FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why should I consider IKMF Krav Maga when there are other choices
out there?
This is one of the first questions you should ask yourself. There
is a choice of Israeli systems which is good. You have to ask yourself
what are the important factors in your choice. In general it would
probably be that those who are teaching are genuine, are qualified
and competent, that the organisation is large enough to be around
for some time, has a high profile which will help you get students
and offers opportunities for advancement and ongoing support.
A number of those issues are answered in more detail below. In
short, the IKMF is the largest organisation in the defensive tactics
sector and certainly of the Israeli systems. You can easily see
that for yourself through the Internet. Go the links
page of the main IKMF website and see our country coverage.
Please e-mail me if you find another defensive tactics system (Israeli
or otherwise) that covers more of this planet than the IKMF. Big
means higher profile, more training opportunities (how many other
systems have their student passports written in three languages)
and more support. We have just recently had two instructors starting
small schools in Australia and instantly had 15+ students on their
doorstep prior to opening up because of our profile.
We have strength in the military and law enforcement sector because
of what we offer. We ARE the official defensive tactics system for
a number of the military and police units in Europe and here in
Asia (not that we have just trained some of their members). Some
of our Australian instructors have already trained with these units.
And we are in this position because of word of mouth recommendation
- military and law enforcement units talk to each other about who
is good and who is not. They don't bother reading ads in magazines.
And take a good look at the local instructor base - who are they
and what experience do they have as they are your local support.
How much depth of experience do they have and how capable are they?
You are on my website, so if you don't know me then you can see
who I am as head of the IKMF here. My fellow instructors generally
have 10+ years experience in other systems and about a number of
the 45+ of us are in the Army, are serving Federal or State Police
Officers, or are Defensive Tactics Instructors for Customs or Correctional
Services.
But first hand experience is always the best. Seek an opportunity
to see those you are considering in the flesh and see whether the
marketing hype meets reality.
What will I learn?
The main subjects covered are Krav Maga's way of stand-up striking/defending
against strikes, counter grabbing attacks, throws and takedowns,
basic multiple opponent defence, ground defence (you are down opponent
is standing), ground fighting (both on the ground), knife/stick/gun
threat defence, knife/stick attack counters, use of improvised weapons
as well as the theory of teaching, conducting lessons and running
a school.
A more structured outline of the material is described here.
The course seems long (22 days) whereas other systems are advertising
much shorter courses.
Why so long?
As you see from the course content above, there is much to learn.
If you are going to cover all this how much time do you think you
need so you are at least basically competent as an instructor?
On the contents page there are 15 technical subjects (excluding
the 9 theory) to be covered so if for example our course was 10
days (8 hours a day) you would spend only around 4 to 6 hours on
each subject. My question to you is do you think that is realistic?
There are whole martial art systems around many of those technical
subjects.
Even if you have many years experience in a martial art, the likelihood
is that that this martial art has only covered some of those subjects.
The rest would be new ground for you. Could you confidently teach
a subject after only 4 to 6 hours instruction? Would you be happy
as a student if you knew that's all the experience your instructor
had?
You are training to be an instructor so your level of competency
must be much greater than that of a student who simply wants to
learn to defend themselves. We realise that the shorter courses
others offer have appeal because of the reduced commitment of time
and money but we feel it is not worth comprising our quality standards
in the long run. We may lose out in some ways because of this. So
be it.
With what rank or grade will I graduate if I pass the course?
Krav Maga has a basic 10 level grading structure. The first five
levels are known as Practitioner Levels 1 to 5 followed by Graduate
levels 1 to 5. Based on past experience each level should take someone
with little or no experience about 4 to 5 months per level. To read
about the Krav Maga grading system in detail click
here.
Depending on your capability you will generally grade as a Graduate
Level 1, 2 or possibly 3 which is considered base instructor level.
As a guide, a student coming into Krav Maga with limited experience
would take approximately 3 years to attain Graduate 2 level.
