I'm gonna throw in my 2 cents, and if I've said something that someone else has said, I'm sorry. I did not read all the post on this subject. (mostly due to laziness). I tell our students to hold out their arms, spin and make a circle. That is your personal space. You have the right to defend your personal space, should someone invade it with the intent on harming you. You can usually tell by body language, tone of voice, etc.. In that situation, I tell them to strike hard, strike fast and strike first. End it now. Now this only works if you can see it coming. I also hit them, I hit them hard. They hit me, they hit me hard. I do this so they know that getting hit will not kill them. One of the most important things in a fight is reacting to getting hit. They hit me so they know what it feels like to hit someone. When we practice, if they go for the groin, I want to hear the crack of the cup. So that if they don't get to hit first, at least they have a fighting chance of not ending up dead.
