Latest News
Mark to teach Europes first open 'ComTech Drawpoint' seminar at his Arbroath martial arts centre on June 29th
Drawpoint is widely considered to be the most effective defensive weapons system in the world. Created by Marks teacher, Master at Arms James A Keating, it is based upon reverse grip knife technique. However, its a CONCEPTUAL SYSTEM & it translates perfectly to the use of improvised tools such as a good sturdy pen, small flashlight- in fact anything that you can grip firmly in your hand. It even works as an unarmed method! For more detail about what we'll be covering go to our www.tacticaledge.co.uk website. Spaces will be limited to around 26 people, so we suggest booking spaces quickly- the Bowie course was a sell out!
Iain Abernethy seminar in Forfar
Harry Boag in Forfar is hosting Iain Abernethy for a seminar in Forfar on Sunday 4th June. Iain Abernethy has gained quite a following for his work functionalising the movements found in Traditional Martial Arts forms. The seminar will be at the Lochside Leisure Centre in Forfar, & costs £25. Its is open to students of any style of martial art (over 18's only).Harry can be contacted on 01307 464767 (after 6pm) or 07722 612691, & can be emailed on harry@hboag.freeserve.co.uk
New TaeKwon-Do programme launched by Mark Davies.
Progressive TaeKwon-Do is an evolving TaeKwon-Do system based on General Choi's combat art. Mark has been working on his own interpretation of the TaeKwon-Do syllabus for the past 2 years, as he felt that TaeKwon-Do had become far too sport oriented, & that after blackbelt it didn't offer as much to encourage the continued development of the student as he would like.
Progressive TaeKwon-Do is a constantly evolving system that is purely concerned with effective personal defensive skills & self development. The coloured belt syllabus is based heavily around the ITF TaeKwon-Do syllabus, but with the emphasis being placed on developing effective self defence skills with absolutely no sport style training. After Blackbelt the syllabus changes radically, with students having to demonstrate their own ability to think, be creative, & learn a whole new set of skills. The Blackbelt grading syllabus includes developing practical weapons skills, studying healing systems, developing advanced self defence skills; & it is all structured to encourage the development of the practitioner.
With over 27 years of experience, & Martial Arts / Instructors Credentials in 8 different arts, including 3 Blackbelts in other Korean Arts, Mark Davies is one of the UK's most widely qualified & experienced Instructors. His in depth training in such a wide range of martial arts, & his years of experience actually applying his training in real life are all reflected in this dynamic interpretation of TaeKwon-Do.
Hi, welcome to our site!
I'm Mark Davies and along with my wife Jacqui I run the first full time Martial Arts Centre in Angus, based at 6 Guthrie Port in Arbroath, as well as several successful schools throughout Tayside.
Chief Instructor Mark Davies
Studio owners Mark & Jacqui Davies
We provide SAFE & FUN classes for the whole family. From our LITTLE NINJAS programme for young children between 4 & 8 years old, through our KIDS PROGRESSIVE TAEKWON-DO & KIDS KICKBOXING programmes for older children from 8 years onwards, onto our TACTICAL EDGE, ADULTS PROGRESSIVE TAEKWON-DO, KYUK TOO KI (Korean Kickboxing) programmes. You & your children are guaranteed to get THE MOST EXPERIENCED & BEST QUALIFIED instruction in the area!
Mark (on right) with his TKD Instructor Master Gordon Wallace 7th Degree ITF, a former ITF World Champion & multiple times National Champion.
Mark with his friend & instructor Master at Arms James Keating, the worlds leading authority on edged weapons combatives
Mark with his Junior Korean Kickboxing Blackbelts
Some of our TaeKwon-Do juniors
At our FULL TIME CENTRE we offer a wide range of Martial Arts classes for the whole family, not just TaeKwon-Do, & you'll receive expert guidance & instruction all the way from beginner to blackbelt... & beyond!
