'Self Defense vs Self Worth'...A Protect Team Member's Perspective

I've been coming along to Phil Thompson’s peace and harmony sessions (AKA "Protect Group Classes" - Phil) for about 3 years now and I’m finding its changing me in interesting ways. Let me explain….. It’s a bit of a journey but bear with me. The perspective might surprise you.

Recently my wife, my 18 month old boy and I were in our people-mover heading
down the southern motorway. I usually travel in the middle lane, today there
was someone in the middle lane doing about 70 kmph, I moved into the far right
lane (aka the fast lane, never made sense to me the limit is still 100 right?).
I moved into the right hand lane and could see a ute coming up behind me very
fast, a big shiny black V8 ute in a big hurry.

I must have been out in the fast lane for 10 seconds doing about 100 kmph, and the ute
was on me, I think maybe 2 meters off my rear bumper. It’s a strange reality,
it’s a bit like it’s all hardly moving, because you're all moving at the same
speed. But imagine if something goes wrong, imagine the tearing, ripping sound
as we all slow down to zero in an instant. So there I am, the guy in the ute
pulls into the middle lane and then passes me. When he’s gone past he pulls
hard right, so hard my wife actually yelped (not a term I'd normally
use!!). As he pulled back into the right hand lane he cut me off so hard that
his rear bumper was perhaps 50cm from my front bumper.

So, what now? This was really threatening; in fact it was life threatening for
my entire family. So what now?

Roll forward about 2 weeks, I'm sitting in a friends lounge recounting all
this. I make the point, “ what am I supposed to do, have some kind of suicidal
western style duel at 100kmph on the southern motorway”. Now my friend has heard
me spout the “hoiler than thou” doctrine for years” and he calls me out in the
best fashion.

“But you can’t keep doing that right? You can’t keep just letting people walk
over you with no comeback, you’ve got to stand up for yourself right?”. “So that
guy has forgotten about you as just another twat to shunt out of the way, but
it’s weeks later and your still thinking about it” so somehow he won, I mean,
your still dealing with it, he’s not”.

Well, those comments really made me think about this. But then I realized
something really important, it’s me talking about this to my friends, my
family, my close friends at Protect that is the positive outlet. When my friend
Jim asked, “So aren’t you just bottling this up”. My answer is “yes, kind of".
It all becomes part of the case study….. Part of the testimony that protects me,
my friends, my training partners.

Because I can tell them there is a way to express this without risking life and limb, there is a way to make this a positive outcome. It’s a way that certainly makes my world a lot safer, teaches my little boy how to behave (i.e not like a baboon). It's very cathartic, sure I will chew on these experiences, mull them over, but they are infact a positive, an opportunity to learn about myself. And finally I’m really at a point where I trust myself to make good decisions, that’s a
great outcome!

Workplace 'Bully' loses his advantage! (repost)

This is a re-post of an earlier blog as this issue has just come to light again...

At Protect we don't use the term 'bullying' for any situations involving anyone older than around 10 years. After that age we call it what it really is: 'Peer Aggression'.

By giving the issue the mantle that it deserves people tend to take the issue more seriously, and it is a serious issue. It causes loss of confidence, self esteem, and self belief, it has caused suicides, murders, assaults, and substance abuse, broken up families and ruined countless people's lives.

It is not an issue that should be tolerated, either at school, the workplace or in any other facet of life.

Yesterday I received an email from a man who attended one of our recent 'Best Defence (phase 1)' courses, I'll call him Joe, which is not his real name. He explained how he had been the target of a 'workplace bully' for the past year. He had bought the issue up to management only to have it 'played down' and to a large degree, dismissed. It has caused him huge stress and affected his home life and his health. He told me that he has been looking for another job unsuccessfully, and that the sole reason for him wanting to leave his employer of six years (at a job that he otherwise loves) was because of this person.

