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Thread: Successful Street Applications

  1. #1
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    Successful Street Applications

    I occasionally get news feed articles about these. I'm going to start collating them here. It's sort of the opposite of the Busted Teachers thread.
    Woman, 53, Uses Martial Arts To Nab Alleged Burglar
    Lighthouse Point Black Belt Chases, Holds Burglar For Police
    POSTED: 6:10 pm EST January 19, 2008

    LIGHTHOUSE POINT, Fla. -- A Lighthouse Point woman used her skills in martial arts to tackle an alleged burglar after she chased him six blocks.

    Margot Foster, 53, arrived home at 2600 block of Northeast Court Friday around 10 a.m. and found a man identified as Gregory St. Germain, 24, ransacking her house, police said. She was able to tackle the suspect outside of her home, but police said he was able to get free.

    The marathon runner and black belt in martial arts then chased St. Germain for six or seven blocks until she caught up with him and held him until police arrived, according to patrol Sgt. Alan Nestor of the Lighthouse Point police.
    Gene Ching
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    The ultimate street

    Martial arts for health is fundamental.

    Battling the unexpected
    Jan 19 2008
    By RACHEL BRANT
    Staff writer

    Mark Olsen moved to Los Angeles for martial arts. He trained in various forms of mixed martial arts, but even his years of training could not prepare him for what was next.

    In 1999, Olsen, owner of the Martial Arts Training Academy in Bremerton, felt a stabbing pain in his back. Other problems quickly ensued.

    “I literally felt like I had a knife in my back. My legs felt weird and started going numb,” Olsen said. “The pain got worse and then I started losing control of a lot of things. I couldn’t do anything which was horrible.”

    Olsen’s roommate took him to the hospital where the then-27-year-old spent 12 hours in a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine. A doctor discovered that Olsen’s mylon sheath had separated from his spinal cord.

    Olsen’s doctor called his parents in Washington and said they needed to fly to Los Angeles as soon as possible. It was then that Olsen knew it was serious.

    “I thought ‘this isn’t right, this is serious,’” he said.

    The doctor told Olsen and his parents that the seasoned martial arts enthusiast may have multiple sclerosis. Olsen was in the hospital for two weeks, paralyzed from the waist down.

    The doctor said his good health may have saved his life. Olsen’s parents put him in a traditional martial arts class when he was 8 or 9 years old. He moved to Los Angeles in 1996 and began training heavily in Muay Thai kickboxing, Jeet Kune Do, submission wrestling and Kali, a form of Filipino weaponry.

    “(The doctor) said if I wasn’t in as good a shape as I was I would have died from it,” Olsen said. “If I hadn’t been training that hard I would have been gone in that one episode.”

    When he left the hospital, Olsen had to give himself injections in his leg every other day. He frequently had family and friends visit him in Los Angeles and help him in any way they could.

    “I started learning that when you’re down people will help you,” Olsen said. “My spirit wasn’t broken for sure. I had company, I even had friends from home (Washington) fly down.”

    Olsen, desperate to get back into training, returned to martial arts soon after he left the hospital.

    “And me being the way I was I got back to training as soon as I could,” he said. “I started training before I could feel the bottoms of my feet.”

    Olsen moved back to Bremerton and could not find a place to train in the area, so he began teaching martial arts out of his parents’ garage.

    Olsen then found a spot five years ago on Riddell Road and opened the Martial Arts Training Academy. He said if he had not gotten sick, he would probably be competing in mixed martial arts tournaments and the Martial Arts Training Academy would not exist.

    “Maybe I got sick and plucked out of there and now I’m learning my goals are constantly shifting toward the students here,” he said. “My utmost goal is for people to have a positive place to train and ultimately I want that positive energy to get put out in the world.”

    Olsen said he loves teaching the adult and children’s classes at the Martial Arts Training Academy. He enjoys talking with his students on a personal level and strengthening them physically, mentally and socially through martial arts.

    “My No. 1 goal for these kids is to realize how good they are and their potential,” Olsen said. “The potential for greatness is in everybody.”

    Through his martial arts training, Olsen was prepared for many things in life, but he could not prepare for that moment in 1999 when he battled a paralyzing illness. Now he is off medication and views the illness as a positive change in his life.

