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Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture
Rory Miller in the UK: June 28 to July 3rd 2016

Message from Rory Miller:

Ladies and Gentlemen, I’ll be in Sheffield for one week from June 28-July 3rd. First three days will be an Instructor Development Course taught with Garry Smith and the weekend will be an InFighting and Environmental Fighting class.

Descriptions:

Really looking forward to these classes in Sheffield.

The first will be an Instructor Development Course, designed and delivered with Garry Smith of the Academy of Self Defence. It doesn’t matter how good a fighter, martial artist or general badass you are, teaching is a separate skill. A world-champion fighter who can’t teach will produce mediocre students, at best. But a superb teacher, even if his or her skills are not world-class, can produce world-class students. And that’s the goal, right? To make sure the next generation exceeds our own.

We’ll cover adult learning and teaching theory. Getting down to the essence of what you choose to teach. The seven areas in which you must have expert knowledge and how to fill those gaps. The process of principles-based instruction. Trouble-shooting problem students. Curriculum design. Building and maintaining rapport with specialty clients, such as the police and military units.

The second class is InFighting and Environmental. Combining those two was Garry’s idea.

InFighting first. This is my favorite thing, the thing that has kept me addicted to the martial arts for over thirty years. It is super close range (torso touching torso) no-holds barred brawling. The format of the class is to familiarize the students with the sparring method— slow flow for those who are not yet comfortable, speed and contact increasing as comfort level increases. Then to add in the building blocks and principles that make it more efficient— locks, close range power generation, targeting, leverage, gouging, structure and structure manipulation, a few specialized strikes… that kind of stuff. Takedowns are optional. It depends on the class’s comfort level with falling and the safety equipment (mats) available. This is not a class I usually do in a seminar unless I know the people well. It can be quite dangerous. Follow the safety protocols.

Environmental fighting. Bad things happen in the real world and the real world is notoriously full of stuff. The natural environment of a force incident is to be knocked into and over things, to trip over stairs and get smashed into corners. Like many things, if you’ve never practiced, you’ll probably be on the receiving end. A little bit of practice opens up a whole new world of opportunity. We’ll play with uneven footing, obstacles, and improvised weapons.

Attaching Garry’s poster and his e-mail in garry@academyofselfdefence.co.uk so you can contact him directly. As always, I appreciate any help getting the word out.

Hope to see some of you there,

Rory