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| To
Grapple with Reality? |
"Grappling...
erm that's rolling around on the
floor isn't it?"
"Oh we don't do grappling,
we take them out before it gets
to that stage." *nods knowingly*
"We learn to put them on
the floor and to stay on our feet,
so we don't need to learn much
grappling."
"Grappling isn't safe, so
we don't recommend our students
learn it."
All of these are typical responses
to the question:
"Do you do/teach/learn
any grappling at your Hapkido
class?" |
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| The
fact of the matter is that most Hapkido classes
don't learn much in the way of grappling skills.
As a general rule it's because the instructors
themselves have not been schooled in the techniques
or importance of learning floor-work or because
individual instructors are not keen on grappling
or feel it is an unnecessary skill. In other
words everyone wants to stick to what they
know but I believe the practice of burying
our heads in the sand about an important part
of self defence needs to stop. |
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| So
why should we bother? |
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| Well
for a start historically grappling/wrestling
has always been part of Hapkido from its forerunner
to the martial art we now know and learn today.
According to Master Forbes the Korean forerunner
to Hapkido consisted not only of striking
techniques and weapons, but also of grappling.
As a little aside it was also taught to those
of noble origins (some would say it still
is) and the forerunner to what we now recognise
as Tae Kwon Do was taught to the peasants. |
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| A
very important part of Hapkido is that it
considers itself to be a complete martial
art - but no martial art can call itself complete
if it neglects to teach techniques on how
to deal with being caught on the floor in
a headlock. A few floor "self defence"
techniques don't add up to a hill of beans
when you're down on the floor and fighting
for your life. |
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| Of
even more importance is the fact that the
majority (some quote 90%) of real life fighting
situations involves some sort of grab or grapple,
a fair percentage of them end up on the floor.
While we'd all love to say we can take someone
out with our striking techniques, can we say
the same of our ground fighting? And given
that the majority of self-defence situations
will end up on the ground shouldn't we spend
time learning how to defend ourselves in this
situation? |
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| This
also begs the question of what, as an instructor,
you would tell a student who found themselves
on the floor in a "situation" they
had no experience of. One, where due to their
lack of training, they come off "second
best". How could you reassure such a
student that all of the time spent learning
the "complete" martial art of jumping
spinning hook kicks wasn't just a waste of
time. |
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We
now have three reasons:
1. Historical
2. To make Hapkido more "complete"
3. For student safety |
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| I
would like to reiterate here that I still
agree that there are benefits to learning
acrobatic techniques but that learning ground
skills is not and should not be mutually exclusive
to learning jumping spinning hook kicks. |
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| What
is Grappling? |
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An
important question when we're
considering why we should focus
on it. Is it just rolling around
on the floor until someone miraculously
finds a limb to lock or is it
a whole lot more?
Most martial arts, new and traditional,
consider stand up, throwing, shooting
and ground fighting to be grappling.
So pretty much anytime you've
actually grabbed or been grabbed
by your opponent your grappling.
I'm sure no one would argue with
the value of learning stand up
locking and throwing as being
essential to Hapkido. It's the
other bits that are a bit of a
black art to us. |
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| Aims |
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Grappling
without any learnt skills is pretty messy
to look at, when I was a junior belt free
sparring was a case of kicking and punching
until a grab happened. Someone would attempt
a basic throw (usually something like a stomach
throw) and the rolling around would ensue
- the tactic seemed to be to put your opponent
in a headlock and as a general rule the bigger
guy won. Not a lot was learnt from this.
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| The
aim of Hapkido street grappling should
not be to pin your opponent while "waiting
for help" or "the police to
come" or for them to say "uncle",
but rather the aim should be the same
as when one has no choice but to stand
and fight i.e. to end the fight as fast
as possible. What are the fastest possible
ways to end a fight? Using strikes (elbows,
knees, fists, head butts), joint techniques
(arm locks, wrist locks, neck, knee
and ankle locks), chokes and strangles
(to cut off the air supply or cut off
the blood flow). Notice here that headlocks
are not listed. Headlocks are not good
"fight ending" or "finishing"
techniques as they don't incapacitate
your opponent and are pretty easy to
escape from. |
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| Another
aim is to dominate your opponent, using
the mount, side pin, applied scarf hold
etc. Once you have a dominant position,
using finishing techniques becomes a
lot easier. |
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| If
you can't dominate them by obtaining a position
on top, then you need to control them in some
other fashion. The guard is a good method
for controlling them if they are on top. It
allows you to ensure they can't move around
you. Also many finishing techniques can be
employed from here as well as sweeps and reversals.
Learning to grapple from ones back, while
initially difficult is something that is of
particular use, especially to our female students.
This is one reason why we have a women's self
defence syllabus. |
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| Why
do I want to grapple? |
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| As
a general rule, you don't. This article
is not to say "stop training stand
up and learn grappling" this article
is to say "add grappling skills
to your repertoire, you might need it". |
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| Being
on one's feet is much preferable to
rolling around on the ground. But if
you wind up on the floor and don't know
what to do, then you're in trouble.
There are many reasons not to grapple
on the street, for a start it is hard
and hurts - there may be glass or all
sorts. Also, if there are other people
around you have no idea who also will
have a go at you when you're down there.
Don't forget you have the same worry
on your feet. Indeed it is easier to
react to multiple attackers while standing.
But these are not reasons to avoid learning
to grapple, these are time and place
considerations. You may find yourself
in a pub on the floor with same wag
doing his best to send you to the plastic
surgeon. A situation to avoid if possible
but something you may have no control
over. |
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| But,
but, but... |
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| "We
don't have time to learn it" is
an oft' used excuse. Well, take a look
at your class timetable maybe you should
consider dispensing with some of the
more superfluous techniques. Time management
is important during running a class
and it's a good idea to periodically
review the class schedule to provide
variety. |
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| To
this and the other "buts",
ask yourself this question: What are
you going to say to the student who
walks up and says "I tried, but
nothing I had been taught seemed to
work..." |
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| "You
didn't do it right" is not an answer. |
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This
article is written by Bryce Burrows,
3rd Dan, "Southern Man",
and Instructor at the Dunedin Kukjae
Hapkido Club. Paul Quickenden, 1st
Dan, Hutt Valley Kukjae Hapkido Club
is a co-author.
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by
Bryce Burrows
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Interview
with Student Scott Mier
by Paul Swainson |
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To
Grapple with Reality?
by Bryce
Burrows |
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3
x No Sen (the art of timing)
by Ethan Weisgard |
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Is
Yoga Medicine?
by Mary
Francos |
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