What support will I receive as an Instructor after the course?
To assist you in maintaining and improving your knowledge after
the course you will receive during the course a 150+ page Instructor
manuall. The manual was in fact compiled by me and edited by Eyal
and includes a significant portion of the Tactical Approach material
you may have seen in my Blitz articles. You will also receive a
DVD of the techniques.
On graduation Instructors can put their details on the Australian
Krav Maga website, will receive regular news e-mail updates and
be able to attend weekend seminars and camps that enable us to train
together over and above the twice a year Instructor Updates attended
by an Israeli instructor. We are also looking at means of interacting
by video conferencing given we are spread across all mainland capitals
of Australia plus the regional centres of Newcastle and Geelong.
To be part of this when we bring it in you will need a computer
(of course) with broadband access and a webcam - we will supply
technical details.
The Blitz Ad mentioned a Global Instructor Team. Who are they
and what do they do?
The Global
Instructor Team comprises the five top Israeli instructors
of the IKMF and a number of the top European instructors. The world
is divided into regions and each Israeli instructor (usually two)
is assigned a region and is supported by members of the European
team. So Australia is looked after by Eyal Yanilov and Amnon Darsa,
India by Avi Moyal and Eyal etc. All courses in these regions are
conducted by these gentlemen including the training of Government
personnel through the contracts that are in place.
Note that only members of this team can train and grade instructors
in order to maintain quality control. In time the intention is to
develop an Asian subgroup of this team based in Australia to support
the increasing demand in this region. We have contracts with two
Asian governments to train their military and security personnel
in effect right now.
Can I do the law enforcement, military or close protection instructor
courses?
Only if you are employed as a State or Federal law enforcement
officer or a member of the Australian Defence Force. These courses
are not open to civilians per se. However, you can undertake these
courses even if you are a civilian once you have been an IKMF Civilian
Self Defence Instructor for several years. This is because by that
time we know you and can vouch for your standing with the law enforcement
or military groups where these course are held. In both there is
a significant firearms component (7 days out of the 15 in total)
and understandably we cannot let just anyone undertake this training.
At present the law enforcement courses are held annually in May
in Budapest in Hungary with members of European law enforcement
agencies attending. The military instructor courses are held annually
in April in Poland at the base of the First Polish Commando Regiment.
Up until recently it was with at a Swedish Army training centre.
A number of Israeli defensive tactics systems are advertising
courses. What is the relationship between these systems?
The systems and organisations are generally independent of each
other. All are comprised of Israelis with experience in the Israeli
military or law enforcement agencies (military service is compulsory
in Israel so almost every Israeli has military experience anyway).
Israel and the Israeli Defence Force have a high news profile so
understandably a number of Israeli's with experience seek to leverage
off that.
A couple of things to note. Not every Israeli police, military
or security unit practices Krav Maga. Some such as the Border Police
have their own defensive tactics package which is the creation of
members of that unit. Secondly, Krav Maga is constantly changing
so some of those who are now teaching but who left the military
or security units some time ago are teaching techniques that have
since been replaced. Krav Maga is a term that gets used generically
so systems that aren't the original Krav Maga get called Krav Maga
and conversely those who have developed their own variants of Krav
often call their system by some other Hebrew term. It's the usual
confusion we've seen in the martial arts many times before with
other systems as they gain in notoriety. Don't ignore these other
systems, see what they have to offer (I do) and make your own mind
up.
The IKMF is the largest (number of instructors and number of countries
of operation). We know of no other defensive tactics organisation
that has the number of on-going teaching contracts with government
agencies as we do - and not just teaching one-off courses or teaching
individuals who come along to us on their own initiative. IKMF instructors
teach at the Wingate Institute in Netanya in Israel where IDF officers
are trained in defensive tactics (among other physical pursuits).