Some of our Kids Kickboxers
WE DON'T shoot you up through the grades! WE DON'T promise you you'll get your Black Belt in a couple of years (on average you'll look at four to five years of good honest hard work- there are no shortcuts or 'special scientific training methods', these are just cons). What we DO is we give you or your child a top class EDUCATION. We make sure that you are taught in depth about every facet of the martial arts. Our speciality is SELF DEFENCE & PERSONAL SECURITY, & Mr Davies is the former Technical Director for Self Defence with the UK TaeKwon-Do Federation. We ensure that every single one of our students learns to defend themselves realistically against everything that life can throw at them. Where other TaeKwon-Do instructors can only teach from theory, we can teach from years of actual experience! In our TaeKwon-Do programme we are unique as we teach you not just TKD skills, but elements of Combat Technologies, Pekiti Tirsia, Silat, Kali, Combat AikiJutsu & Hapkido. All of which Mark has trained in since the late 1980's & is experienced & properly qualified to teach (unlike some other instructors who simply 'teach via DVD & one day courses' no matter what their fancy certificates say). Our TaeKwon-Do students learn what many other instructors around the UK consider to be the most cutting edge reality based self defence, weapons defence & impact/edged/improvised weapons skills as well as traditional TaeKwon-Do training.
Mark correcting Little Ninja Kali's sidekick
Mark is well known for the seminars that he teaches on a national basis in Self Defence & Close Quarter Countermeasures. He has provided seminars for instructors such as: Master Sutherland 7th Degree- Livingston, Master Nicolls 8th Degree- London, Master Vince 7th Dan- Norwich, Master Wallace 7th Degree- Aberdeen, Mr Dunbar 6th Degree- Inverness, Mr Dennis 6th Degree- London, Mr Chand 4th Degree- Cambridge. Mark is the only Full Combat Technologies instructor under Master at Arms James A Keating in the UK.
Mark is also an instructor to the military where he teaches more specialised Close Quarter Countermeasures skills to Special Forces units.
Seniors training in our Blackbelt Academy
For more information on any of our classes go to our classes section & click on the name of the class you're interested in. We offer the highest levels of instruction at our FULL TIME CENTRE in Arbroath, & also at our classes in Dundee & Montrose.
Hoshinsul & Tactical Edge seminars
Mark Davies is available to perform his Tactical Edge seminars for instructors of ANY style or affiliation, we are honestly non political when it comes to working with other martial artists! Read Master Richard Vince's appraisal of Marks Tactical Edge system. Our Hoshinsul & Tactical Edge seminars are the perfect way for traditional martial arts schools to introduce practical weapons & reality based self defence to their students. Call us or Email us for more details, or speak to the instructors who regularly host us! Tactical Edge is combat evolved & combat proven, & is trusted by Special Forces soldiers as their method of close combat.
Mark Davies has been training in the South East Asian & some of the worlds more esoteric fighting arts since the late 1980's, & he is one of the few TRUE close combat instructors around who actually runs the close combat curriculum with a military unit! What makes our seminars different is that what we teach isn't theory, we have applied EVERYTHING we teach- including weapons based skills during 19 years working nightclub & pub security internationally, working with Special Forces & other Covert units, & working in High Risk VIP Protection! Mark has spent most of his adult life travelling all over the world to explore the most effective fighting systems. His knowledge doesn't come from watching DVD's & buying instructors credentials from money grabbing so-called masters, it has come from some of the best fighters & combat masters in the world!
Call or email us, you'll find us very easy to work with & we guarantee you'll love our courses.
For details of our Tactical Edge instructors programmes or Tactical Edge seminars please go to www.tacticaledge.co.uk
Upcoming Seminars
We are once again taking bookings for seminars, we limit the number of seminars we do due to class & family commitments so please get bookings in quickly to avoid dissapointment.
Tactical Edge Unarmed Combatives 10th May at GMac TaeKwon-Do, Livingstone. Contact John McIllvaney on 07809 115923.
To follow on from our last seminar for Johns students we're going to look at partner based drills that we can use to build attributes & skills that we want to come out in combat. We're going to work on extreme close range striking skills & limb destructions, before moving into situational drills. Finally we're going to bust a few myths about handgun defence.
