Search
Recommended Products
Related Links


 

 

Informative Articles

Baseball Gifts to Award The Men in Your Life
How about an MVP commemorative baseball gift for a keepsake? Or a Stay Cool Sports Towel? What about a Louisville Tpx Youth Equipment Bag? Or for the enthusiastic amateur consider an instructional video such as “A Parent's Guide to Baseball”? There...

More Great Quotes
I love what prominent baseball people have to say about the great ballplayers. They seem to eloquently capture what we are thinking. "It was his solemn duty to catch a ball that wasn't in the stands." - Monte Irvin (Newark Eagles OF, May 6, 1981),...

Schilling to the bullpen; it's a "good thing"
Perhaps Johnny Damon’s in a panic (Why are you guys still petrified of the Yankees??) with the news of Curt Schilling’s return to the Red Sox in a bullpen role. But, this latest move by Boston, in the wake of Keith Foulke’s injury and...

That's a home run!
Its a Hit! Baseball is a favorite game of the Americans. No wonder it is the national sport of the United States of America. No one can say with much certainty when this game originated but according to some accounts it is said to have begun...

The Cure for a Fat Shot
This problem may be easier to fix than you think. You may not realize it, but your back shoulder may be dipping towards the ground. This move forces the club to hit the ground too early. Most of the time it happens when you are really trying to...

 
The Martial Arts and Self-Defense - Emotional Response and Reaction

The media has fuelled the perception that ordinary people on the street are in constant danger from violent attack, and self-defense classes promise to counter this fear.

To attract students, most martial arts schools in the U.S. teach self-defense methods. They make many claims about the usefulness of martial arts techniques in defending oneself against attack. Such situations of attack are rare, however, and can be avoided by not putting oneself in danger (for example, not walking around bad neighborhoods after dark, not buying or selling illegal drugs, not hanging around bars, not getting involved with gangs, and so on). Being alert and aware of one's surroundings and recognizing the types of events that are likely to occur in certain locations are the individual's first line of self-defense.

The media has fuelled the perception that ordinary people on the street are in constant danger from violent attack, and self-defense classes promise to counter this fear. In truth, this perception is largely false, as more people are injured in incidents of domestic violence than on the street by strangers. To be effective, self-defense classes only need to reduce the feeling of fear.

When a person is actually attacked on the street by a stranger, the main problem in self-defense is generally not a lack of physical ability to counter the attack, but an emotional reaction, such as panic or anger, that can turn a bad situation worse. Panic can


be paralyzing and invite attack, while anger can provoke harm as well by frightening or angering an attacker to further violence.

Serious training in the martial arts takes the emotional reaction out of violent confrontations. After many hours of practice, a punch or a kick becomes merely a physical force, a fist or a foot is easily handled, and an encounter is not even experienced as a personal attack. Students learn good coordination and self-confidence, characteristics which can discourage potential aggressors from becoming aggressive in the first place. In the martial arts, the simple act itself of practicing over a long period of time may be the most important element in effective self-defense than any specific technique learned.

Focusing on self-defense in today's world has changed the techniques being taught in the martial arts. In the modern world, no one is likely to be attacked by a sword-wielding samurai. Instead, an attacker may be unarmed or have a baseball bat, knife, or gun. Battlefield combat techniques would not be very useful in these situations. The emphasis on such techniques has declined in most martial arts styles and has been replaced with techniques that are relevant to our times.

About the author:



Steven Gregoire has been training in the martial arts since 1986. Currently he operates Tigerstrike.com A martial art equipment and supply store.