new self defense system

[bpshark74]

I am a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, but i taken the last 15 years to gather together techniques from different styles to create a self defense system that makes some sense for me. I started teaching it to some co-workers and friends. ( I am a Border Patrol Agent, so it gets dangerous sometimes)
My real question is How you go about creating something "new", well maybe not new, but a little more complete? How you register a self defense system? I dont want to sound like a know it all, or anybody special..don't get me wrong. But how do I present this system and to who, so it could become a self defense system?
I appreaciate your help in this matter.

[Jim]

Why bother registering it anywhere?

If you're concerned about insurance and safety issues it's going to be a problem to get because the company won't know what you're doing.

If you're just thinking of the credibility issue then that's a little different. Any clubs/associations that would welcome you would want money and there is no guarantee that they would be able to add any real credibility to you. Many are 'shonky'.

I can't think of any reason to 'create' a new style, there are so many out there as it is.

[modern hapkido]

There are a lot of people offering self defense systems... some of those folks have created their own style out of their experience, which sounds like what you are trying to do or have done.

The test of any system is does it work and make sense to the folks you want to teach it to. I am not going into what your background is, let's just assume that you know what you are doing and then the question becomes not whether in someone else's judgment the world needs another style, but rather how do you validate and promote yours.

There is a lot of competition, so you must figure out how to stake out an area that is yours.

A couple of thoughts. Write an article, set uo a web page, form your own organization, and expose your thinking to others including explaining what the major principles or components of your system are.

Good luck. Just because there are a lot of other hunters out on opening day doesn't mean you can't bag a multi point buck.

If you want to discuss this more privately, I would be willing to kick it back and forth and not use up bandwidth on this forum.
email: modernhapkido@att.net

[bpshark74]

First I want to thank you for your responses.
I have not thought about opening schools or anything like that. I honestly think that my self defense systems makes a lot of sesnse and is very complete. But of course that is just my opinion. Credibility is not an issue, I proven many many times that my system works, I got thousands of arrests to prove it. I dont want to sound cocky or anything. I am the first one to say that I do not know enough. One of the things I teach is that you never stop learning. All this arrise because my students ask me why I do not try to certify or organize this in some way. It sounded like the obvious next step. The other thing is that I am not interested in money, in fact I dont even charge for my classes, I just do it because I really enjoy it.

If anybody got more ideas of what I should do, please keep responding. I am learning a great deal from you guys.

[H@pkid0ist]

I can't help to much here. But I would think that one of the first important steps would be to name your system, then create an organization or assosiation and get them both trademarked. no one says that you have to make money doing this, but it is a way to take the first step. Also by creating a name for your system and an assos./org., it doenst mean that your system has to stop developing and progressin. It will be up to you to make others aware of this fact. Good luck and god speed!

[Jeannette]

Here's a question for you. Assuming you are telling the truth, you aren't doing it for money or to gain popularity. You say that you don't know it all, no you don't.
(15 years is not that long!) Are you still current in your training? Do you still have good, and great teachers? Anyone, especially a teacher, who thinks he knows it all will find himself dead someday because that overconfidence is a true weakness that will get you killed. There are far too many teachers out there trying to do this. Their students are the ones who truly suffer.

Lets say you have good dedicated students. They soon will catch up with you. If you are not currently training with a GREAT teacher, your students will figure you out and eventually leave you. And those students are the ones that greatly suffer. I highly encourage you not to do this.

Something tells me that you are too overconfident. Fifteen years of training is like understanding BASICS. However, if you teach and let everyone know the truth that it is a BASIC course, this may be ok. You can even look at it like a
buyu (training partners -no formal teacher), this can be honest and your training partners will appreciate an honest, good heart.

[bpshark74]

Firts I want to Thank You Jeanette.
You got a very good point. 15 years maybe is not a long time. I agree with you on that. I also agree with you in that I do not know everything. Thats why I keep training and trying to learn as much as possible.

About the overconfident part, I am sure I am not overconfident. Like you said overconfidence gets you killed. Trust me I know this first hand. On an everyday basis I got to stare danger right in the eye. Is my job. To complicate matters I can not use everything I know in an arrest because I got to bring that person alive and well unless he tries to harm me, and even if he harms me I got to justify the amount of force I used in the encounter. I have arrested some very bad fellows, I've been in situations most cops wont even think about getting themeselves into, but is part of my job. So I think that should answer your overconfidence question. I am confident but not overconfident.

I am sure you are familiar with the teachings of Miyamoto Musashi, he said that in an encounter you got to accept death. By accepting death as imminent you will be a much better warrior. I explain you why, by accepting death your spirit will be unanchored to any earthly desire and you will be able to use all your spirit and body to prevail. This does not mean to do foolish stuff to die, nor to think you are invincible. But in the moment of truth, when you got to give your life for your love ones, it is the only way to survive.
As far as my students catching up to me. Nothing else gives me more pleassure that seen my students succeed and moving on to more knowledge. If I teach them well they wont stop learning but instead their hunger for knowledge would be infinite. Like Master Ueshiba said " We "instructors" are nothing but steping stones for our students".

Again Thank you and keep learning we all need more training.
See you down THe road of learning my friend.
Thank you.

SHARK

P.S. We martial artist are an awesome group of people. Please keep giving your knowledge to others. There is no better satisfaction than giving something to somebody that does not have it. All MArtial artist got a great responsability, because witha great knowledge, comes a greater responsability.

[Joe Hardwick]

Since you are talking about creating a reality based self-defense system then I say go for it. A RBSDS is only the basics that will work in a violent encounter and allow you and yours to survive. If this is what you are working for then 15 years of training and experience is plenty. However, if your goal is to create a martial art and all of its intricacies then I agree with the above that 15 years is not enough. Vic Cushing has created a successful organization and has gone through many of the steps that you will have to, so any info you can get from him would be good. Good luck in your creation and keep us updated.

[bpshark74]

Thank you.
So far thats what I am trying to do. Different Martial Arts got different approaches to self defense. I am trying to bring many of those together to have something more complete. Plus of course many techniques I either created or modified from my everyday experience. I am hoping Vic can give me some pointers. I havent talk to him lately, I imaging he is busy. But I am sure he can help me out with this.
Thank you for your words and I will keep you updated.

[BoneBreaker]

Another first step is organizing it. Creating a cirriculum or a syllabus per say. You will learn alot from trying to create this document, about yourself and what you intend to teach. This is also a good time to determine if belt rankings will be used and what purpose they serve. Create a patch that encompasses your philosophy.

[DanielS]

Dang, this is an old thread!