Tactical Edge Unarmed Combatives 24th May at Energy Gym, Edinburgh. Contact Marcus Houston on 07809 157200.
On this seminar for Marcus' Tactical Edge & Krav Maga guys we're going to look at attribute & skill building. We're going to work on extreme close range striking skills, allowing us to hit without having to draw the hand or arm back. We're going to explore a wide variety of defensive movements, with a special emphasis on different methods of limb destruction. On the situational side we'll be looking at the use of the environment around you in self defence, the use of low line traps & levers, & finally handgun defense. After the seminar we'll be holding a Tactical Edge grading.
TaeKwon-Do Hoshinsul. Spirit TaeKwon-Do, St Albans. June 15th 2008. Call Mr Andie Adolph- 07759 277379
This seminar is being organised by Mr Andie Adolph 3rd Degree for his TaeKwon-Do schools. We'll be looking at the practical application of TaeKwon-Do techniques against common defensive situations, & at techniques from outwith TaeKwon-Do that can enhance its effectiveness. The first half of the course will be for juniors & seniors, & the second for seniors only.
TaeKwon-Do Hoshinsul. Vision TKD Summer Camp- Crowborough, August 23rd 2008. Call Mr Phillip Lear- info@visiontkd.co.uk
We've been kindly invited by Mr Phillip Lear to teach TaeKwon-Do Hoshinsul at the Vision TaeKwon-Do summer camp this year. We'll be introducing the students to different ways of applying techiques that they already know in realistic scenario's, & looking at the difference between competition training & self defence training. We'll look at adding some new techniques to the students arsenal's by adding in some dynamic takedowns & dirty tricks.
We'll be looking at weapons defence, & implimenting some very simple & effective counter knife & counter impact weapon skills.
A Selection of our previous seminars....
Europes first ComTech Bowie Seminar, Arbroath HQ, Sunday 27th April.
We taught the first ComTech Bowie Seminar in Europe on Sunday the 27th & it was a huge success. Like minded martial arts enthusiasts from across Scotland came to Marks gym in Arbroath to learn the Euro-American blade art resurrected by Master at Arms James A Keating. Rather than writing a review we're going to paste in the review of the seminar posted by Marcus Houston on his Krav Maga Edinburgh Blog-
Yesterday I was lucky enough to be one of 23 students training in the Comtech Bowie System as taught by Mark Davies of Tactical Edge. I have to say that this was probably one of the best seminars I have been to in terms of presentation, content, level of instruction and interest.
The bowie system is essentially simple but brutality effective. Its so easy to see why this weapon was banned in 3 States in the US in years gone by. The seminar started with a tapping drills and then covered the defensive, offensive and back cut flow. The movements are all part of a logic chain. If for example we are attacked and we block then the next part of the defensive flow takes care of the next most likely attack. Mark explained that with the system we are aiming to seek steel to flesh however, given the sheer size of the bowie then its likely that we will get steel to steel. So often we encounter a blocking and cutting motion. What’s different here is the speed that you can move with the bowie – it has to be seen to be believed.
Mark explained that in the Bowie system unlike the Asian blade Arts we are primarily concerned with the thrust as opposed to the cut. The back cut creates a devastating wound and is a finisher. Mark explained that in days gone by the weapon could be sued to stop a fight very quickly without the need to take a life. Given the size of the Bowie our training concentrated on fighting at largo mano (long range) and moving into close range if necessary. Mark explained that the closer we get with the Bowie to an opponent the easier it is to be disarmed especially if we are right in the fur ball as he puts it. Mark talked a lot about “fighting in remiss” which is why would we fight at close range when we have a tool designed for long range. As a treat we got to do some sparring with the safety trainers. This brings home the speed of a true knife attack and was an excellent drill to demonstrate that with an edged weapon there is no need for strength or mass to make it work effectively. At the end of the day Mark looked at what we had learned and showed us the empty hand applications. The system is quick to learn but there is a lot in it and plenty to work with at home or in classes. The system could be used with a rolled up magazine or anything large that you have to hand.