    “Looking back on my getting sick, good things have come from it,” Olsen said. “Right now I’m one of the happiest people on earth.”
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    I occasionally get news feed articles about these. I'm going to start collating them here. It's sort of the opposite of the Busted Teachers thread.
    sweet buddy got all tired from running and she beat his azz

    Good thread Gene
    Last edited by diego; 01-24-2008 at 01:12 PM.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    I occasionally get news feed articles about these. I'm going to start collating them here. It's sort of the opposite of the Busted Teachers thread.

    Wow, that lady is 53, I wish they said what martial art she did, her weight, and other stuff.


    And she's a marathon runner.
    Bless you

  5. #5

    New York Times
    Jan. 31, 2008
    By **** Huckabee


    According to numerous reports from local South Central law enforcement agencies, at least fifty armed robberies and sixteen manslaughters have been averted by a local marital artist this year alone, whose name we were not given permission to print.

    For, as the subject said: "A name is the most important thing in the world. Printing it in the Times is like suicide." Although I was incredulous, and balked at his wish to remain anonymous when I only wanted to extol his service to the community, he said: "Secrecy is vital to my trade. I, like Peter Pan, cling to shadows like jism to Bill Clinton's wardrobe. Remember, acceptance or denial of a single name determines whether one goes to heaven or hell. In my case, knowing my name paves the way to Hell, because if you find it out, I'll track you down, make you look at farm animal porn, and then kill you and send you to Judgment with a guilty conscience. And when the police come, they'll call you a pervert and you'll die in infamy, and you're wife will be like 'What the hell?' and then she'll doubt whether you ever really loved her, or whether your fondness for the family dog wasn't something obscene.....and she'll recall that time she called you from the grocery store and asked you if she needed to pick up a couple of bones for the dog, and you said: 'Nope. I've got a big one right here in my hand. Come on boy, open up wide!' And then she'll think you were like the biggest perv in the whole world, and I'll get my revenge like that."
    .....the rest of the article is available on the NY Times website. I'll see if I can find it. I was quoting the above by memory, which should tell you just how good I am at quoting things by rote.
    1bad65--They Call Him Ore Ida, the Tater-Terminator
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    Trolling? What does fishing have to do with this?
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    Ashida Kim taught me everything I ever needed to know about the missile dropkick.

  6. #6
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    Partially blind and deaf

    I gotta hand this one to ninpo. It's a pretty cool story.

    Modest martial arts expert sees off mugger
    By John Hoskins

    A PARTIALLY blind and deaf man used his martial arts skill to turn the tables on a teenage mugger who tried to snatch his rent money.

    John James, 33, had just withdrawn money from a Lloyds cashpoint machine at Southampton University campus when he was suddenly attacked by a youth riding a bicycle.

    Mr James said the teenager approached him from his right where he suffers from partial deafness and blindness.

    "As I went to remove the cash, he whipped it out of my hand and tried to cycle off, but I grabbed him about the head and shoulder for about 20-30 seconds before we fell to the ground."

    The pair then tussled during which themugger threatened to stab him, before three passers-by came to his aid and he held his assailant in an arm lock. The drama eventually ended with the teenager handing back the cash and riding off in the direction of University Road, shortly before the police arrived.

    Mr James, who is unemployed and lives in Burgess Road, Swaythling, said he was shocked at what happened but had since made a good recovery.
    advertisement

    He believes he was able to see off the mugger thanks to the training he received learning the self defence martial art of Ninpo.

    "If I had not joined the martial course, which I did three years ago, I don't think things would have turned out the way they did."

    He then modestly added: "I don't think I'm very good at it but I do my best."

    The attacker was white, aged between 16 and 19 and of medium build. He was wearing a black waterproof waist length shiny jacket and black shiny trousers, possibly a tracksuit.

    A police spokesman said: "This was an unprovoked attack and we are keen to hear from anyone in the area who can help us identify the youth involved. Fortunately on this occasion he did not escape with any money, much to the efforts of the victim and members of the public who stopped to help."

    Anyone with information is asked to call the street robbery investigation team at Hulse Road on 0845 045 4545.
    Gene Ching
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  7. #7
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    TKD vs. gun

    If someone pulled a gun on me, I'd have given up my jewelry.