At 'Best Defence' (as with all of our core courses) we address the behvioural and psychological aspects of self defence as well as the physical. Because of the way we train attendees there is an immediate shift in belief systems, resulting in greater confidence and a feeling of personal empowerment. This is the basis of effective self defence.Jow explained that the course had such a deep impact on him that he walked into his office on Monday morning a different person, different to the person who left on Friday night. He took immedite action on the issue of his tormentor. He had a meeting with his boss where he confidently explained what was happening and what the options were for them. His boss has now taken the matter seriously and is standing behind Joe with the support and action required.He then met with the man who has been causing the issues. Joe told me that he would NEVER have been able to have the conversation, with the degree of confidence and certainty, prior to the course. He addressed the issue in a non-challenging, non-threatening way, but with a confidence and focus that left his prior aggressor under no illusions of his options. He also did it in such a way as to let the man save face and have a 'way out' (which we teach), and the man took it. He has gained an apology and the past week has been a different experience for him when he arrives at work. In his words: " The weight is off my shoulders and I am actually enjoying going to work again."

How did this take place? Because self defence (real Self Defence) training empowers you with a confidence and belief system which all on it's own makes you a 'hard target' for aggressor's, it grows you as a person from your core.

Emerson once said: "Who you are screams so loudly in my ears that I can not hear what you are saying"

Joe told me that he originally attended our course (thinking like most people that self defence is all about martial arts and/or solely physical moves, which it is not) to learn to physically protect himself becasue he expected the situation to get so bad that he would be assaulted physically. He said that what he gained was infinitely more, it made him a strong person, with the confidence to stand up for himself and the skills to do it in a way which made the situation better and not worse.

I acknowledge Joe for realising the need to imporove his situation, for attending the course, for taking the action, and for sharing his story with me.This is what self defence at Protect is all about.

Dealing with fear...

Latest article from Darcy...Enjoy!

'See Beyond The Details'

Latest Column by Darcy. Enjoy!

Helping People Help Themselves...

'Safe For Life' Wellington

Protect Instructor Darcy Mellsop with the team at the Wellington 'Safe For Life' course - May 2011

Way off the mark; Women's Self Defence Training

Every single member of our team believes that every woman has the right to live free from un-necessary fear and worry, and that they have the right to be empowered with the confidence and skills to know that they can stay safe from predatory violence. We have helped thousands of women achieve that through our courses, classes and seminars. But still we are only scratching the surface as so many more women live with an attitude of apathy about learning to protect themselves and their loved ones. When we work with survivors of past assaults, so very often we hear the comment “I wish I had known this before...” as they realise that the skills that we are giving them to recognise, avoid, de-escalate, or physically protect themselves against male aggression could (in many cases) have helped provide a very different outcome for them.

So then why is there such a resistance to attending a self defence course? Money is not the concern, we have a community support programme to enable people who can’t afford the course fee to be able to attend. We have done courses and talks for free and had only 1 in 3 women who could have come actually attend, even though we are the nation’s leading experts (I don’t like that word) on this subject. The people who do attend give us overwhelming positive feedback, so what stops the rest from attending?

The biggest reason is a complete misunderstanding of what women’s self defence entails. As we wrote about in ‘Every Woman’s Guide to Being Safe...For Life’, most people think of ‘self defence’ as martial arts, or physical fighting, or they remember the ‘self defence’ course they did at high school where they learned how to release from wrist grabs and kick at his groin. In truth, these things have very little, and in some cases nothing, to do with real self protection (especially for women). One of our jobs as the industry leader is to change the public’s perception of what self defence is actually about, or at least what is SHOULD be about, and we are working very hard to do that. The more people who understand what self defence really is, the more people will take action to attend a course and gain extremely valuable knowledge which positively affects all other areas of their lives.