Some of the course participants caught after the seminar
Thanks to Marcus for his very kind write up. We'll be running an assortment of more Specialised ComTech & Tactical Edge seminars at our Arbroath HQ for those wanting to explore more specific systems than we usually cover on the seminars that we run for other instructors. Next up will be ComTech Drawpoint.... the ultimate practical combative knife system- & one that works with pens, flashlights, kubotans etc etc! Watch this space!
Tactical Edge Unarmed Combatives. G-Mac TaeKwon-Do, Livingston. Feb 23rd 2008.
This seminar for John McIllvaney was an adbsolute hit! The Livingston hall was packed out with TKD people, MMA students & even a few brave non martial artists. We even had guys from as far afield as Belfast (a big hello to Trevor & Martin). We started off working on Tactical Edge striking methods, taking folks through some strikes that they were already aware of, but used in some slightly different ways. We then went onto takedown techniques, working them on a totally compliant partner to get the hang of them. After everyone was proficient we looked at the use of pre emptive strikes using the techniques learned so far.
After all this we got started on the main course! We looked at methods to defeat what are accoding to the home office the most common modes of assualt in the UK. After pounding through unarmed attacks we moved onto counter knife, & the use of returning blades & disarming techniques.
Everyone worked hard on the seminar, which was a fair test of endurance; so a big well done goes out to everyone. We've been invited back withing the next couple of months!
Tactical Baton & Impact Weapons, Tactical Edge & Krav Maga Edinburgh, Sun 10th Feb 08.
This seminar saw us doing Tactical Baton & Impact weapons with the guys from Marcus Houston's classes. We started off working on the 12 universal lines, moved on into striking training against pads, & then worked on partner based skill building drills.
After lunch we got tore into some applied work, looking at how many different implements can act as improvised impact weapons, & working on using them to counter various situations. We worked on the flip side of the coin, & looked at countering attacks with crow bars & the like. We then worked on the use of the ComTech Stinger.
We finished by speaking about how everything we had done had been part of an overall matrix of movement that can be done regardless of whether you are armed with impact weapon, edged weapon or unarmed.
ComTech Drawpoint, ComTech Bandanna & Edged Weapons countermeasures, Private Course, Athens Greece, Feb 2008.
This course was a small private course organised by Wing Chun instructor Nikos Voyages, who had contacted Mark with the view of becoming certified as an instructor of Master at Arms James Keating's Drawpoint system. Mark is the head of ComTech Europe, & is the only Full ComTech Instructor in Europe & the only person able to perform ComTech training in Europe.
Nikos & his friends were excellent trainee's, & Nikos Drawpoint skills were excellent. Nikos is now a member of the ComTech family & has been certified to teach Drawpoint Knife.
Mark certifying Nikos Voyages as a member of the ComTech family, & the only Drawpoint instructor in Greece.
Close Quarter Combat & Asian Blade Basics, Krav Maga Edinburgh, 02/09/07
Our seminar for Krav Maga Edinburgh was a great success. We had a venuw that was pretty damn full, & a bunch of great people training hard. I'll let the course host Marcus Houston do the review-
Mark Davies started the day by covering his extensive background in Martial Arts and work with SF Units and VIP protection. He then discussed the evolution of his Tactical Edge system and how this was originally designed for use by SF units and is now being used in the civilian market. The techniques in the system have been field tested by either Mark himself or one of representatives. Nothing that hasn’t been battle tested is taught in his classes.
Mark addressing the seminar participants
Mark swiftly moved on to cover the subject of adrenal stress and how this would effect the body during combat. Mark has extensive knowledge in this field and it’s worth coming along just to hear all of this.
