Kris, as he is wont to do, told me what I should be doing next.
He suggested a four-day curriculum. Maybe more, give or take. It resonated.
Ballparking here, just speculating:
Introduction day- same as my regular basic seminar.
The basic seminar is an intro. In eight hours we cover safety; the basic drills; fighting to the goal; elements (Legal/ethical, Violence Dynamics, Avoidance and de-escalation, Counter-ambush, Breaking the freeze, and Aftermath) of self defense-- with extra lectures on both self-defense law and violence dynamics; Usually power generation and blindfolded infighting.
Second day
Like we've done at Oakland and Seattle and will do in Boston in a week:
Groups; ground movement and ground brawling; environmental fighting; dynamic fighting; sometimes close range weapons defense; then scenarios with peer juries where the students have to explain choices legally and tactically.
Those are as far as I've gone. The rest?
Conflict Communications could easily be a whole day. The real bones of where conflict comes from and how to manipulate the social piece.
I'd love to include the DreamTeam: three days of lessons on observation and violence taught by people who lived the need.
I'd have to break down how many hours would go into what I call the building blocks: Power generation; targets; strike conformation; inside strikes; grappling movement; grappling from the ground; locks; takedowns; neck attacks (bone, air, blood); entries; leverage points; core fighting; core defense; spine manipulation; pain; MPDS and effects and actions paradigms... how many more, really? Are there any of these I can cut down? Each takes less than an hour.
A class on teaching methodology. How to use the tools, what the tools are for. Finding glitches. Pushing over the edge (ethics and dangers). Proper scenario design and debriefing. Teaching students to teach themselves. Teaching students versus teaching material... others?
The big list of Principles, the things that make all other things work.
Possibly a companion talk on Concepts or even mindgames, ways to think and how to discuss mental processes that are outside of the common frame(s) of reference.
There's enough there to keep me busy for awhile, ya think?
A one week intensive?
ReplyDeleteAll that stuff?
OK
Sounds awesome
I'm down
You sound like you have more than enough for more than a single course!
ReplyDeleteI think organizing your material into a four day curriculum is one thing.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it would be a good idea to teach it as such. 1) I'd wonder about the market for it: people with the disposable income for it will be harder pressed to get the time off for it. 2) I think it would be too much material in to little time for people.
I'd organize your material in 1, 2, or 4 hour blocks, and group them in basic and advanced courses (advanced defined as requiring at least an understanding of something covered in a basic course) in different combinations for different audiences.
If you wanted to teach more material, I would do something like a few evenings before the weekend and the weekend itself. Do the basic and/or lectrue stuff in the evenings during the week and the advanced stuff on the weekend. That way you could sell access to the basic stuff separately, allow folks that know the basic stuff to only come the weekend, and have the days free for individual, small group coaching, or to cover additional material, or more material in depth.
Not really thinking about a week-long course. Some stuff takes time to settle. But what about a quarterly rotation, say, spring gets day one; summer Day one and two, but not mandatory to repeat one; autumn offer all three or...
ReplyDeleteI've done a couple week long martial arts intensives in the past and enjoyed the immersion. I also very much enjoyed interacting and getting to know the other participants - shooting the sh*t, training with like minded but different individuals, and exchanging ideas and experiences.
ReplyDeleteIt seemed that having a whole week changed the pacing of the material, and allowed a place for 'returning' which appealed to me.
Now, your quarterly training would also achieve this, just on a different time frame - take stuff home, work on it, come back, add new perspective, troubleshoot problems etc.
So, a yearly cycle of training would be great - there's an element of a 'conversation' in it that definitely appeals to me.
As a student I improve if I have generated questions to answer (intellectually, emotionally and physically), and having a place to take them would be cool.
Who is the target? A law enforcement academy in-service program, and a week is pretty reasonable.
ReplyDeleteIf the target is professional self-defense instructors, then a week is also probably reasonable.
For a lot of people -- the average school owner, self-defense "hobbyist", etc. -- a week can be a lot harder to swing. That said -- I've done some very good training in a 4 day camp or seminar running Thursday through Sunday, which is much more easily done for a lot of people.
I think it's an attractive idea, and definitely worth the effort to flesh it out and see where it goes.
Even if it wasn't a specific rotation, I think breaking it all down into blocks as Edwin suggests is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteWith it structured that way, you could also offer the different pieces (e.g. Level 1, Level 2, Instructor) individually depending on the demand.