The weekend of 12-14 Sep 2014 with Kelly McCann can only be
expressed as a reality-check! In a nutshell, it was hard-hitting, simple, but
brutal. McCann is an ex-Marine, combat veteran,
and just one hard-hitting Modder-Flugger! No excuses, just plain pain. And
pain, is a great teacher. Do it right, or get killed. Aggression, explosive
power and simplicity was the name of the game.
Michelle Washington was McCann’s training partner, and all I
can say is this lady has my absolute respect! Besides taking McCann’s hard-hits
the entire weekend, I could see the warrior-spirit in her eye that said, “mess
with me at you own peril”. Beauty and brawn couldn’t come in a better package
than Michelle.
One of McCann’s stories during a break was about a
question he was once asked about the techniques in combatives: “What do you do once you've mastered all the
moves? Simple. Just learn to hit harder”.
There is no need for more elaborate moves or techniques, just mastering
the basics and learning to use them as effectively as possible. My assumption is
that these are to then be done with more power, more times and at the correct moments in combat.
Over the 3 days, we explored a variety of defensive and offensive strikes using the
fist, arms, feet, knees and elbows. On their own, they would be definitely cause an
opponent pain. However, in combination, with the correct combative mindset,
they could be absolutely devastating. One of the nice quotes from McCann goes
on to say, “Fighting is 90% mental and 10% technique”. I couldn't agree more. In combatives, one has
to cultivate the correct mindset. It is a very different mindset from that of
martial artist. Quoting McCann, “Martial arts is what you do WITH someone.
Combatives is what you do TO someone.” Now if that doesn't embody what
combatives is, then I don’t know what would!
"Keep it simple, silly”, said McCann. Looking back at my own
personal Taekwondo training and experience, I could never perform a 540 degree jumping
kick. As beautiful and as athletic as this kick is, it is technically very
difficult and I never mastered it. As
much as I wished I could then, I know now that it would be of little use to me
now in combat - simplicity is key. McCann emphasised keeping it simple and using gross motor skills (big motions). This
way, it will be easily recalled and performed when under pressure. He further
went on to say, “combatives is sloppy”.
From a personal development perspective, this correlates nicely with a
quote on success– “Success is never graceful and exactly the way you want it.
It gets messy, but the results are still a success.”
The training was brutal. There was the bare-knuckle sparring
that resulted in lots of swelling, bruising and a fair amount of blood from a
number of cut eyes, torn foreheads and ripped ears. Then there was the
debilitating knees and kicks to the inside and outside of thighs that left even
the most hard-core of fighter squirming like babies. Lastly, the mental
toughening was probably the most exhausting as it pushed physical pain boundaries
to new levels. All in all, the training was indeed more about cultivating the correct
mindset rather than perfecting physical skill. What struck me most, was the sincerity and passion that McCann conveyed to his students throughout his instruction. Never once did I feel that this man was on an ego-trip, If anything, he was the most humble man there, who could probably flatten anyone of us without breaking a sweat!
On a side note, it was interesting to note that on day 2,
there was an attempted theft of one of the participants cars. He noticed this
from the 2nd floor of the building where we were training in and
promptly notified us. Unfortunately for this this thief, he picked the wrong day
and group of people to try and steal from. Besides being hard-core fighters,
most of the participants were armed (being either safety-conscious citizens or
law enforcement officers). About a dozen or so participants rushed out with
fully-loaded weapons, and ready to take our combatives training to a new level!
Fortunately for the thief-wannabe, he got away before being caught by any one
of us. McCann and Michelle must have
thought this quite amusing. However, they did say that they felt that South
Africa needed this kind of training to prepare it for the daily crime that we
face. This incident was evident again of that need.
To conclude, this was probably one of the hardest, most brutal, and
most enjoyable weekend training sessions I have ever been on. McCann and Michelle, with
their experience and skills, were the perfect teachers to instruct this type of
course. With their guidance, and the
assistance of my fellow “blood ‘n sweat” -brothers and sisters, I was able to face
my fears of pain and inadequacy, as I am sure, many other participants were able
to do so too. I am truly grateful for the
knowledge and experience, and something that I will be incorporated into my
toolbox and regular self-defence training.
McCann’s final words to us were: “Be good.
Live a good life. We all eventually die… but not today...” (…"Memento mori…sed hodie
non...”)
For more information on Kelly McCann’s combatives, refer to www.kembativz.com.