Demonstrating the ComTech grip transition drill
We then quickly moved on to some basic strikes and Mark emphasised that we very rarely want to strike anyone with a clenched fist unless we are doing a lot of conditioning exercises. Mark has a rule for striking – (hard to soft, soft to hard). So if striking a hard area with lots of bones we use a palm heel, hammer fist or if it’s a soft area then we can use an elbow for example. Given that nobody in the class regularly used a makiwara we then moved on to some pad drills using with palm heel strikes from various angles and also looking at some variations for when the attacker is very close to you. Mark encouraged people to keep tension out of the forearm and to use the arm in a whipping motion as the tensing of the muscle greatly reduces the speed of strikes. We then covered various take downs including the head tilt, horizontal neck twist and the head under. The training all came together in the forms of situationals. These began with a verbal assault and some pushing and shoving. The defender would immediately assume a passive guard. The defender was encouraged to engage pre-emptively whilst still talking to the attacker in order to make sure the attackers brain was engaged when we launched our attack. All the confrontations were to end with a take down. Mark then let everyone add their own particular “salt and pepper” as he puts it and choose how and when to engage the attacker and what particular take down to use. A particular favourite of mine was the horizontal head twist as it allows you to completely control someone whilst scanning for multiple opponents. Although we didn’t cover this Mark explained that we can use the attacker from this position as a shield or take him into a position of negotiation. If we are rushed by a further attacker you can then project your hostage forward into them in order to impede his advance and speed up your exit. Although I train with Mark regularly, I find it doesn’t matter if I have trained something with him a hundred times I always find something new in a technique. This time when doing the head tilt it came in the form of ensuring that your attackers vision is focussing vertically when the head is tilted which again causes disruption. This was something that although it might seem obvious was something I hadn’t thought about previously during my training.
Knife defence
Anyway, back on with the day. The participants were then introduced to the limb destructions that were used in the Tactical Edge system. Mark explained the reasoning behind attacking a limb as opposed to striking directly to the face. An example used was a knife attack. We want to defang the snake so that the limb cannot be used to continue to attack us. With the limb destruction, the strike to the bicep would normally ensure that the knife ejected from the hand. If it didn’t, the bicep shot would certainly weaken the whole system and allow an easy follow up with a strip or disarm. For anyone that was not convinced Mark let us all “put it in a little”. Even with a small amount of power the shot is extremely uncomfortable. Therefore going all out would leave you in serious pain and discomfort. We covered all the various angles which essentially boiled down to the high and low line which only required two movements. This would ensure that the movement was retained under stress. We then finished off the attacks with our choice of take downs.
Mark demonstrating the passover
The beauty of the Tactical Edge system is that everything interrelates. You don’t have to mentally shift gears and use another technique when faced with empty hand , edged or impact weapon attacks. Similarly if you are using empty hand , impact or edged weapon you don’t have to use different techniques. I find that training like this super charges your skills.
Demonstrating limb destructions
We also covered various knife threats from different positions and used “returning blades”. Mark explained how when a blade strikes bone it projects. Even just using training weapons you could feel see its effectiveness and see people flying all over the room. Mark then introduced some foot pins and showed us how we could use these with the returning blades.
A bunch of people hard at work
Mark then explained his reasoning behind why he didn’t like direct blocking against edged weapon attacks and then demonstrated power passing against the blade. Again this comes down to Mark’s personal experiences of edged weapon attacks. He greatly favours passing or limb destructions.
The guys from Kempo JuJutsu from 'way up north'.
Mark then went on to explain the circumstances where you might legally carry a defensive tool. We then moved on to using edged weapons. Mark explained that in the event that we are were overseas and carrying an edged weapon it would rarely be a fixed blade unless you were in the military or in the outback!!! Therefore we looked at the use of folding knives We looked at various methods of the punyo strike where we used the butt of the weapon to destroy a limb and then moved on to opening techniques. First we look at the high end of the force ladder and then moved down towards the lower end where the blade of the knife wouldn’t even be used. Some of the participants who hadn’t trained in blade arts were hesitant at first however, after the experience they quickly realised that to be proficient in countering edged weapons you have to understand how they can be used. We practiced some basic flow drills which allowed us to change from the various grips and then looked at some drills which dealt with long range and medium range attacks. We also looked at concealment and Mark went over the deadly back cut which features in the Bowie system. Mark is the only Bowie instructor in the UK and unfortunately despite bringing down all the Bowie trainers we didn’t get a chance to have a go as we had run out of time. After some revision of the days topics the seminar was wound up.
You're going down now boy!
