I like to tell my students that Tactical Hapkido is a conceptually driven, systematic approach to the way of coordinating energy in a tactical training environment.
There is a lot in this statement, sometimes ending with a blank look from a new student, so let me explain in depth my perspective, as I would for my students.
Conceptually or concept, sometimes defined as a "unit of knowledge," built from other units which act as a concept's characteristic. I teach my students that this system is like a pyramid, where the base of the system is in the breakaways. As a white belt, there are only a few techniques. Sure a student can mimic these movements and be promoted to the next level quickly. But do they really understand what these techniques are teaching? The best way that I find this out is to move the student from the static phase, where there is no pushing/pulling, to a more dynamic phase where I try to get the student off balance or to get them to resist. If the technique worked well for them, I would have them explain to me why it worked, if not, I would try to have them understand why and reiterate the concept.
Only after they have this sound understanding of the breakaways then the student can utilize the muscle memory and expand into the joint locking concepts. During the next level of training I try to make sure that the student understands the main concepts being taught, wrists and ankles move side to side, up and down and any combination of these movements. Move the joint to the extreme and it becomes a joint lock or break. Elbows, fingers and knees all bend in one direction move it in the other direction and it becomes a lock. Combine these concepts and one can get a variety of techniques using the concepts found in yellow belt, of course this is the simplified explanation, for I like to say there are many ways to “Tweak” the technique by improving your understanding of the concepts learned previously.
Once my students have a firm grasp of the basic concepts, I like to say the rest of the system is the “how to” phase. Where the student is provided only a few examples on “how to” use the concepts previously learned, but in a variety of new situations where they have to make slight modifications. It is more than just performing the technique listed, but to demonstrate to me how they can modify the concepts found in yellow to their advantage.
Systematic, this term can also be applied to the structure of the training regiment as mentioned in the definition of conceptually driven. So both terms describing this aspect can be interchanged. In the Tactical Hapkido system, one can view systematic in the way the techniques are named. We don’t call the techniques by number, for example, breakaway number one or orange belt technique number three, but in a way that describes the technique’s general movements. This helps the student retain the information and apply the concepts through out the system in a variety of situations. No longer does a student have to remember the name of twenty techniques that are based on one concept, they learn a name of one concept and then apply it to twenty situations. And with the uniformity in the system, a student can now move to another part of the country, find the nearest Tactical Hapkido charter, and pick up training where they left off. Of course, each school may have their own little “Tweaks” in the system, as noted before, but there is a solid base of understanding where the student can easily communicate with their new instructor.
Approach can be defined as the manner in which a problem is solved or is the way to get to the solution. Combined with systematic, it is the methodology on how to solve the situation when defending one’s self. It can be applied through the psychology of the attacker, i.e. understanding how they think or what their reaction will be when performing a distraction, anticipating their motions using an understanding of bio-kinetics, or how to redirect the attacker’s own movement against them. Hence the old saying, the bigger they are the harder they fall.
Coordinating Energy, this term I like to explain to my students can be applied both to coordination the attacker’s mental energy by disrupting their carefully drawn out plan of attack or physically by re-directing their momentum against them. They have a planned attack against you; so it is important to distract, or short circuit their mind in order to disrupt this mental projection of their imagined course of events. In a physics terminology, they push us so we pull them off balance. They pull us we counter by pushing them. The best example is having my students visualize the water principal. Water does not push the boulder in the river, water flows around it and over it. And so shall the student do this both mentally and physically.
Tactical can be defined as the action taken to calculated and achieve the end result of victory, through our knowledge of the concepts and acquiring the skills developed over time from proper practice and training.
Tactical is useless if the student has not been properly trained, so one feeds off the other. For example, I use the story we all read about in the martial arts magazines. A master in the martial arts practices a technique to disarm a weapon from someone. The regiment is the same, disarm, give it back to your practice partner, disarm and repeat. Once the real situation happens, what does the master do? Exactly what he practiced and then has to do the technique again or gets wounded. As an instructor I try to engrain this into the student early on, you will do what you practice. If I see a student hand a weapon back to their partner immediately with out thinking, I stop the class and point out the potentially fatal mistake. When someone taps out I make sure that the student performing the technique does not let go immediately, but only slightly loosen the lock and then mentally make the decision that “I am letting them go now”. Since in the street your attacker will most likely be grabbing your wrist, tapping your leg and most definitely be complaining about the pain. Both of these actions require the student to make a momentary mental decision every time to let go of their partner and then move to practice the technique again.
Environment is the surroundings and influences on our daily lives. Environment can be the “feeling” that is in the martial arts studio. Are the people here friendly? Do the instructors give it their all every time when teaching, even when they are sick or had a terrible day? Do I feel welcome to come anytime? These all can be applied to this environment with in the school.
Environment from a Tactical Training perspective can be training outside, for example. When it is a warm summer day I routinely move the class outside, mats and all, to a area where the ground is sloping and uneven. Changing this environment causes the student to quickly realize the importance of being well balanced. Throughout this practice session they come to understand what distractions work well, as in a low kick to the shins, or if it is more efficient to use their hands. Plus the dynamics of takedowns and throws also change due to the difference in the natural center of gravity on uneven ground.
Training to use the environment can be practicing by positioning yourself where the sun is blinds your attacker, moving around to put inanimate objects between you and the attacker (chairs, benches, bushes, ect.), practicing sitting in your car or seated, performing the techniques on the ground, and defending yourself while protecting your loved ones at the same time. There are many more examples and ways one can come up with, but these are the routine ones that I have my students practice.
So having stated my perspective on the definition of Tactical Hapkido, I do what I welcome my students to do all the time. Provide me inputs, your comments, suggestions and improvements so that I may have a better understanding thus improving my teaching abilities for my students.
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