The piercing scream, like a sound from a horror film, triggered taekwondo instructor Simon An to draw on his years of martial arts training.
Around 4 p.m. Tuesday, shortly after the doors of his family-owned and -operated studio in Texas opened for evening classes, An and his father, his mother, his older sister and his younger brother heard shrieks coming from a neighboring business.
The family of five, each with a fourth-degree black belt, run the Yong-in Taekwondo studio in Katy, outside Houston. They initially ignored the sounds, assuming they came from employees playing around in their break room. But then a piercing “final scream” prompted the family into action, A said.
His family ran to the store and opened a door. There they found a man on top of a young woman with his hands “in [in]appropriate places” as she attempted to fend him off, A said.
An’s father, Hong, yanked the attacker away by his shirt and pinned him to the ground. An’s sister, Hannah, grabbed the girl and rushed her out of the room while An and his brother helped subdue the attacker.
The guy assaulting the women was lucky he wasn’t turned into ground beef by that family, Taekwondo is no joke.
Great to hear they were able to help!
Yeah, especially with five of them. You’re not escaping or fighting back. Any of them could have probably put him down with a single kick.
Yeah, my higher belt tests had us fighting two or three people at a time. It’s only for two minutes at a time, but holy fuck you feel like you ran a marathon afterwards because it’s exponentially harder than fighting just one; You can’t let yourself get pinned down or cornered, and have to constantly stay moving. You only throw the occasional punch or kick when you can find time to fit them in between all the dodging and running. The goal isn’t even to win the fight; It’s simply to avoid losing too badly. I can’t even imagine fighting five at once and coming out anywhere near the top.
Real fights aren’t like a video game where enemies circle around and attack one or two at a time. They all rush you at the same time, and if you get grabbed you’re done.
And to your earlier point, if you grab or focus too much on one of them you’re just as fucked as if they had gotten ahold of you themselves.
I’m sure that would have happened if it was necessary. But what’s amazing about highly skilled martial arts practitioners is that they have incredible self control and extensive training on how to de-escalate a situation with the minimal force. They understand anatomy and reaction speed and pain and even the legal consequences of using their abilities for harm.
It still boggles my mind that it’s not a requisite for western police.
Fucking hell.
No they don’t.
These are things they try to sell you when you walk in the door. I’ve been a martial arts instructor. It was my first job. The only qualifications for martial arts instructor are a: kinda knows the dance moves good. End of list.
Some of these guys may embody what you’re talking about.
The vast majority are dude bros who think punching is fun, and their particular variety of punching is the best. They’re not mystic monks, gracefully handing down wisdom of the ancients. They’re wannabe tough guys who either bought the lie, or know full well and are willing to sell it to you. It’s no different than any sport, and they won’t actually teach you how to defend yourself. They’ll teach you dance moves and maybe a few of the people that learn them will be good at self defense too.
It’s a joke. It’s all a joke.
It’s probably a spectrum. You’re at one end, replying to someone at the other end.
My experience, though limited, are teachers who genuinely wanted to help people with self defense.
Note: am Canadian who’s glass is half full…
Believe me, we were squarely in the middle. There are a few decent schools, good lock finding them through the thousands of shitty ones
I guess I can only speak from my experience. Most of the instructors and blackbelts who taught me were working on advanced academic degrees as well and actually cared about their students learning all aspects of the art. No meatheaded dudebros whatsoever. They would never even consider promoting that type of buffoon.
Sorry to hear your experience wasn’t the same.
So, you were a shit instructor who had barely started teaching at a shit school so that must be how they all are?
Just like everything, you’re going to have a range from great to awful. You sound like you were on the awful side of things. Must suck.
Sincerely, a martial arts instructor.
I’d been at it for about 10 years when they hired me, try again.
Oof, 10 years and you still sucked? Yeah, I’ve seen it pleanty.
You know, I almost forgot about the shitty attitudes and tribalism incumbent in the idiots that make dance fighting a big part of their personality. These guys, you included probably, love to preach about their enlightened state because they are just so devoted to dance fighting, and then do shit like you’re doing here. Do you really think trying to insult some random guy online because he dared to criticize the industry you’re a part of is really becoming of the type of person you advertise yourself to be?
Also. Just so you know, the scenario you fantasize about where you get to save the day with your dance fighting isn’t going to happen. At least not organically.
It’s not required for US police because in the US the police are essentially militarized and have an accompanying attitude. They are not interested in de-escalating the situation they’re only interested in seeing if they can hurt someone. That’s what happens when they draw their guns in every single interaction including traffic stops.
That’s somewhat hyperbolic, though it’s a worthy concern. I live in the US and none of my encounters with police have been like that whatsoever, but then again I’m white and midwestern and not financially underprivileged. I’ve seen cops thoughtfully de-escalate or give genuine selfless help firsthand.
I would still say ACAB, but that’s moreso due to the very abusable powers and excessive undue protections that political states give them. It’s a systemic problem, but not proscriptive of individual encounters.