So it was frustrating to me last week when one of our group class senior team members (and friend) called me to say that the news-talk station was discussing ‘Women’s Self Defence’ and asking callers to call in with their opinions. I tuned in and listened for 30 minutes and was genuinely saddened by what I heard. The level of ignorance about the subject was truly astounding. Interestingly the great majority of callers were men. And the entire perception of the subject revolved around physical ‘moves’. In other words everyone thinks self defence is all about how to physically fight off an attacker. One gentleman even called in to share how he used to practise ‘milling’ when he was in the army and thought that was a good idea for women! (‘Milling’ is where your partner puts on gloves or pads and throws repetitive punches at you from multiple angles at close range and you have to cover and/or block and evade. There are some limited benefits from a self defence perspective but they are limited at best and for women even more so.)
The show’s host was the only one to even mention that he thought that confidence was a big part of it, but even then I deduced that he believed that women could attend a course where they learned to physically fight, but it was the confidence that it gave them that would be their biggest asset. And, to a degree that is true, but it is a myopic viewpoint is still like looking through a pin hole trying to see the whole. There is just so much more than that.

The four stages to self defence that we teach are:

1 – Recognition to enable avoidance: This includes developing strong self beliefs and conviction, separating awareness from paranoia, recognising the psychological and behavioural manipulation strategies that males use against females to lure them into dangerous situations, heightened situational awareness, understanding fear, understanding intuition, recognising behavioural cues (what our organisation calls ‘Pre-Contact Indicators’), Predator Types and their methods, Predator motivations, survivor mentality, and a lot more...

2 – De-escalation: We teach conflict resolution skills which work under stress and pressure. These include psychological manipulation and behavioural tactics to enable a situation to be defused (literally ‘talk your way out of it’) if possible, or to set the person up psychologically to enable the effectiveness of your physical response to be maximised if it is necessary. And again, a lot more...

3 – Physical Response: This is when we are left with no other choice but to physically defend ourselves using what we call ‘Protective Offence’. Whatever physical response is given needs to work against a much larger and stronger aggressor, in any environment (sitting, standing, in bed, in car, dark etc), in any situation, while under the effects of extreme stress, fear, and pressure. Fancy moves such as wrist locks, ‘milling’, Jiu Jitsu locks or flash kicks and punches have nothing to do with this. It is just an illusion (albeit an all-too-common one) to believe otherwise. But this is what is passed off as ‘self defence’, basically 95% of what is generally taught is the physical aspect only, and even then 95% of the physical aspect that is taught is usually unrealistic and not functional anyway.

4 – Post event Issues: This stage includes such things as what to do after an event, how to get help, how to deal with Police, court, counselling, PTSD, possible retaliation, emotional effects on spouse and other family/friends, and a whole range of other things.

All of these four pillars have benefits which positively affect most other areas of a person’s life as well, outside of protecting against violence, but that is a completely different series of articles.

This is what true self defence entails. And although it may seem like a lot, it does not take long to learn and more importantly learn in a way that will be retained and recalled when it is required. Contrary to popular belief (and mentioned on this radio show half a dozen times) people do NOT need to train for years to learn to protect themselves. One-day courses do provide a massive benefit provided they teach the right stuff. We have had multiple people who have been training in martial arts or fighting systems for years (even Master Instructors, people who have been training over 30 years, Police instructors, and many more) tell us that they learned more about real self defence in our one day course than in all of their years of martial arts training. And that is not surprising, because most martial arts and fighting systems are NOT self defence systems despite their claims, and never will be. This is not to say they are not good for other things, because they are. Martial arts provide amazing benefits for many different aspects of life, and there are often things that they will teach you that you can use to defend yourself, but they are not self defence systems. (Disclosure: I trained in martial arts for over 20 years and held black belt levels or higher in several different systems)

Unfortunatley until the perception around what self defence is really about changes, more people will refuse to attend a course because they “Don’t want to be scared”, “Did a course at High School”, “Don’t think I could fight off a man anyway even if I learn that stuff”, “Live in a safe neighbourhood”, “Have a big dog”, “Am too unfit”, etc... And other common objections, all of which are completely irrelevant, misinformed, or just plain wrong. But I can see where these come from given what the public are generally sold as ‘self defence’. Most of what is taught is done in such a way as to make reality fit around the technique, as opposed to the other way around. People are not stupid, they instinctively know deep down that that stuff would never really work so why bother going at all. Who can blame anybody for that? It is worrying to me and my team that this is the case, but at least we know the problem and can keep working at changing it, even though we are one organisation swimming against a very large tide. I know that we can do it though, we are doing a little more every day, even if it is just one person at a time.

