HOW DO ONE-STEP TECHNIQUES FIT INTO YOUR CURRICULUM?

[ninjanurse]

I use the one-steps created by the Master Instructor to teach my students distance, timing, speed, footwork, balance, flow, etc. I don't dwell on the practicality of each one as we all know the circumstances of a real fight dictate our response and you never know what you are going to get served.

[JohnC]

Personally, I use low belt (White / Yellow) one-steps to teach prepared basic self-defense (e.g. wrist grab, choke) responses and to get the student to begin doing scenario analysis (i.e. what would I do if an attacker did X). Above Yellow, I don't really 'teach' one steps. Instead I use them more for dynamic application of technique, rather than prepared responses, which become more randomized with each belt.

For example, for testing Green the student must respond to 5 random striking / holding attacks. For testing Brown, 5 random striking / holding / takedown attacks. For Black, strikes / holds / takedowns / weapons (and combinations of these) are all fair game. In training, the attacker is very generally limited to attacking appropriately to the defender's knowledgebase / belt level, attacking in a realistic way (i.e. Hollywood moves are out) and the attack can only be one or two moves. (As a note, my students are taught pre-emptive strike so attacks rarely can be more than one or two moves. For example, for Black the attacker might attempt a strike to the head and then point a gun at the defender's chest.)

In my view this trains the student to quckly determine the kind of attack and implement an effective solution but also does not program the student to respond to certain attacks in specified ways that may not be appropriate to the actual situation (e.g. I believe this was pointed out on another thread that a defense technique wasn't working very well because the attacker was too tall for it to be executed).

[bushido_man96]

John, in writing, I like the way that you approach the training scenarios. I think it would be something worth exploring.

From what it sounds like, you aren't hung up on the execution of certain techniques (technique requirements), but more with being efficient with your responses, and successful in executing them. Is that the case, or am I jumping the gun here?