ranking

Did you ever practice defensive maneuvers from the above situation? Do you know what could be done if you are caught in this situa-tion?

Are you still training in the sixteenth century or is your training up to date? When was the last time you were attacked or heard of someone who was attacked while on a horse? Did you ever ask yourself why you began studying martial arts in the first place? Is your goal being achieved?

You can smash boards and bricks apart, kick several feet in the air, take unusual physical punishment. You've spent years building your body, training your mind, developing your spirit, practicing all the exercises that are supposed to make you a warrior, but can you really defend yourself or a loved one? In the criminal war that is being waged on our streets, are your techniques really appropriate for today's modern urban attacks?

There are many of us who study and practice many styles of martial arts, with the usual intention of becoming adept at self-defense. Today, studying the arts of Karate, Judo, Ju-Jitsu, Kung Fu, Thai Boxing, etc., does not necessarily mean you are equipped with the day-to-day street knowledge and savvy which is imperative to defend against most physical confrontations which stem from robberies, sexual attacks, and drug-related situations, where the attacker is often "high" and often is impervious to pain and has the strength of five men.

Most oriental martial arts and their exercises are based on building the body and mind to prepare yourself for combat, based on attacks that existed hundreds of years ago. Many of us who train in these arts know of the excellent benefits we receive in terms of mental, physical, and spiritual training. However, we often lose sight of our original goal--to learn how to effective-ly and practically protect ourselves. We spend so much time on training in the physical and sometimes metaphysical techniques and ideas of archaic martial arts that we ignore the practical training which is so often needed to defend ourselves. The problem is that the training makes us feel good and confident, too confident. Many of us, fortunately, haven't had the opportu-nity to test our skills in real combat. Those who unfortunately have, woke up to the reality of the street, where the free fight-ing forms which were so diligently practiced were of little value, when not accompanied with a system of realistic self-defense techniques.

There are many martial artists who are excellent fighters in the rink but virtually cannot defend themselves adequately on the street. If they are grabbed from behind, have a weapon used on them, are attacked by multiple assailants, or if they are in a non-conventional position while being attacked, like sitting in a car, they are unprepared.

I've travelled across the country and abroad, visiting many dojos, and I'm flabbergasted at how many dojos which have serious practice sessions still do not know, understand, or practice the basic elements of real self-defense. I've trained in Karate with many top Karatekas and instructors. Often, during our workout, they would call me over privately and ask me to show them some practical moves for the street so they can have more material to teach to their students. I emphasize to these "Senseis" that these tech-niques must be diligently practiced, even more so than the calisthenics, KATA (form), Kumite (free fighting), and Tashimiwara (breaking of inanimate objects). It seems they only feel they need this new material whenever there is a sudden demand for it, like a student who was violently assaulted or if a particular assault became a high profile case or if they are performing in an upcoming exhibition to attract new students.

Additionally many students feel intimi-dated in approaching "The Sensei" requesting of him/her to teach practical self-defense. Many instructors hide under the veil of the mystical "Awe" that the American public perceive of them, a perception which many enjoy perpetuating as it helps to support their egos and pocketbooks. Many students feel that if they make this request of their instructor it would be taken as if they were challenging their Sensei's teaching method or worse their personal ability. In traditional dojos this would be considered blasphe-mous. What usually happens is the student either continues practicing their art thinking they can defend themselves or they drop out.

Most new students come to the dojo to learn how to defend them-selves however there is a serious lack of knowledgeable and qualified instructors to teach. The problem is that there is no national, state or local licensing for martial arts instruc-tors in our country.

Additionally there is no nationally recognized federation or organization promoting a definite standard of competency in self-defense which crosses all martial arts. Any one who has been practicing anything including cooking can hang up a dojo shingle with oriental lettering outside and attract unsuspect-ing students.

AMA is correcting this situa-tion by offering competency exams in self-defense for all martial artists and instructors. AMA is also involved with lobbying local, state and federal govern-ment officials to license instructors to protect consumers. AMA proposes every instructor must go through a practical exam similar to the AMA chart if he/she intends on teaching publicly. Many government agencies license hundreds of other professionals in their fields such as plumbers, electricians etc.

Personally and professionally, I have heard of many tragic stories of how many strong and talented Karate and Kung Fu students were attacked, overwhelmed, and seriously injured. Many have related to me how confident they felt initially, and then, suddenly, they either froze or came across some basic attacks which they never practiced. Besides the physical injuries, there is emotional trauma as well. They feel humiliated because, after so many years of training, they couldn't effectively defend themselves or a loved one, and so they feel they disgraced their dojo's and instructor's name.

