How does a young girl defend herself?

[slowpoke]

The niece is away as a college freshman.

Being in Alabama currently, she's already announced that the day she's legally allowed, she's getting a CCW and carrying.
I believe in the meantime she's making do with OC spray and a take-no-prisoners attitude. (I believe Baby Brother gave her carte blanche to order replacements as she needs from online sources, no questions asked.)

when does she turn 18? they lowered the age back im august.

[tfbncc]

Self Defense Store. Everything from keychain weapons up to Tasers. (I didn't know tasers were legal for civilians to carry)

Link thingy

[Termite]

......Tasers. (I didn't know tasers were legal for civilians to carry)

Just dammit......... Stop that shit! Regular LEOs are civilians too!

[rant OFF]

[tfbncc]

I forgot the "tongue in cheek" hashtag. My bad.

[randy]

My concern here is that TKD is how much nonsense is involved (roundhouse kicks, neglecting hands, bad stances, etc), given how "you will fight how you train." Also, given the limitations of TKD, many instructors will stress that it's a sport, not to be applied outside of the gym. That doesn't really make for the right mindset. It's a great activity that's a lot of fun for millions of people, but when applied to survival situations, it probably isn't going to end well.

I guess I got lucky. My two TKD instructors emphasized self defense, and that we practiced high kicks so that we had more power when we used low kicks on the street. And the only things I learned in TKD that I've actually used were hand blocks that stopped a fight after the first punch didn't connect.

Which re-emphasizes the need to be selective when choosing an instructor.

[Jericho941]

Absolutely.

[Mike OTDP]

WRT martial arts, the quality of instruction matters far more than the style. I happen to have trained in Matsamura Orthodox karate, but what makes the difference is that my senseis both retired as 8th dan. Kindly old gentlemen...who would kill you in an instant if required. And good teachers. We were taught karate as a fighting skill, not to look pretty or win points in tournaments.

Look for the dojos that are run as clubs, not for-profit schools. The latter are far more likely to indulge in the McDojo mindset. If they try to strong-arm you into signing a one-year contract, look elsewhere. A good school knows there's a high dropout rate.

[Netpackrat]

Too bad Dustin's not around these days. This would be a good thread for him.

[Nicodemus]

It's been a while! Here I am.

As far as alternatives to TKD she doesn't need to switch to another style of martial art just incorporate first contact principles of any number of several modern combative arts. Then switch on the TKD after initial contact.

For examples check out Tony Blaur who does the Spear stuff, or any of the JKD concepts guys that descended from Dan Inansanto like Paul Vunak or Demi Barbito. They all have dvd's she can get and train with you to incorporate into her existing martial arts knowledge.

The difference here is training COUNTER ASSAULT tactics that are centered around natural neurological responses to sudden violence or even detected violence to stop or intercept the initial attack and reverse the situation by creating self concern for the attacker and putting them in a position to have to defend themselves.

After those first two seconds she can can TKD all she wants if he's still there. All of these guys will incorporate basic to intermediate submission grappling tactics which is crucial for women. One because of the nature of sexual assault and two because once our feet aren't planted on the ground any more and they can use their legs for leverage against another body instead of against the earth were not so much stronger any more.

I am in fact putting together a curriculum for training others exactly this right now.

Aside from the martial arts.

Travel in pairs or groups. Regarding anti social or asocial violence a wolf doesn't attack a pack of dogs, it attacks a dog.

In fact using this predator/prey mindset will have her come up with a lot of her own solutions. For example if she is in a strange area, walking from the inside the gas station to the pump just pretend your on the phone and make eye contact with your immediate surroundings.

As far as a knife goes...ignore anything you hear about knife fighting that isn't Kali/Escrima. That culture is a blade fighting culture, you don't get in fistfights there you get in knife fights, they do know what they are doing. The reason I espouse it comes down to one principle that is reflected in how they hold the blade, normal grip like if your cutting through a cardboard box, strong hand forward.

Every weapon has a common attribute...increasing distance. Holding the knife with the blade pointed down and in the rear hand just undoes everything a knife gives you, distance and cancelling the need for power over speed. When I train knives and spar other martial artist who take this stance they just end up getting cut a lot in the empty hand and on that side of the body. Second more important than any other knife fighting technique is move, move your feet. create angles and slash at the hands/limbs of the attacker, being in constant motion makes it harder to be grabbed which negates the distance attribute...etc. You don't need to go for the single power shot with a knife, just make contact quickly and often and they'll give you the opening.

Mace/Pepper Spray: Get the Stream spray not the fog or shotgun style sprays. The reason is it is less sensitive to weather and distance. You don't want her to end up in the mist that comes from the fog or shotgun style sprays. Practice with it and practice like with cq handgun tactics. Learn to spray from a body indexed position then an "aimed position". Then learn to run and spray behind you in a z pattern so that the attacker runs into a wall of it if pursued. It is important to retreat as you spray in general because it's less likely to end up on you.

Thats all I have for now.

[rightisright]

Welcome back!