Even at the beginner level, the self-defense techniques taught at Evergreen Martial Arts Academy are practical and useful in real confrontation situations. The techniques are practiced in a way that simulates realistic situations and lead the students to such a level of competence that the techniques become 'reflex responses'.

In many martial arts schools, you will hear the instructors condemn techniques from other styles as being inferior to their style of martial art. They are often reluctant to admit that other martial arts use good techniques. In our view, this is nonsense. While we believe that Tae Kwon Do is an excellent core curriculum, we readily acknowledge that Tae Kwon Do is not superior to any other martial art and all martial arts have a great deal to offer. If we consider a technique to be useful and practical, then we will gladly incorporate it into our self-defense program. As students progress to higher belt levels, they are encouraged to experiment with and 'personalize' their favorite self-defense techniques.

The table below summarizes the sources of the self-defense techniques that are currently used, although new techniques are added on a continuous basis.

Name	Main Features	Country	Techniques Used at EMAA
Hapkido	Striking and joint-locks	Korea	Joint-locks
Aikido	Throws and joint-locks	Japan	Throws, takedowns and joint-locks
Judo	Throws and ground fighting	Japan	Throws and submissions
Jujitsu	Throws and ground fighting	Japan	Takedowns, joint-locks and submissions
Kung Fu	Mostly striking (many different styles)	China	Blocks, strikes and submissions
Krav Maga	Varied	Israel	Blocks, strikes, submissions, disarming
Pentjak-Silat	Mostly striking	Indonesia	Blocks and strikes

Surprise Attacks

Advanced students are expected to be able to employ the many self-defense techniques that they have learned during their training without hesitation. Surprise attack practice involves a student surrounded by several other students. When the instructor gives the command, the surrounding students walk around the student in the center and randomly attack. The student in the center can be attacked from any direction by any student using any technique. The student in the center is expected to defend them self immediately with a well-controlled self-defense technique. Surprise attacks are a belt test requirement from red belt up.

Key Benefits of Our Self-defense Program

• Practical and useable self-defense techniques.
• Techniques are practiced in a realistic manner until they become 'reflex responses'.
• Techniques are adopted from any source, without bias.
• At higher ranks, experimentation is encouraged.

Send mail to MattEmmons@aol.com with questions or comments about this web site.
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