This shouldn't be surprising. You can only do what you practice, and most dojos do not apply their training for street defense, because either they are not familiar or they are under the miscon-ception that their powerful feet and hands and their throwing skills will overwhelm their attackers. They are not familiar with the strategic understanding of multiple attacks and the body mechanics needed in street combat.

The purpose of AMA is to standardize Martial Arts ranking to promote a higher standard, where every rank a student achieves is based on practicality, regardless of which martial art or style one studies or the individual requirements his/her dojo or instructor requested for promotion. For each rank to be acknowledged in AMA, the student only needs to show proficiency in actual self-defense for his level. The amount of time spent in training is irrelevant. The student could be training for one year or ten; still, his knowledge and performance of actual self-defense is the essence of ranking in AMA. Additionally as indicated earlier AMA is setting the standard of evaluating instructors and giving them competency exams.

There are five instructional levels in our organization. Each AMA instructor must first earn their Black Belt before being evaluated for level #1. Level 1 acknowledges the novice instructor which continues to Level 5 which acknowledges the AMA Master teacher which requires a minimum of 15 years of teaching experi-ence.

Some of the requirements the instructor must demonstrate at various levels is the ability to distinguish between various "switching up techniques" on the student's part, communication of ideas and techniques to their students, teaching in an orderly way, and using a methodological approach to teaching important martial ideas of perception, agility, strategy etc.

AMA will set a national standard by performing defenses for over 1,000 actual attacks with which an individual or a third party can be confronted. AMA has selected at least three practical tech-niques for each possible attack, to help the student choose which technique is best for him/herself, depending on the art and style in which he/she is currently practicing. However AMA does not require the use of it's self-defense techniques alone. Any martial artist can use this chart of attacks and can apply their own techniques, learned from their dojos. AMA will measure the prac-ticality and performance of such techniques, and, if they are prac

There are no surprises, secrets, or tricks for these tests. Each test is made available beforehand. The testing will be before a grading board made up of high ranking black belts from various martial arts. Students can be tested at an AMA dojo, or AMA will send it's own officials, who will test and grade instructors and students. In addition, where the student cannot be tested personally under the rank of black belt, the student can videotape the AMA exam under the auspices of his/her own instructor and send it to the AMA grading board. Beside the actual defense needed, the student will have to display the rudimentary elements of blocking, punching, kicking, throwing, sweeping, joint locking, and the body movement techniques needed to perform many of these defenses.

Many people spend their time trying to prove that their style or system is the superior art. The simple truth is that there is only "Fighting", pure combat, which entails warding off attacks and then countering, rendering the assailant helpless, and preventing future attacks. Within the scope of combat, one has to be versatile in all the dynamics and skills of fighting. Regardless of what art and whom you train with, there are universal skills which must be learned. These skills are broken down to the following:

1. Blocking Skills:
       a. By focusing power and pinpointing;
       b. By redirecting energy.

2. Striking skills with hands.
3. Striking skills with feet.

4. Stances and body movements.
5. Takedowns: Throws, sweeps, and off-balancing.

6. Joint locking techniques/separations.
7. Chokes.

8. Body conditioning to perform the physical techniques and to absorb       trauma against the body.

9. Mind conditioning to develop con-centration and internal energies.

10. Tactics and Strategy

There are many methods to achieve each one of these skills. The terminology used to identify various martial arts and styles are just semantics, practically meaningless, in terms of practical fighting. All the names of the various arts and styles simply refer to emphasizing special training and practice to the above individual skills. The reality is that, in actual combat, one must know the basic universal skills of combat, which include all the above skills. Just to practice a few skills is not effective or practical. The other stylistic differences are focused on cultural differences, procedures, courtesies, dress codes, aes-thetics, and philosophy. Otherwise, most martial arts overlap in many ways. Another reason for many styles and arts being named is to pay homage to a leader who is politically oriented. One could em-phasize a particular skill and seek to apply it as much as pos-sible to many combat situations, but not at the expense of not practicing the other needed skills.

The AMA chart of attacks which follows this Introduction was compiled from actual observations I made as a New York City Police officer. This included criminal complaint reports I have taken, interviews of numerous victims, interrogations of numerous criminals, and from hundreds of victims, many of who are martial arts students training under myself and with other colleagues. In addition, information also is derived from my per-sonal physical encounters on the street as a New York City Police (patrol/underco-ver) officer subdu-ing and appre-hending perpetrators, and in defending myself and others.