Ps. The reason I did not call into the show was because they give a maximum time slot of 2 minutes and there is no way I could put things in context in that time so it may do more harm than good. Give me an hour though and look out...:-)

Awesome...

Hi all!

I hope you all had a great break over Easter.

I had a call last night from one of our group class students (who is also a friend) with an interesting story to share. He and some friends and family were out fishing on their boat on Saturday, over 5km from shore in decent swell, when it capsized. In short, they were in very cold water for over 5 hours before being discovered and rescued. It was a very, very serious situation. I am just so glad that he and his family got through it, as it was very close to having a more dire outcome.

What was awesome though is that he thanked us for giving him tools to get through it. He is a very emotionally strong person so in my opinion although he may have used some of what we teach to assist him I have no doubt that it was in large part his character and emotional fortitude that played a big part too.
He specifically named four different tools that assisted him, and I thought it was important to share these here because it highlights again that what we teach goes far beyond simply defending ourselves against violence.

We have a training concept known as ‘Protect’s Stress Inoculation Training’ which helps people deal with highly stressful situations and remain calm(er) and maintain the ability, at least as much as possible, to respond rather than to react under pressure and stress. Although when we train it it is specifically against intra-personal human aggression, development in one area helps to bridge the gap a lot quicker in any other area of high stress/ high pressure situations as well. We have countless examples of where our students, course attendees, or ourselves have used this concept in situations such as motor vehicle accidents, personal accidents, natural disasters, as well as dealing with aggression and/or violence. In this situation, a serious boating accident, it was again used to help him remain as calm as possible, make rational decisions, and control the actions of the group which ultimately led them to being found.

Additionally, there were also four distinct tools that he used to help get through the situation:

Autogenic breathing – We teach this highly effective method of breathing to help to lower the heart rate in situations of high stress or pressure. It has multiple benefits from reducing panic, to enabling a clearer decision making process, to reducing the degree of emotional trauma suffered after the event, as well as many others. In this case he used it immediately upon surfacing while he worked to keep the others as calm as possible, and also after several hours in cold water he was shivering uncontrollably and his breathing was labored so he again used it to help gain control over his breathing and autonomic functions.

Positive self talk – The importance of positive self talk can not be over-stated. It helps control the overall state of the mind, and since the ancestor of every action is a thought (and taking the right action in these situations can be the difference between life and death) it is important to ensure that those thoughts are controlled and condusive to a positive outcome. He made the conscious decision that he was getting through this no matter what, and so were the others. And in this case, he not only used positive self talk for himself (constantly, for 5 hours!) but also for his group. He kept them focused on the future, what they were going to tell everyone at home about this, what they were going to eat for dinner, what they were going to do later in the week etc. The discussion helped him and the others stay focused on a positive outcome, and reduce panic (panic is a killer, especially in the water).

Choice speech – We train constantly on de-escalation and defusion to enable us to talk our way out of situations or psychologically and behaviourally manipulate a situation to stop it (if possible) escalating into physical violence. And these skills are transcendable into all other areas of life too. In this case, he used our basic principles to ensure that his speech patterns helped to keep the situation as calm as possible, define a leadership role, and stop any unhelpful discussion early.

Fitness – Although fitness is not necessary to be able to protect yourself, it can certainly help. And because we train for the ‘total defence of the self’, our group classes include a fitness component to them. This undoubtedly helped him physically manage in the water for so long, even though his legs were cramping and he was shivering uncontrollably.

He told me that if this had happened a couple of years ago, before he started training, he knows it would have had a very different and far worse outcome.

In my opinion he did a brilliant job, and may have saved the lives of others in his group by his actions.

