As some of you may know, I’ve been teaching IMPACT Personal Safety for over 35 years now. To say that IMPACT is my job, or career, is an understatement: IMPACT is my passion.
And while I haven’t fought in seven or eight years, and these days I don’t even hold shields or kick bags, I still thrive on the energy and the adrenaline I get from being in classes and from teaching other people.
The last time we, IMPACT SoCal, had been together as a group was January 2020. So, 18 months have gone by, and besides the high school team which had been teaching online classes, a handful of online public workshops each month, and some instructor training online classes, no one was really fighting. And there was certainly no full-impact training going on.
In order to get back into the swing of things, we had an in-house training a couple weeks ago here in LA. Now, ever since Michael Peñafiel and Ben Cook took over our in-house trainings, they have taken on a life of their own, but that’s a story for another time. So, the guys decided to use this in-house training in a different way. Instead of starting with our usual opening circle check-in and warm up, as the staff arrived, they had to wait outside the room. Now, let me just tell you, this is a smart group of people and they are mentally prepared for whatever shenanigans are about to occur…they knew something was up.
They were given directions as they came into the room one at a time. Their goal was to get to the ATM machine, get some cash, and get out of the room. But of course, they would be attacked by the padded instructor before they could get out of there. Once they were finished, they had to leave the room and fill out a questionnaire.
Once we finished the business of that scenario, we spent the rest of the day on skills and drills for everyone and fights were had by all. It was two full days of adrenaline and camaraderie, and we sure needed that!!
This is a comment from one of our staff members from the first scenario of the day:
It felt GREAT!! But not in that moment. 😬 During the actual fight, it seemed like I was less good at tracking finer details and higher level thought than 18 months ago. All the things I didn't notice or didn't properly react to were frustrating at the time. After reflecting on it though, I realized the really key things were still there and still strong. My reptilian brain was very loud! When I saw the knife, my brain had one solid thought: "Control the weapon!" Once I got my hands on it, then my brain had only one thought again: "Hurt him!" It was interesting that while the fight itself was frustrating because it was less fluid and felt messier, the really important things were absolutely solid. There was no panic or uncertainty. I knew what to do: Fight back!
We are BACK and ready to teach live, in-person classes, and we are ecstatic about it! We will continue to offer online classes and also hybrid classes with video and live classes. We hope to see you all in classes soon!