In terms of physical attacks, AMA has categorized 17 basic ways an individual can be attacked from a frontal assault by an unarmed or armed assailant. Defenses are organized by quadrants. From the front, an individual can be attacked in circular strik-es, back hand strikes, linear strikes, upward and overhead strik-es, and diagonal strikes (upward and downward) to three areas of the body: the head, mid-section, and low.

Important Note: This published AMA chart should only be used and worked on if the student is under the auspices of a competent martial arts instructor. Without the proper martial arts back-ground, the defenses against these techniques cannot be applied properly. One must have the background and universal skills of fighting to perform these techniques.

More About the AMA Itself
The AMA will produce videotapes on training methods for each of the universal fighting skills, as well as a special series on confron-tations in a car and a special tape for sexual assaults. AMA will also main-tain a data bank of AMA members and instructors which will be updated and revised as needed. AMA membership will entitle mem-bers to visit any of the AMA dojo affiliates and attend one class for free. Membership also means a member can approach any AMA instructor about a speci-fic self-defense problem the student is facing, at the instruc-tor's convenience.
      Conclusion

AMA Membership Means:

1. Access to practical self-defense techniques by consulta-tion with AMA instructors.

2. Free trial lesson at any AMA dojo affiliate.

3. Testing for rank against the AMA chart.

4. Application for AMA instructor certification - Level 1-5.

5. AMA-produced videotapes at special member's discounts.

6. AMA seminars at special member's discounts and certifica-tion for seminars completed.

7. Access to updated AMA data bank.

8. Recognized ranking in the form of a formal listing of all AMA-certified instructors and members, including their ranks.

9. Weapons Proficiency Grading in the use of all staffs (Bo,   Jo, Tanjo, Honbo, Makael (2 at a time) Uwara, Nunchuku,   Tonfa, and the use of bladed weapons (Tanto, shuriken,   sword, etc.)

10. JR. AMA RANKING CHART

AMA Testing Guidelines

1. AMA Grading Point System:
A. Knowledge of basic skills as applicable to defenses.
B. Adequate defenses - are they Realistic?
C. Performance - using realistic defenses - is the proper   energy level and tactics being utilized sufficiently with   the technique performed?   Would the technique work if   performed well.

The AMA Instructor-/Examiner has the right to request the student testing to perform individual parts of any technique for the purpose of testing student's knowledge of skills needed such as blocks, strikes, throws, joint-locking etc.

D. There are no do-overs. Once an attack is initiated the   student must continue in any way possible or valuable   points will be forfeited.

E. If mortally wounded during testing, (simulated) then   student must fail and take exam another time. This means   if the examinee is stabbed with a rubber knife in a vital   area or clubbed continu-ously about the body or is shot   (using water pistol) then the exam will stop immediately   just as in the street.

2. A. No one under 16 will hold Dan (Black Belt) ranking.
B. Jr. AMA ranking will be less comprehensive

3. A. Ethics: AMA reserves right to suspend or expel     member if student or instructor is not in compli- ance with ethical code of behavior.

4. A. Paying the AMA testing fee does not guarantee that the   student will pass. AMA does not grant automatic grading.
5. A. The AMA instructor will not test the student unless   he/she is ready to take their specific exam measuring   their competency for their level. If a student insists   on taking the Nidan exam (second degree black belt) and   realisti-cally their skills and application can only be   performed at the green belt level then the latter test   will only be given.

6. There is a saying in many dojos. "If you miss one class,   you can feel it. If you miss two classes, your fellow   students can see it. If you miss three classes everyone   will notice it."
Basically you are as good as your last class. With this   under-standing AMA insists that everyone graded in its    organization goes through periodic re-testing, updating   their rank if they haven't tested for more than three    years. This will preserve the integrity of their grade. This is analogous to emergency medical technicians who must be periodi-cally tested in CPR and other life saving procedures. Just because you did it once does not mean you can still do it. The updating exam is not the full test that was taken on the student's last grading exam, but a brief test.

The main purpose for testing any student besides having a universal standard of competency is to put intense pressure on the examinee. The instructor usually knows whether the student has the capability to pass the exam being tested for in terms of knowledge and skills. However the element of fear and panic is usually the cause of test failure. On the street there will be immense pressure, enough to cause some of the best martial arts student to panic and freeze up.

Therefore for each test, the AMA Instructor/Examiner is encouraged to invite all the examinee's family, friends, fellow students and others down to observe the exam. If the student feels this creates too much pressure then they are not ready to take their exam.