11 year old deffends from attacker article.

[Kevin Wilson]

Has any one seen this .....

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Karate-girl-11-fights-attacker-Bristol/story-13579700-detail/story.html

I would have thought it would be to hard for an 11 year old to fight of a "man" though the shock may have been enough .

[bushido_man96]

Wow! Great ending to that story, shy of the bad guy being caught. I hope they find the individual. Good job for her, and keep that training up!

[datguy]

To those who say traditional martial arts are useless, an 11 year old girl defended herself from a large man with nothing more than karate!

[tallgeese]

I can't disagree. Great ending to what could have been a nightmare for everyone involved. It certainly shows the value in training to conditioned response levels. The girl did great, no doubt.

It also underscores a couple of valuable lessons that so often get overlooked. First, she knew he was there. She made him early in the encounter. This means that she was not totally blindsided by the event and behind in her response (see the thread on the OODA loop, good example of observation). The psychological impact of this cannot be overstated.

That psychological factor brings us to our second point, and that's how her response effected the attacker. Think about it, she's 11 years old, can't weigh more than a 100 pounds soaking wet, and carried much less mass than the attacker. Do we really think that the day was carried solely by technique applied against so vast odds? Doubtful.

What likely was a bigger factor was the effect that an immediate attack back at the aggressor had. He was plotting for a victim, it's all he planned for. This is often the case in individual like this, it's why they prey on kids in the first place. They want a victim, not a fight.

The actual event of being fought was so outside his preconceived notion of what was going to happen that the psychological effect must have been immense. Or, at the very least, he decided to pick on someone who was less trouble.

We tend to overlook this very important aspect of combat far too often. Understanding it gives us a decided advantage and gives us a clearer view of why things work.

Another note to take away from this debrief, is not to get locked into preconceptions about how events are going to go. I'm not suggesting to aid in kidnapping efforts, but for combat in general. Our circuits can get locked just like the bad guys above, and similar effects can occur. Developing a fluid, constantly aware state is imperative to successful physical resolution to conflict. This attitude keeps your mind from being frozen in place in the OODA loop due to unforeseen circumstances.

I like Musashi on this matter (paraphrased) Fluidity is the way to life, rigidity is way to death.

[bushido_man96]

Good points, tallgeese. I do think the fact that he was not expecting resistance like that made a difference. Overall, a lot to learn in this encounter.