Additionally, he has known what to expect from an emotional perspective after the event because we constantly train and discuss ways to manage the effects of high stress situations. He has been prepared for it, and taken the steps to help to reduce the effects.

We receive emails and calls all of the time from people who have used our training to help keep themselves safe. When it relates to an act of aggression or violence against them, the vast majority of the time the person shares how they managed to recognise, avoid, or de-escalate the situation allowing them to avoid physically defending themselves. As this is what we train for it is always brilliant to hear. Sometimes the situations could not be avoided and they have had to physically respond in order to ensure their safety, which is unfortunate but at least they have the tools required to get out of it. Just as frequently though we get the emails or calls like the one I have been talking about here today; the ones that say that the tools they have learned have helped them survive an accident, or manage a highly stressful work situation, or helped them become a more patient person in general, or helped with the communication in their relationship etc. These emails/calls are often the highlight of my day. Self defence is about empowerment, when I hear about examples like this I know that what we are doing is making a big difference.

Ps. Thank you for the amazing support and feedback for our new book 'Every Woman's Guide to Being Safe...For Life', it has been awesome. It is available at Amazon.com or by clicking here

Coming soon! 'Every Woman's Guide to Being Safe...For Life'

Our new book is available soon!

We have two dozen advance copies available for readers of this blog. Click here: http://www.protectselfdefenceshop.com/Specialised-Products-Shop(2388220).htm

Latest article from Darcy: 'Fearless Dating'

How do we reduce violent crime?

I was asked at a seminar I gave this week a question I am asked a lot; In my opinion what could/should be done to reduce violent crime in our country. As my opinion is just that, my opinion, I thought I would share it here too.

The usual answers given to this question involve tougher penalties, more Police, more prisons etc, and although I agree that these things are all part of it, I truly believe that our only real chance of solving the violent crime problem is when enough people want to and commit to. More prisons, Police, courts, tougher penalties etc are fine but they are only part of the puzzle, the only true way that violent crime will reduce is if we all stop accepting and tolerating it in our society, our neighbourhoods, our friends, and in our own family. Violent crime is a moral problem which needs to be solved at a moral level and only this type of ‘get to the heart of it’ solution will work, in my opinion. I work every day in the field of violence prevention, I have seen firsthand real violence and the impact it has on those who it is delivered upon, and the resulting ripple effect on all those around them. It is toxic, corrosive, and destructive. I have worked with hundreds of survivors of violence in all of its different forms. I can not recall a single act of serious violence (not drunken brawls etc) that was committed by an offender that came from what would commonly be consider a positive background and supportive, caring family environment. The greatest majority of violent offenders are responsible for their actions, know right from wrong, made their own choices, and deserve to face the legal consequences of their actions. Occasionally one is born who is a true psychopath, but they are the vast, almost infinitesimal, minority. But in my opinion, far more violent criminals are ‘made’ than are ever born. This means that somewhere along the line, something went wrong. Someone who had an impact on them, who provided a profoundly negative influence could have instead provided a profoundly positive one, and that could have made all of the difference.

So in addition to more prisons, Police, tougher penalties etc, what we really need to make a difference is more love, understanding, empathy, and compassion. This is not me being idealistic or simplistic, it is at the true heart of the issue.

Many people will hear this message and dismiss it is being idealistic or think that the problem is too big for one person to make any difference. Some will embrace it and live it. When the ‘some’ become the majority, the ripple effect will be profound, and we will then have the answer to the question...

With friends like those...

There is currently an ad campaign in New Zealand for the Alcohol Advisory Council called ‘ease up on the drink’. Here is one of the ads:



The reason I really liked this is because, looked at from a self defence (defence against others, rather than ourselves in this case) perspective it highlights an important consideration in the avoidance stage of self protection; that is knowing how your friends/spouse conduct themselves when out, particularly when alcohol is involved.