It is the norm for us that when we conduct commercial negotiations
with government agencies in any country to teach their defensive
tactics instructors our opposition is almost always never another
defensive tactics organisation (Israeli or otherwise). It is almost
always the existing defensive tactics instructors within that agency
who feel threatened by the change we will bring.
Which system is the best?
The best system is the one you like the most. No one system suits
everyone, including Krav Maga. And no one system has a mortgage
on the truth or the 'best' techniques. Good ideas come from many
sources not just one. There is also a lot of claim and counter claim
in the Israeli systems, as with any system that gains in popularity
so move past the marketing hype including ours and do your own homework.
Explore all the IKMF websites around the world as well as those
of other systems you may be considering. This will give you a feel
for what is behind these systems and how strong they are. If you
are going to invest time and money into becoming an instructor do
you want to risk it in a system that has a small base?
But in the end you can only do so much research across the Net.
It will come down to two things - taking the advice and recommendation
of someone whose opinion you trust and/or seeing and experiencing
for yourself. Several thousand of you out there (in Australia and
New Zealand) will know me from the thousands of people I have taught
in the various systems you see on this site in the past 35+ years
I have been teaching, or from my articles in Blitz as a Contributing
Editor for the past 4 years. Eight years ago I was like you, looking
at the IKMF. I have now seen them first hand, both here and in Israel
and I would recommend them.
However first hand experience is always the best so based on demand
we will organise lead-in workshops as mentioned so you can have
the in-person experience or see the next steps question below.
What do I do if I want to take the next step?
Simple Steps
1. Register your interest with us using the Registration
of Interest form and direct any other questions you
may have to me.
2. Visit the various IKMF
Krav Maga websites around the world to get a feel for
us.
3. Buy the 5 volume Krav Maga DVD or video set (find at Amazon.com).
4. Buy the "Defending
Against Armed Assault" book from say Amazon.com
as a good portion of the material in there will be in the Instructor
course.
Hands On Steps - We Come to You
You may wish us to conduct a workshop at your school or location.
General suggested format (we are flexible) is a 3 hour workshop
at your school plus two hours of private instruction for yourself,
possibly including some of your instructors before the workshop.
This way we start training you and/or your instructors in the Krav
syllabus and you have something to work on before the next contact
or course. The workshop for students is just a way to make the exercise
cost neutral or profit making if you wish and increase the level
of awareness and interest among your student base in Krav Maga.
You charge the students what you believe appropriate. Cost is our
seminar hourly rate plus any travel and accommodation (one night
at most) that may be required.
This training would be conducted by myself or one of the other
senior Australian Instructors who are at Expert Level and have been
trained in Israel. That way you can be assured of having someone
is very experienced and well versed in the system. We will not send
just anyone.
Hands On Steps - You Come to Us
Two options here:
1. You can look to join or at least privately train with any of
the Krav Maga school operators around Australia (see Australian
Krav Maga website for their contact details). Richard
Fagan (Sydney) and Adam White (Newcastle) are the other Expert level
instructors. Or you can attend any of our upcoming
training seminars.
2. Or you can come to my full time facility in Adelaide and train
for a day or two, day or night 7 days a week. Private session rate
is $60 per hour (one person) through to small group rate ($110 per
hour) for a group of four. If you are present at the time of any
of our classes you can join in for no cost.
If you are a school owner, I will show you how we integrate the
other systems we teach with Krav Maga to make them synergistic and
show you how to do it for the other systems you may teach. That
makes each system compliment the other while still standing on their
own to make what you offer a more compelling proposition to your
students. I will also show you how we have high energy striking
fitness classes based around Krav that appeal to the more fitness
orientated student segment (classically office workers at the end
of the work day). This will allow you to get far more mileage out
of the time and money you are about to invest in becoming a Krav
Maga instructor.
If you are in business or about to go into this business you want
to appeal to as broad a market base as you can without falling into
the trap of trying to be all things to all people.
To take any of the steps above please feel free to contact me through
the Registration
Form or on +61 (08) 8211 6076.
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