    Martial arts expert foils robbery
    HERALD STAFF REPORT

    An expert in Tae Kwon Do kicked a woman in the face who he said tried to rob him at gunpoint this morning, according to a Manatee County Sheriff's Office report.

    The 43-year-old victim said that at 12:30 a.m., he was standing in front of Health Care America, in the 6000 block of 34th Street West, when two men and a woman approached him. The victim said the woman had a gun and demanded his jewelry.

    The sheriff's report said the victim pushed the gun away and kicked the woman in the face before fleeing to a gas station to call 911. The suspects then fled in an unknown direction, the sheriff's report said.
    Gene Ching
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  8. #8
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    more details on the previous story

    The female suspect has long black curly hair, about 5'4" tall and skinny and a big old shoe print on her face.

    Martial arts expert kicks would-be robber in Bradenton
    By Michael A. Scarcella
    Published Friday, March 28, 2008 at 5:44 p.m.

    BRADENTON - A martial arts expert reportedly kicked a would-be robber in her face early today during a hold-up in the 3600 block of Cortez Road West, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said.

    Andres H. Acuna, 42, was in the parking lot of Health Care America when a car pulled up to him about 12:30 a.m. Acuna said three people, including a woman, confronted him. The woman, carrying a gun, demanded Acuna’s jewelry.

    Acuna, a martial arts expert, said he kicked the woman in her face and then ran across the street to a Shell station to call for help. Authorities said the suspects followed Acuna to the gas station and drove away.

    None of the robbers got anything and Acuna, authorities said, was not injured.

    Man uses martial arts against three robbers
    Updated: March 28, 2008 10:19 AM

    BRADENTON - A Bradenton man uses his martial arts skills against three people trying to rob him.

    On Friday just after midnight, 42-year-old Andres Acuna was in the parking lot of Health Care America, when a dark colored, possibly blue Honda pulled up and all three occupants, two Hispanic males and one Hispanic female, got out and approached the victim.

    The Hispanic female pointed a black gun at Acuna and demanded his jewelry. Acuna pushed the gun away and as he is a trained Tae Kwon Do expert, he kicked the female in the face. He then fled across the street to the Shell gas station, where he called 911.

    The suspects got into the car and followed Acuna over to the gas station and then fled East on Cortez road.

    The suspects did not get anything from Acuna, and there were no shots fired or any injuries.

    The two male suspects were wearing gloves. The female suspect has long black curly hair, about 5'4" tall and skinny.
    Gene Ching
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  9. #9
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    A case of kick N Run, I think that's part of Taeguk !
    Psalms 144:1
    Praise be my Lord my Rock,
    He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    The female suspect has long black curly hair, about 5'4" tall and skinny and a big old shoe print on her face.
    Shoe print on her face! I love it.

  11. #11
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    Slightly OT

    This isn't quite a successful street application. It's more of a successful track and field application.
    Kung fu molds Costello on and off the track
    By David Willis
    Staff writer

    Santi Costello's journey to becoming a track standout began unexpectedly.

    "When I was 4 years old I got beaten up," he said. "My dad said, 'That's not going to happen again. You're going to learn how to defend yourself.'"

    Days later, Costello's father signed him up for kung fu lessons. Little did he know it would end up shaping his son's life.

    "It's because of my martial arts training I have been able to achieve my goals," the Andover High senior said. "It helps me as an athlete, but it is as much physiological as it is physical."

    Costello spends at least an hour a day practicing basic kung fu at home and goes to workouts at his studio at least three times a week. He declined to say what his current level is but said he has continued to progress since earning his black belt at age 10.

    "Kung fu is all about self-defense," he said. "Karate is flashy. People don't really grasp the concepts. People think it's a way to hurt people. We are taught never to strike first. It's not about kicking someone's butt.

    "It's a lot of punching and kicking and blocking. There is also a lot of stretching."

    That training has helped Costello in a big way on the track. Possessing a 34-inch vertical leap, he has become most well known for his jumping.

    "He's got the best vertical leap I have ever seen," coach Peter Comeau said. "He was born with an ability to jump, and he just has spring in his legs."