I have a friend who is a really good guy, and would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. But when we used to go out, as soon as he had a bit of alcohol in him, he would change. In keeping the theme of the ALACNZ ad, he would become:

“Stare everyone down, friend”
“Shoulder barge random people looking for a fight, friend”
“Mr no-shirt, invincible, friend”
“Hit on everyone’s girlfriend, friend”
“Break bottles, and anything else he could, friend”
“Get himself, and everyone else with him in trouble and ruin their night, friend”

I liked the ad because it encourages open communication, which is what I had to do with my mate. I told him it was not on and unless he changed the way he behaved, I no longer wanted to go out with him. I told him that I am not willing to be put into a fight and risk my safety, my life, my family’s happiness, or my freedom because he became a clown when he drinks too much. As it turned out, nothing changed so I don’t go out with him anymore , I refuse to be put in that situation. That is the first stage of self defence - avoidance through awareness and intuition - in action.
Understanding third party interference/influence is a part of the avoidance stage of self protection. My advice is that if you have mates who behave like this, have a hard word with them. If they refuse to change, stop going out with them in those environments. It may seem harsh, but a good mate will not knowingly put you in danger.

Food for thought anyway...

'Gang member's...Just hit 'em!' (yeah right)

Today I heard a very disturbing piece of ‘advice’ given by a so-called ‘self defence instructor’ to his students. Frequently I hear things that make me cringe because they are just so wrong or even irresponsible (sometimes just downright funny if it were not for the fact the attendees tend to believe what they are told). I thought I had to share this one...He was discussing what to do if you are confronted by a gang member. His (‘black & white’, ‘absolute only way’) advice was along the lines of:

"Gang members are cowards. They are a joke. That is why they are in gangs. If you are confronted by a gang member or a group of gang members, don’t bother about trying to run or talk your way out of it, even if you think you easily can. The best thing to do is walk up and drop the biggest guy. The rest of them will be shocked and leave you alone. Let the rest of them know that you are not to be messed with, walk right through the middle of them, shoulders up and tall, show them you mean business. Then leave slowly so they can see you are not afraid."

Ok, for those of you reading this who know anything about real violence, you are probably thinking that no-one could be so stupid as to teach this, but someone is, and someone did.

The reasons that this (mis)information is so ridiculous, dangerous, and ignorant may be obvious to many, but equally many others (such as his students who seemed to be hanging on his every word *Sigh*) will not know so I will explain a few of the reasons here. I am not even going to touch on the fundamental principles of real Self Protection that we teach, which include recognition and avoidance strategies, de-escalation strategies, and post-event issues – ALL of which would cover reasons why this advice is terrible, I will focus solely on the specific dynamics of gang violence today.

Disclaimer: Everyone who has trained with me or other Protect instructors will know that we do not believe in a ‘cookie-cutter’ approach to dealing with violence. There are just too many variables to have a ‘if someone does this, you should do that’ approach which is why we teach principles, concepts, and techniques but also the context to each one as well. So because of that, is it possible that this instructor’s recommended approach could actually work? The answer is yes. I have seen and heard of some outrageous ways that people have avoided or survived violence so anything is possible, and the art of the bluff is certainly a useful tool...at times. But the reason I am taking exception to this is because it was taught as the ‘only’ way that these situations should be dealt with, ‘end of story’. That is ignorant and dangerous.

Firstly, it is immediately obvious that this person has never been involved with gang violence, or any other type of serious violence in my opinion, even though he claims otherwise. Nobody who has been involved with real violence, and is in a sane state of mind (and not sociopathic) would advise this unless they were deliberately lying with the intention of selling you something or ‘bigging themself up’.