I would personally like to thank Mark for travelling down and holding this Tactical Edge Seminar for Krav Maga Edinburgh. I hope to get Mark down more regularly to the Capital. I would also like to thank all the guys and gals from Kempo Jujitsu who got up at 4am to travel down. I hope to see you all at some point again in the future.
Close Quarter Countermeasures. Master Sutherlands Blackbelt Academy, Livingston. 02/09/06.
Kids in the morning & adults in the afternoon. This was one well attended course with 30 kids & 40 adults. The kids were taken through attacks common to their age group & coached through some techniques that were new to them.
Seniors practising takedowns
After this we then spoke about personal security & Stranger = Danger training. We used techniques from close protection to teach the kids how to stay safe & avoid adults based problems such as abductions.
Mark demonstrating rear neck whip
The adults class were taken through some revision from previous courses to get their brains in gear, then we looked at the most common attacks in the UK at present & realistic ways to counter them. We then looked closely at knife defence, & introduced some techniques from 'returning blades'.
Knife defence
Lastly for something a bit different we looked at the use of flexible weapons.
Blocking a punch down with the Bandanna
Taken down with the bandanna after the punch
Performing a neck wrap with the bandanna
It was a great course & the first question asked at the end was "when's the next one?".
Some of the seniors on the course
Close Quarter Countermeasures & Cut & Thrust Seminars, May14th 2006 @ Gordon Wallace's Blackbelt Academy, Aberdeen.
Two seminars on one day will make for some sore students the day after. In the morning we looked at countermeasures against what are statistically the most common attacks in the UK. We looked at attacks with edged weapons, both hostage positions (muggings) & actual attacks. We looked at 'Returning Blades' techniques against the hostage positions, & the use of 'Limb Detsructions' against the cuts & thrusts.
In the afternoon the class went through our 'Cut & Thrust' seminar, which is an introduction to knife arts for people who haven't experienced them & train in non weapon arts. We started off on Asian Blade systems, running through skill developing drills & then into combat applications. We then looked at close quarter reverse grip techniques from the holstered position. After this the students moved on into Euro-American bladecraft & learned Bowie techniques, working on defensive & offensive flow drills, & then on applications. Finally we looked at the Karambit & its use as a devastating weapon in close combat.
The courses were well attended & all attending them worked hard all day. We'll be back there again soon.
UKTF Blackbelt Technical Seminar & Grading. March 25th & 26th 2006
Another packed Technical Seminar at UKTF HQ. Technical Director MR Wallace 6th Degree worked the students through correct movement & Patterns, Master Thompson 7th Degree worked on technical kicking & sparring, & Mark Davies as usual worked everyone through the grading curriculum for Ho Shin Sul.
Mr Davies teaching 1st kups on course
Lots of very happy & very sweaty students went home leaving those who were sitting their grading's on the Sunday. As usual the gradings were very hard, but I have to say I thought the standard this time was very high.
Mark Davies demonstrating 'Grasping the Ankles' takedown
Mark Davies showing a 'Headunder' takedown
UKTF Technical Seminar & Black Belt Grading March 2006
Double Stick Seminar, Dunbars Blackbelt Academy, Forres. March 12th 2006.
Back to Dunbars Blackbelt Academy, but this time to his new gym in Forres. This is an excellent facility & I thoroughly enjoyed myself there. We started off running through the Doce Pares 12 angles with single stick & them moved right on into double stick. We went onto some sinawali drills just to fry everyones brains, & then got torn into some bag training on the wavemasters using double sticks. The final part of the class explored the application of double stick against sticks & knives, & how double stick related to double knives & empty hands.
Lined up running through the 12 angles with single stick
Demonstrating knucklebusts with double sticks
Mark Davies going "Blah Blah Blah...again"
Some of the students on the Forres course
Double Stick Seminar, UKTF Headquarters March 4th 2006
Seminars at UKTF hq are always great fun to teach & this was no different. We did separate kids & adults sections, both of which went well. We went through double stick angles of attack, sinawali drills, bag contact drills; & then into applications against sticks swords & knives. We then explored how the stick techniques related to double knives & empty hands. We'll be back in May for our Knife seminar.