    Costello led area with a 21-7 in the long jump last spring while battling a leg injury. He then followed it up this winter by taking first at the Merrimack Valley Conference meet with a 20-71/2. But he has no interest in being just a jumper.

    "I can't imagine sticking to just one event," Costello said. "I want to do a little running then a little jumping. I'll do whatever they need from me."

    He showed his versatility in the winter by taking eighth in the state pentathlon — which consists of the 55-meter hurdles, 1,000, high jump, long jump and shot put. He plans to sprint and do hurdles in addition to his jumping this season.

    Costello also has plenty of interests outside of sports. He volunteers at the Boys and Girls Club, where he also plays basketball (he could dunk if he could hold onto the ball). He also helps out the Mass Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and works as a youth counselor in Andover.

    "He has a great personality," said Comeau. "He is just all over the community. He's a great leader. Now if he can just stay healthy he could have one of the best senior seasons we have seen in a while."
    Gene Ching
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    Successful Field Applications

    I'm almost thinking now that the positive transfer of martial arts to sports deserves its own thread. But for now, these two stay here.

    Artful field strategy
    For a variety of athletes, karate offers physical, mental leg up
    By Katherine Dunn | Sun Reporter
    April 10, 2008

    The benefits run the gamut of the physical (from flexibility and strength to being able to apply that strength) to the mental (from confidence and discipline to the quick thinking necessary to anticipate several moves ahead of an opponent).

    "Martial arts is kind of like logic if you think about it," said Ousmane Toure, a junior soccer player at Randallstown. "If I do this, then this is going to happen; so if I do that, what should I be expecting? You open up the pathways to what can happen, and you try to take the best course of action."

    Matt Fischer, a senior lineman at Archbishop Curley, picked up martial arts as a freshman in the school's Martial Arts Club. He said that trying several styles of karate as well as modern boxing, grappling and weapons fighting gave him a keener peripheral awareness.

    "It's just a different way of thinking. You can almost watch somebody and the way their body moves, you can almost pick out what they're going to do - the way they step and kick a certain way or the way they might run the ball on the football field," Fischer said.

    Frank Costello used martial arts training during his 16 years as strength and conditioning coach for the NHL's Washington Capitals, and he is a strong proponent of its benefits for all athletes.

    "I think it's an example of cross training," Costello said. "In years past, athletes were lifting weights and doing other things, but this is real functional training and improves flexibility. I think most of all it enables the athlete to use the strength and speed that they've developed. Martial arts is very disciplined. It teaches you to realize your power and how to explode at the right time."

    Klotz, the Wilde Lake lineman, sees that in his own game. "It taught me how to control my adrenaline so I don't go crazy and start throwing people all over the place," he said. "Same thing on the football field, where you have a burst of pure power and then settle down."

    Karate also teaches how to apply that power so that athletes are not at a disadvantage if they're the smaller, weaker opponent, be it in karate, football or wrestling, said Ken Klotz, David's father, a fifth-degree black belt who has been teaching karate for more than 30 years.

    "You're always being trained to think and attack the person's weakness, and I think that's going to come out in your sports," said Ken Klotz, who runs schools in Columbia and Bowie. "I've had lacrosse players, soccer players, et cetera, come up to me and tell me there are very similar strategy thoughts going on."

    Ken Klotz regularly has several varsity athletes in the martial arts classes he teaches at University of Maryland and said he has seen more younger ones enroll at his studio.

    In addition to the general applications, specific lessons from karate can be particularly applicable to a single sport.

    Arnold Farmer, a junior defensive tackle at Poly, said he uses the hand techniques and footwork from karate to get past his opponent on the line.

    "You can learn how to lock the offensive lineman's arms so you're more mobile," Farmer said. "Once you lock that arm, you're free to get to the quarterback or the running back."

    Sop****re Kaitlyn Pentz, the goalie for the Century girls lacrosse team, said the footwork, flexibility and hand-eye coordination she learned helps, but the mental aspects are most important to her game.

