SAS teacher James Mulli and Head of Security James Linder will join forces to teach an Introdution to Self Defense and Awareness class. The class is open for everyone and no previous experience is needed.

The purpose of the class is to introduce students to self defense, develop a better awareness of their environment and engender self confidence and self esteem. The instructors will start with basic movements that emphasize balance, awareness, and an instinctive response to the most common problems encountered and will teach two basic approaches: Krav Maga and Taekwondo.

Krav Maga  is an eclectic hand-to-hand combat system developed in Israel. It was derived from street-fighting skills developed by Imi Lichtenfeld, who made use of his training as a boxer and wrestler. It has since been refined for both civilian and military applications. Unlike most martial arts, Krav Maga is essentially a tactical defense skill. Its philosophy emphasizes threat neutralization, simultaneous defensive and offensive maneuvers.Krav Maga is still used by the Israel Defense Forces and several closely related variations have been developed and adopted by law enforcement, Mossad, Shin Bet, FBI and United States special operations forces. Krav Maga basic training emphasizes the following:

• Do not get injured or injure training partners.
• Employ pre-emptive defensive techniques
• Change quickly from defensive into offensive techniques (i.e., respond to an attack with overwhelming force), in the quickest time possible
• Use the most natural, quickest, reflexes of the body
• Exploit the opponent’s vulnerabilities to their extreme
• Employ the aid of any available objects[8]

Krav Maga trainees learn to deal first with the immediate threat and then prevent further attacks, if necessary by neutralizing the attacker. Training is conducted in a methodical manner taking the practitioners’ strengths and weaknesses into account.

Taekwondo  is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. Taekwondo may be loosely translated as “the way of the foot and fist” or “the way of kicking and punching.” Taekwondo is the world’s most popular martial art in terms of the number of practitioners. Taekwondo is known for its emphasis on kicking techniques. The rationale is that the leg is the longest and strongest weapon a martial artist has, and kicks thus have the greatest potential to execute powerful strikes without successful retaliation. In Taekwondo, students face the challenge of a rigorous and disciplined training program designed to develop “life skills” such as self-control, patience, confidence and courage. The program inevitably reinforces what is already being taught at home. In that respect, attending a good martial arts class would benefit both the bully by teaching him or her to respect others, and the bullied, by teaching them how to be in control during a situation or defend oneself if the need arises.

James Linder is the Head of Safety and Security at SAS. He  was a police officer for the City of Santa Monica in Los Angeles California in the 1990’s. While a police officer, he was assigned to the Defensive Tactics team. He instructed police officers, city employees, and civilians in basic self defense. The system he learned and taught is called Krav Maga.  James Mulli is a 1st Dan black belt and has been studying Kwon Jae Hwa Taekwon-do for eight years. He taught self defense for four years at the Munich International School.