Q & A: Inside the Heart of a Self Defense Expert
I've done countless interviews all over the world for various magazines, radio shows, newspapers, blogs and the like and some have been great while others were standard, everyday questions but none ever dove into the real heart of the matter; how did and does the journey into the self defense/martial arts world affect us on a personal level?
I was positive I wasn't the only one who felt that way and so I decided to come up with a list of 10+ Questions for the great men and women of our industry who are out there day in and day out dealing the darker side of the martial arts universe, the self defense world.
Little do people know or realise that we don't only work with prestigious groups such as law enforcement, military, security, world class athletes and the like but the vast majority of the time, between those 'tacticool' contracts, we deal with victims of violence on a daily basis.
Even when not dealing directly with the victims, we are constantly researching the world of violence in one form or another; pedophilia, rape, incest, domestic abuse, attempted murders, kidnappings, aggravated assaults, street fights and every kind of urban violence one can think of. Needless to say, speaking for myself anyway, this has had a huge impact on both my life and worldviews, and not necessarily on a positive level as I wrote about in an earlier blogpost.
This 'revealing' interview isn't about styles, systems, methodologies, tactics or even self defense... it is about how the work in the self-defense/personal protection industry affects each and everyone of their lives on a deeper level.
I sent out over 40 requests and received quite a few replies, surprisingly, many more than I expected accepting my offer to take part. In no particular order of appearance here are those who have accepted and who will be interviewed here beginning next week:
John Whitman of Krav Maga Alliance
Lee Morrison of Urban Combatives
Christopher Roberts of Safe International
Jim Wagner Reality Based Personal Protection
Debi Stevens of Action Breaks Silence
Mark Hatmaker of Extreme Self Protection
The interviews will be posted on a first come, first serve basis. There are others who I am awaiting a reply from who said they'd look it over and get back to me and there are still others I have not heard back from at all, only a couple opted out due to scheduling reasons thus far, and so I will update this list as and if it grows.
CAVEAT: If I have missed anyone in our industry and I did not contact you for this interview, please accept my apologies, drop me an email and I will send you the questions for your participation, the only requirements I have is that 1. Teaching self defense is your main source of income and 2. you are actively teaching on an international level. Thank you.
Stay tuned folks.....
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