Just a short story to emphasize the importance of blocks. A few years ago a friend of mine ( who was a green belt in Zen Do Kai )was set apon by a gang one night whilst walking home alone down Karrinyup road in Scarborough. A car pulled up and four guy's jumped out with wooden clubs and proceeded, with no apparent motive, to attack him. He obviously tried to protect himself as best as he could but was quickly overpowered and severely beaten. A stranger later stopped and called the police and ambulance. The assailants however were never found. On visiting him in hospital the severity of the bashing was unbelievable. His head was literally the size of a soccer ball with egg size lumps and nasty cut's everywhere. Tubes were coming out all over him and he was unrecognizable. The police were there and showed me his arm's which were completely black and blue with severe bruising - the only reason he was alive. He had used his training well and had blocked successfully numerous head blows that would of doubtless killed him had they connected. Never underestimate the power of the block! :thumbwink:

wow duncan

what a story

there you go guys
pratice your basics more

An aweful story Duncan. I seriously hope your friend recovered okay.
No matter how good you are - when faced with those odds theres not a lot you can do short of run like hell.

Hope I dont ever have to test my skills in a similar situation.

One of my former instructors had the misfortune to find out. She returned to her car in Fremantle to find two guys trying to break into it. One tried to grab her from behind while the other attacked her from the front. The grabber received a reverse elbow strike to the nose and a back kick to the groin and hit the pavement, cant recall about the other guy, but he copped something and ran off. All instinctive after years of training.

Apparently when she reported it to the police they were full of praise. Self defence at its best guys.

Sorry everyone I should have added that my friend made a complete recovery, graduated as a chef and travelled the world on a working/surfing holiday! All good in the end................... :thumbwink:

That's not a very nice situation to be in at all.
That kind of thing is the reason so many of us take up a martial art in the first place.

I just hope that knowing what to do in a similar situation would be enough to prevent it from ever happening to me.

You know...those that don't know a self defence need it, those that know it never need to use it.