RA Miller
03-26-2007, 12:38
Well, it's official. I am now a certified instructor in the GRAPLE(r) system for LEO and Military _only_.
Cliff asked for a review when I got back, so here it is. It's 5 days, 6 and 1/2 hours on the mat a day going over 23 techniques and how to teach them and just under a thousand dollars.
I'm really, really split on it, and the split hits exactly where I thought it would, so bear that in mind- it may be my prejudice showing through.
First of all, the instructors are excellent (Rener Gracie for most of the classes) and really know their stuff. They've broken down the techniques that they feel are most valuable and are dead on with where most students have trouble, which aspects of the technique are critical and showed me a lot of new good stuff. (My sankaku in judo always sucked- it is much better now). Watching any of the family move was a pleasure, and I think I picked up almost as much watching the superb body mechanics and use of gravity as from anything said during the classes.
They had great teaching methodologies: the Fight Simulation Drills(tm) are modern grappling kata and a great way to get beginners comfortable with the ground and close contact. Their strategy, tactics and techniques are superbly in synch.
IMO, it is critical to go into this class with both an open mind and a sceptical one. The Gracies know what they do better than anyone, and basic groundfighting skills are critical to an officer, but they are woefully unaware of our environment.
I got a little tired of hearing the mount described as the "worst case scenario"... it doesn't make my top ten. Being face down with blood in your eyes being kicked by an unknown number and feeling someone fumble with your weapon is far closer. One of the students asked if they had ever tried the class with duty equipment and simguns. The answer was "no, but it wouldn't make any difference." They also expected bad guys to react the way that their opponents had acted, "If someone tries something a couple of times and it doesn't work, he'll get discouraged and give up." Not my experience with tweakers.
More good- the emphasis is on body mechanics and submissions with minimal reliance on pain compliance (because it is unreliable) and damage... the explanation for that was because damage is also unreliable (?). I asked specifically because there were several situations in which deadly force or focused blows would have been authorized on our force continuum and it would be faster or just as fast to add a strike to the reach. I kind of expected a liabilty answer, not that kicking someone in the head is unreliable. Not saying it's 100% reliable but in general most stuff works better on people who are concussed.
So a lot of good/bad, sometimes exactly the same thing. Only one of the 23 techniques absolutely didn't work against a resisting threat (Rener tried it on me and gave up and went to a strangle). Two were based on very bad tactics (the same tactic: unnecessarily closing with a threat {potential threat, actually one had no Opportunity, being still out of range, the other was just turtling} instead of going to a force option.)
I keep saying how good these guys are and words don't quite do it. At the end of class Rener rolled with all 22 of us and tapped every one, including four who outweighed him by easily 50 pounds. I've held my own grappling with judo national champions and he tapped me too... not with the technique he said he was going to use and after I got a collar choke on him he said it wasn't allowed (I feel I did okay- bragging. Sorry). But he was _good_.
There's a bad side to that, too: one of the students brought up the tactical error mentioned before and several people in class just turned on him, outraged that he would question the system in any way. Someone of that skill level (also very friendly and an excellent teacher) can quickly inspire some cult-like behavior. In this job we can't afford to let our critical thinking down for a second.
In the end, there's a lot of stuff that I'll incorporate into our agency's training, but (unless someone really, really wanted it) I won't teach the class as is.
Rory
Cliff asked for a review when I got back, so here it is. It's 5 days, 6 and 1/2 hours on the mat a day going over 23 techniques and how to teach them and just under a thousand dollars.
I'm really, really split on it, and the split hits exactly where I thought it would, so bear that in mind- it may be my prejudice showing through.
First of all, the instructors are excellent (Rener Gracie for most of the classes) and really know their stuff. They've broken down the techniques that they feel are most valuable and are dead on with where most students have trouble, which aspects of the technique are critical and showed me a lot of new good stuff. (My sankaku in judo always sucked- it is much better now). Watching any of the family move was a pleasure, and I think I picked up almost as much watching the superb body mechanics and use of gravity as from anything said during the classes.
They had great teaching methodologies: the Fight Simulation Drills(tm) are modern grappling kata and a great way to get beginners comfortable with the ground and close contact. Their strategy, tactics and techniques are superbly in synch.
IMO, it is critical to go into this class with both an open mind and a sceptical one. The Gracies know what they do better than anyone, and basic groundfighting skills are critical to an officer, but they are woefully unaware of our environment.
I got a little tired of hearing the mount described as the "worst case scenario"... it doesn't make my top ten. Being face down with blood in your eyes being kicked by an unknown number and feeling someone fumble with your weapon is far closer. One of the students asked if they had ever tried the class with duty equipment and simguns. The answer was "no, but it wouldn't make any difference." They also expected bad guys to react the way that their opponents had acted, "If someone tries something a couple of times and it doesn't work, he'll get discouraged and give up." Not my experience with tweakers.
More good- the emphasis is on body mechanics and submissions with minimal reliance on pain compliance (because it is unreliable) and damage... the explanation for that was because damage is also unreliable (?). I asked specifically because there were several situations in which deadly force or focused blows would have been authorized on our force continuum and it would be faster or just as fast to add a strike to the reach. I kind of expected a liabilty answer, not that kicking someone in the head is unreliable. Not saying it's 100% reliable but in general most stuff works better on people who are concussed.
So a lot of good/bad, sometimes exactly the same thing. Only one of the 23 techniques absolutely didn't work against a resisting threat (Rener tried it on me and gave up and went to a strangle). Two were based on very bad tactics (the same tactic: unnecessarily closing with a threat {potential threat, actually one had no Opportunity, being still out of range, the other was just turtling} instead of going to a force option.)
I keep saying how good these guys are and words don't quite do it. At the end of class Rener rolled with all 22 of us and tapped every one, including four who outweighed him by easily 50 pounds. I've held my own grappling with judo national champions and he tapped me too... not with the technique he said he was going to use and after I got a collar choke on him he said it wasn't allowed (I feel I did okay- bragging. Sorry). But he was _good_.
There's a bad side to that, too: one of the students brought up the tactical error mentioned before and several people in class just turned on him, outraged that he would question the system in any way. Someone of that skill level (also very friendly and an excellent teacher) can quickly inspire some cult-like behavior. In this job we can't afford to let our critical thinking down for a second.
In the end, there's a lot of stuff that I'll incorporate into our agency's training, but (unless someone really, really wanted it) I won't teach the class as is.
Rory