Ground Surivival

Last Sunday I attended a five hour seminar at my mentor's school in Rockaway. Master DeJesus was teaching these never before seen, brand new ground survival defenses. I am still brand new to this world so everything is brand new to me. I am getting comfortable with the open hand defenses and the gun defenses, still a little shaky with some of the knife defenses, but I have not yet covered ground so this was great!

Years ago I trained with a Black Belt named Mike Duke, and he LOVED training in self-defense. Whenever we would learn some devastating technique or defense, breaking something or whatnot, he would pretend to cry and say "It's like Christmas morning!" as if he was a young child so excited about all the new toys Santa brought to him. Well if Mike came to this seminar, he would have been in heaven!

In Haganah, from the point of reference, depending on the circumstances you are in, you reach one of three objective points: Restrain, Incapacitate, or Terminate. It was interesting to see how to do this not only on the ground but with weapons involved. We did five different angles on the ground with the gun, four different angles on the ground involving the knife then adding some stress upon with the standing knife defenses, and Master DeJesus included a few "bonuses" for us going over a couple "trench" style defenses (will figure that out shortly).

I get motivated every time I learn and practice these on my own. I did find that I am shaky with a few of the knife defenses so I need to brush up on them. My Black Belts that I practice with don't like these defenses (or maybe just practicing with me). But what I do like most of all is that there is ALWAYS new material. Matser DeJesus said to me every year there is something new and he is ALWAYS blown away by what is added to the material. That's a sign of a great system. It works, you don't get bored, and your skills are continuously being challenged.

Recently, three people who train with Master DeJesus went to a conference to become certified Haganah Instructors. I had the honor to have worked with each of them when going to work with Master DeJesus for my masters test. I can only imagine all the awesome things they got to go through and learn on their way through their evaluations. Brian, Steve, and Rick all came home with their certificates!

Brian, Steve, and Rick are now certified Haganah Instructors!

Once again, my eyes turn to something more for me to do. I don't want to overwhelm myself, just yet. But this is something I am really enjoying and it's brand new. I did a lot of self-defense with my old master, and he did get me quite confident in being able to protect myself. The basics are solid I think. Now I am working at an entirely new advance level, a level a master should be able to do. And there is no one better than Master DeJesus who can get me on that right path.

He made mention how learning Haganah really gave him a deep appreciation for militant training that he never had before. I can really see how that has transformed how he trains. I don't remember how long he has been doing it for, but I remember when I first met him at my 3rd Degree Test and he demonstrated it for his self-defense portion of his test, it was the first time I ever saw it and I remember thinking, "I'm going to learn that with him!" So it's even more thrilling for me to be rolling on the ground, avoiding guns and knives at his school. And it challenges me! There's always something to learn and I am always happy when I am learning!

Master DeJesus demonstrating ground survival defense on me =D

Yours in service,
ANDREW TRENTO