Demonstrating a disarm, stripping the weapon
Demonstrating stick & knife angles on the wavemaster
Showing double knife instead of stick
Ho Shin Sul- Applied TaeKwon-Do seminar. South Queensferry TaeKwon-Do. Saturday 4th Feb 2006.
A great seminar! I really enjoyed teaching this one. A big thanks to all on it for a great time. The kids seminar was great, & Miss Cross's kids were a credit to her showing great behaviour. We went through basic takedowns, teaching them realistic & easily performed throwing techniques. We then put them into application along with their TKD techniques against common attacks specific to their age group.
The seniors seminar trained extremely hard. Once again we went through takedowns on their own, so they could learn these new techniques. We moved into some skill building drills. We then went into applications against common attacks, & followed the UKTF syllabus through into weapons defence.
I hope to see everyone again soon.
Tactical Edge close quarter countermeasures & edged weapons- December 11th 2005 at Master Vince's Blackbelt Academy in Norwich
Well done to all Master Vince's students who attended. They all worked very hard to pick up the information presented, & we all had a good laugh at the same time.
Mark Addressing the seminar
In the morning students were takenthrough some skill building partner drills where they worked on some of the counter offensive movements that lie at the core of Tactical Edge methods. Mark then ran through the most common methods of violent attack in the UK, & various countermeasures against them. The students learned the tactical edge method of Contact - Control - Counter, & worked on some very dynamic takedown techniques.
A 'negotiation' position during knifework
In the afternoon the students moved onto edged weapons training. Mark started them off on the six count grip transition drill, then moved into teaching the Doce Pares, & then Hubud & Sonkiti drills working in conventional front grip. They then moved onto 'Snipe the hand' techniques, & countering the various cuts & thrusts of the Doce Pares.
Mark with Master Vince & his Leadership Team
Students then moved onto 'Pakal' work with the knife & were introduced to two evolutions of the Vertical Picking drill. They were then introduced to applying the fast draw & Pakal grip against conventional knife attacks. Finally Mark introduced them to his speciality, the Kerambit. Mark started off on shielding movements with the Kerambit, & then moved right into combative applications as time was getting short. Mark would like to thank everyone on the course for a great time, & Master Vince & his wife for a great Japanese meal.
Weblinks to our friends
www.jamesakeating.com - MAAJAK World, the website of Marks friend & weapons/combatives teacher Master at Arms James A Keating. Always informative & entertaining, sometimes controversial, always worth reading.
www.livingstontkd.com The website of my friend John McIllvaney- TaeKwon-Do, Kickboxing & Little Ninjas in Livingstone, Bellshill & now in Wishaw.
www.uktf.com - The website of the UK TaeKwon-Do Federation.
www.taekwondo-aberdeen.co.uk - Master Gordon Wallace 7th Degree, full time centre in Aberdeen with classes for all ages from Marks own TaeKwon-Do instructor.
www.davidmcnairnblackbeltacademies.co.uk - Mr David McNairn 6th Degree, TaeKwon-Do in Montrose with separate kids & adults classes.
www.tkdsport.co.uk - Website of Mr Dunbar 6th Degree, with full time centres in Inverness & Forres.
www.actaekwondo.co.uk - Website of Alness & Culloden schools of TaeKwon-Do under Myles McRae 3rd Degree.
www.americankami.com - The warped mind of DJ Urbanovsky turns out some of the coolest knife designs for military field applications I've seen. Go there but be warned, you're gonna want one (or more).
www.derespinaknives.com - Marks favourite maker of Karambits & a top bloke as well. Hand made high end collectors pieces.
www.angus-properties.com - Run by Marks ex student James Wilson they offer an excellent range of properties in the Angus area.
www.my24.co.uk - The complete solution for security alarms & installation & much more.
www.hideawayknives.com - The brilliant Hide Away Knife should be a must have for all military, police & rescue personnel. Check out Frontsite's website & buy one!
www.rehobothcustomknives.com - A great site with some beautiful handmade knives. Collectors of historical Bowie's will find some lovely hand forged items here.  |
