The first of three one-day Karate BC Self Defence Seminars, organized by Karate BC Technical Committe Chair, Mike Scales, took place on Saturday June 25th 2016 at the Vancouver Police Department Tactical Training Centre in Vancouver lead by Vancouver Police Judo instructors, Al Arsenault, Toby Hinton and Joel Johnston. Mr. Scales remarked that he was very pleased with the turnout of almost 40 participants from dojos all over the Okanagan, Fraser Valley, Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.
The seminar was broken into lecture and physical components. “The day started promptly with Al Arsenault giving a presentation on the background and experience of the three instructors. Joel Johnston then covered awareness, avoidance and prevention whilst showing video clips of various scenarios”, recounted Scales. “Next Joel gave a presentation on the National Use of Force Framework and Section 34 of the Criminal Code”, he continued.
The next module to be covered was in the gym where Joel Johnston led everyone through safe stances, body positioning and body language. Participants practiced how to deescalate an aggressive person using the correct verbal cues whilst maintaining the correct non-threatening guard and balanced posture should an attack occur.
Over lunch, back in the lecture room, Al Arsenault gave a very enlightening presentation (accompanied with video clips) on Sport vs Street which generated a lively discussion.
After lunch Toby Hinton lead everyone through a very creative set of functional warm ups to prepare us for ground work. “We all agreed that even though we were Karate instructors with many years of experience and maintained a high level of fitness, these exercises were new to us and very tiring whilst fun to do”, remarked Scales.
Next up Toby lead us through the next module on Groundwork-Movement and Body Positioning. The aim was to demonstrate how to effectively control an aggressor on the ground and also how to escape should someone find themselves pinned down. The emphasis here was to get to your feet ASAP to avoid being kicked whilst down. The session finished off with everyone kneeling on the floor on all fours whilst being pinned by a partner and having 20 seconds to escape. “I found this particular exercise to be particularly challenging and exhausting”, commented Scales, “especially having to do it with three different partners.”
The day finished with a debrief in the lecture room. “We were extremely pleased to have such energetic and enthusiastic Karate BC participants”, commented instructors Arsenault, Hinton, and Johnston, “we can’t wait to continue the seminar on September 24th!”
“We would like to thank Al Arsenault, Toby Hinton and Joel Johnston for putting together this tremendous program”, praised Scales, “we, at Karate BC, are working to deliver many more programs like this in the future.”
