Recently one of our adult students realised the benefits of learning Shentie when confronted by an attacker. At Shentie we pride our teaching on skills that can be applied in the real world and on this occasion gave him the confidence to act, control to deal with the situation and the mindset to avoid further conflict. Here is his own account of what transpired that afternoon, please take a read….
I just want to take a few minutes to share an incident that happened to me and how the lessons I learnt from the instructors at Shentie helped me deal with what could have been a dangerous situation.
I have been with Shentie for about 18 months after being invited to join the class my son goes to. In this time I have learnt the basics of kickboxing, regularly participated in sparring and every now and then have some fun with an impromptu self-defence session. I enjoy the classes as they help me to stay fit and active but never thought I would need to use these skills in real life, until last week….
I was with a work colleague walking from the office to Tesco at about 3 in the afternoon when a man passed us and made some sarcastic comment about being on our phones. Other than my friend apologising, we ignored this and kept going expecting that would be the end of it but a few seconds later we could hear him shouting at us. Looking back he had stopped, turned round and kept going with the abuse but we kept walking away. We kept going and when I next looked round he had started to follow us, I don’t know why he was so angry with us over something so trivial but suspect he thought a couple of office workers would be an easy target.
The man was speeding up and closing the gap and unfortunately for us we were coming up to a busy road crossing where the pavement ended. Now there was nowhere to go and I knew I would have to stand up to him.
I turned to face the man who was now running at me and although scared I knew what I was going to do. I slowly stepped back waiting for him to come into my space and as he lunged at me I stepped forward with my trusty front kick, the most basic (and effective) martial arts move. This landed to his chest and sent him back stopping him in his tracks, all fear had gone and I now felt in complete control of the situation. This kick was probably the last thing he expected and left him looking completely stunned and confused.
I assumed a fighting stance, and his face dropped as he realised he was facing someone who could fight and you could see him starting to regret his earlier choices. However he still did not back down so without giving him too much time to think I pushed him back with a series of punches and kicks, no more than 5 or 6 in total. I then sternly told him where to go. He finally left and we continued the opposite way to Tesco.
It was all over in a few seconds but without the skills and knowledge I have learnt over the last year and a half I would never have had the confidence and ability to do what I did. Thank you to everyone in the Shentie team for the training and advice, and especially Instructor John for his commitment to the adult groups every week.