    "It taught me confidence," said Pentz, a black belt. "When I get scored on, I tell myself, 'OK, I can get back in this game. I know what I'm doing. I just need to focus on what I'm trying to do.' "

    Ken Klotz saw one of the best examples of the cross-training nature of martial arts when he studied in China in December and January. Staying at the Shanghai University of Sports, he saw every sport, "but their core identity is martial arts.

    "We got to visit a boarding school, first through 12th grade, and martial arts is the core component of their training," he said. "They do everything else, math, Chinese and all, but their whole idea is that martial arts centers the mind for everything else."

    He and Wilde Lake football coach Doug DuVall have discussed introducing martial arts to the Wildecats' training regimen. Finding the time has been difficult, but DuVall said they'd like to try again this summer.

    "It's a whole thing about disciplined training, and we attempt to do it in all sports," DuVall said.

    "Certainly the discipline of throwing a baseball, that's pure body control. Hitting a tennis ball, shooting a three-point shot, hitting a fastball - that's all really mind over matter. ... Anybody can do them if they have the discipline to practice long enough. In football, there's not a kid, who if he had martial arts training, would not be a better football player."
    Gene Ching
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    Back OT

    I love to hear these kinds of stories. Click link for video

    Martial arts saves boy from harm
    By Michael McQuillan - Burnaby NewsLeader - April 28, 2008

    Sean-Douglas Sime is in his fifth year of learning martial arts and he likes that it makes him physically and mentally tougher.

    But the nine-year-old never thought he’d have to use it to save himself from harm.

    His martial arts instructor Jim Hanger didn’t either. But he prepares his students for that possibility just in case.

    And that training and preparation paid off earlier this year when Sean-Douglas was grabbed from behind by a stranger. He was not only able to get out of the man’s grasp but also delivered a crushing blow to his assailant.

    Sean-Douglas’s father Dean never believed his son’s martial arts training would help save him from harm. That’s certainly not why he registered him and his 11-year-old brother Connery.

    “It was more or less for the structure, for the discipline,” said Dean, a member of the Canadian Armed Forces. “It’s the healthy body, healthy mind approach—keep them busy instead of in front of the TV and the video games.”

    The attempted assault happened in February as the two brothers were walking a short distance to a friend’s house.

    Connery ran ahead while Sean-Douglas fell behind as he sauntered down the Queen’s Park neighbourhood sidewalk.

    Sean-Douglas recalls a man jumping out from behind some bushes and grabbing him from behind in a choke hold.

    With the stranger’s arms around him, Sean-Douglas initially panicked—despite the training. He let out a yell for help which Connery heard and then ran back to help.

    But by the time Connery returned, it was all over.

    The stranger was staggering away, hobbled by an injured knee.

    Sean-Douglas had broken the man’s grip with the techniques he learned, and then swept back with a side round kick. He connected with the side of his attacker’s knee, causing him to fall to the ground incapacitated.

    “The guy went down to the ground screaming,” said father Dean, recounting the boys’ description to him.

    Hanger wasn’t surprised at the damage Sean-Douglas did to a man more than twice his size.

    “Believe it or not, it takes seven pounds of pressure to take a knee from the side. A five-year-old could do it,” he said. “If the guy had his weight on that leg and he hit him on his knee, that’s all that it would take to do the damage.”

    The stranger, believed to be Caucasian and in his 30s, made his injured escape while the two brothers ran full sprint to the safety of a neighbour’s house.

    It was perfect execution of the side round kick technique, said Hanger, proud of his student’s reaction in the incident.

    He believes in teaching self-defence and not just how to bow and memorize the proper terms used in martial arts.

    Occasionally the owner of Red Tiger Martial Arts in New Westminster has his instructors sneak-attack students during classes. Eventually, students learn not to panic and then properly use the defending moves they’ve learned in their training, said Hanger, a fourth-degree black belt.

    Dean was also happy with the way the boys reacted.

    “Sean-Douglas told me he was panicked for his life. But he just did what he was trained to do,” he said.

    “That’s what you hope for.”
    Gene Ching
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  14. #14
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    LOL @ side ROUND kick !!
    Psalms 144:1
    Praise be my Lord my Rock,
    He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !

  15. #15
    Occasionally the owner of Red Tiger Martial Arts in New Westminster has his instructors sneak-attack students during classes.
    brilliant.

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