Some things you see on YouTube...

Comments from Sabumnim:
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Why is it that when you see videos of Hapkido (or many other martial arts) on YouTube, it makes you cringe? I know that Hapkido is a great art, and very useful for self-defense--and yet, often when I see Hapkido videos on YouTube, it makes me embarrassed for my art.

One of the things we are going to do to promote Hapkido as a viable, valuable self-defense art is create some video clips showing what our class considers useful techniques, and put them on YouTube. Not only will that tell the world about our school, but more importantly, hopefully work on changing some of the opinions that people must have about Hapkido after seeing some of the other videos available.

I realize this makes me sound as if I believe our school has a monopoly on Good Hapkido(tm), and that isn't how I feel. But I certainly do feel that there are a lot of martial arts schools out there who don't know what they are doing, yet still feel compelled to demonstrate their "abilities" for all the world to see.

A few days ago I was sent a link to this YouTube video, which is about a single defensive movement in response to a hook punch. As I watched it, I kept thinking "this person learned this move from someone who didn't understand it." The defensive strike's target is good, the basic idea is sound--but it is missing the details that actually make it effective. It is like learning a martial technique from a picture--your body might end up in the proper position, but the underlying structure and movement that make it work isn't there, because the picture didn't include the details that actually make the technique effective.

So, I and one of my students recorded some commentary and action regarding this specific technique. This isn't about self-defense in general, nor is it about applications or followup techniques--this video is only about a specific defense blocking a hook punch. That being said, it seemed important to make a distinction between a defense that will work, and one that won't. Feel free to watch both videos, and think critically about the difference in effectiveness. If you think I'm wrong, feel free to let me know.

Original Video:


Nebraska Hapkido Association Response:


I note also that the followup strike shown in the first video (the hammerfist strike to the nose) sounds really good---up until the point that you realize that you are trying to obliquely strike a small target on a person who is going to turn away just as you hit them. Hammerfist strikes are indeed useful at that point--but striking to the cheekbone or lower jaw (depending on how much their head is turned) is a much more useful strike because your chances of missing are much lower. If they are facing full front into you, by all means hit the nose---but certainly don't do it sideways, striking away from your attacker.

We might put together another video about that strike, too. We'll see.

Go Team NHA!

Three people from the NHA class shot at the Steel Challenge Match at the Eastern Nebraska Gun Club today! Julie shot her second one of the year, and Ardi shot her first Steel Challenge match ever.
Steel matches are a little different from regular pistol matches--in steel matches (for three of the stages) you have an array of five steel targets, and you draw and hit each target once for time. Then you reload and holster, and do it again---four more times. Your slowest time is dropped, and your other times are all added together for your score for that stage. All stage times are added up, and the lowest number (the fastest overall time) wins.

In our case, a steel match also includes one or two other stages where it is still all steel, but there might be movement and such, and you only run it once. Still, the total time is your score. There happened to be five stages this time.

Here are some clips from the various stages for both Julie and Ardi:



Good Job!

More NHA Firearms...

Ardi watched Sabumnim compete in the Weeping Water Gun Club 3-Gun match on 09/06/08 (and the less said about how he did, the better) and afterward, she took some shots with two of the precision rifles that competitors were using.

Ardi has never shot a rifle before, particularly not a rifle like either of these. Her targets? Bowling pins placed 200 yards away.



We teach her some shotgun, and pretty soon she'll be participating in 3-gun matches!

NHA Firearms - Ardi Shooting Her First Match...

On August 9th, Ardi participated in her first shooting competition--the Rock Your Glock match held at the Izaak Walton range near Lincoln, NE. Here are two of the three stages she shot:

As you can see, she did very well, particularly for someone who just started shooting two months ago. 47 people shot in her division.

• On the plates, she was one of only 21 people to clear them completely
  
• On the "5-to-25" stage, she was 12th in least number of penalty seconds for the stage
• On the "M" stage, she was 3rd in least number of penalty seconds for the stage

She didn't shoot quickly, but she shot extremely accurately. (And speed will come with repetition, as we all know.) For a first competition she turned in an outstanding performance, as several range officials mentioned throughout the day.

Good job!

And the results are....

...they passed!

Congratulations to Pete, Ardi, Travis, Matt, and Julie for successfully passing their promotional testing and earning their new rank.
A particular note should be made:

The Nebraska Hapkido Association has been holding classes in Nebraska since 1997, and Julie has earned the first black belt that we have ever certified. This is Sabumnim Howard's first full, recognized black belt--and we hope to have many more students reach this milestone in the coming years.

Congratulations!

NHA Rank Test, July 19th

Five people tested for their next rank on Saturday, July 19th.

• Julie tested for 1st Dan Black Belt
• Matt tested for 2nd Gup Red/1 Stripe
  
• Travis tested for 5th Gup Blue Belt
• Ardena tested for 7th Gup Green Belt
• Pete tested for 8th Gup Yellow/Green Belt

The two high belts started their tests at 9am with advanced basics, and the rest of the students joined/began the test at 9:30. Testing was completed by noon.

Here is some video of a few of the various board breaks...



Students will find out officially if they passed on Thursday, July 24th.

Students Shooting Handguns...

In Hapkido, a part of the curriculum is concerned with defense vs firearms. In my opinion, if you don't know how the things work (on a general level) your ability to handle them (from a self-defense perspective) drops sharply. As such, at least once a year I take my students (those who are interested) out and do a firearms familiarization class with them. They learn about handgun nomenclature, action types, revolvers vs semi-automatics, and we take several apart and see how they work.

We then cover the basics of stance, grip, trigger control, sighting, and breathing, and they work with AirSoft guns for awhile, continually demonstrating the ability to handle handguns safely and responsibly. After that, we head to the range, and they get a chance to do some shooting. All students (thus far) find it interesting, most (actually, all but one since I first started this) really enjoyed it, and several students have gotten hooked and eventually got their own handgun.

Lately, two of my students have come out shooting several times, and are interested in perhaps doing some competition shooting (USPSA-style). One in particular has been out shooting 6-or-so times in the last 3-4 weeks.

Bear in mind that she had never shot a handgun before we started a few weeks ago. Here is a little video of some of the things that she can do now...



Not too shabby for a beginner, hmm?