So, firstly, what are gangs? Simply put they are groups of people sharing an identity, who claim a territory, interact predominantly among themselves, often wear distinctive clothing including colours, insignias, and ‘patches’, generally engage in criminal and anti-social activity regularly, create an environment of fear and intimidation, and often communicate with each other in unique ways. They will often display their affiliation with tattoos, scars, cigarette burns, sometimes adding a new tattoo or scar to display another victim that they have murdered. Gangs are present in almost every race, ethnicity, and economic and social circle. Both male and female gang members carry out acts of violence, drug deals, crimes, carry weapons, intimidate and lead by fear within their organisation. Gangs participate in drug manufacturing and dealing, murder, rape, prostitution, fraud, car theft, stand-overs, kidnapping, extortion, human trafficking, burglary, assaults, weapons dealing, money laundering, vandalism (including tagging), among other things. Gangs operate as a ‘family’ (and I use that term very loosely), if you mess with one of them, you have messed with all of them, and that is not a place you ever want to find yourself.


These people are not a ‘joke’. Prospects (prospective gang members, new recruits) often have to pass initiation tests to be able to join. These sometimes include murder, assaults, rape, various crimes, taking the rap for something that another member did, or taking a severe beating to prove their ‘toughness’. Gang member reputations are made through crimes, particularly violent crimes.

Regardless of how we may feel about them, the danger they pose is real. Gang members operate on what we call the ‘three R’s’: Reputation, Respect, Revenge. Make no mistake, coming up against a gang member is going to have consequences (as most real violence does), probably very serious ones. I am not writing this to help support the environment of fear and intimidation that the gangs already impose, but if you remember the instructor’s advice above; “...don’t bother about trying to run or talk your way out of it, even if you think you easily can. The best thing to do is walk up and drop the biggest guy.” You will start to see why I am writing this. Because as with almost all potentially violent situations, avoidance and/or de-escalation are far and away the best option if they are available. If they are not available then of course we have to do what we have to do to survive and get home, but that is a LAST resort, not a first.

A gang member’s reputation is everything to them. They will protect it at all costs. A loss of reputation could mean becoming a target of rival gangs, or their own gang, and a loss of status among the gang. They treat it seriously, it is worth more to them than your wellbeing, or even maybe your life. If the gang member feels his/her reputation has been damaged, there will be retribution. There has to be. If he doesn’t he may well be beaten, disgraced, expelled, or even murdered by his own gang. Do you want to be the person in between that? Revenge is a huge deal for them. Finding yourself the target of that revenge is about as far away from comfort as you will find yourself. Because reputation is so huge, no assault or insult can be let go. It is a hell of an incentive to avoid at all costs if you can, not walk up and ‘teach them a lesson’!

Quite simply, anyone who willingly engages a gang member(s) when there were other options is misinformed or to be blunt, stupid.

This is why I always encourage our students to learn from anyone and everyone they can, to take that information, question it, pull out the good bits and chuck away the bad. I personally encourage every student or course attendee to challenge me on anything I have said or taught, if I can’t back it up I shouldn’t be teaching it. It is potentially people’s lives at stake, not some game or ego-contest.

So my advice today is to question anything you are told about ‘self defence’ to make sure it is the right information for you. Don’t just simply and blindly trust someone’s advice because they are the teacher or ‘master’. Challenge and question, do it respectfully of course, but do it diligently.

I'd like to add that my thoughts are with everyone in Christchurch, and everyone affected by the devastating earthquake there. This has affected every Kiwi and all of NZ is standing beside you all to help you through.

Cheers

Phil

Darcy Mellsop Media Article Jan 21 2011

Here is Darcy Mellsop's (Regional Instructor for Protect's Wellington office) latest column. Enjoy.

Latest Media article by Darcy Mellsop

Here is the latest newspaper article by Darcy. Enjoy!

Protect on TV3...

Here's another video from a TV3 programme 'Pacific Beat Street' which airs on multiple channels in New Zealand featuring Protect Self Defence's founders Phil and Athena Thompson. Good times! :-)

Protect on TV again!

Protect Self Defence featured on TV again this week, this time on TVNZ's "Would Like To Work"...

Latest media article from Darcy: "Crime affects us all"

Another Self Defence column from Darcy Mellsop

Darcy has been busy! Here is his latest article. :-)

Self Defence column from Darcy Mellsop

Here is another self defence column written by Darcy. Enjoy!