Someone who is certified through an organization is restricted to what the organization allows them to teach, which is often “watered down” so that the organization doesn’t face any lawsuits because someone got hurt while training. Often, the most useful things I ever learned came from someone stating before they taught me a technique, “If ever have to use this, you didn’t learn if from me.”
sifujewell 