"This is the beginning of a new era for Martial Arts in the UK"

Peter Consterdine - Co-head of the British Combat Association

his own specialist Risk Management and Security Company,

high intensity training for combat. It has become the training

manual for all those who are engaged in combat situations.

Acknowledged as one of the worlds hardest hitters, his techniques

for delivering such massive impact are contained in the two videos

Powerstrike and Powerkick.

Instructor of the British Combat Association (BCA). Established in

most comprehensive and definitive work on Personal Security and Self

Defence available. Currently many of the concepts and techniques are

contained in the four volumes of The Pavement Arena series of

videos, produced by Peter and featuring both Peter and Geoff

Thompson. These videos de-bunk the myth of the effectiveness of

traditional martial arts in the street.

survival magazine Combat and Survival and is also the technical

Karate editor of one of the UK's leading martial arts magazine,

Martial Arts Illustrated.

I recently had the great pleasure and considerable pain of having

Rick Moneymaker conduct a seminar for the British Combat Association

(BCA) in Coventry.

For those of you who are not familiar with the BCA, it was started

in 1993 by myself and my friend and co Chief Instructor, Geoff

Thompson. It has brought together some of the best 'practical'

martial artists from all disciplines in the UK and we have over 160

instructors, many of whom have 'real world experience' of combat

situations. In addition to some of Britain's most senior martial

artists, we have serving Police Officers, Military Unarmed Combat

Instructors, as well as people whose professions include, like my

own, the Close Protection of wealthy and prominent individuals. We

also have instructors with many years of experience working the

doors.

For myself, I have 35 years of continuous martial arts training

under my belt, have a 7th Dan in Karate and, in addition, to

spending some 8 years on the Gt. Britain & England Karate squads,

was also a British Full Contact Champion. Over the years, I've

studied Wing Chun and a variety of other systems and specialised in

the development of Impact in martial arts. Over the past few years

in my capacity as a Professional Bodyguard, I have worked in some 14

countries and authored 3 books, 'Streetwise' (Personal Security &

Self Defence), 'The Modern Bodyguard' (Close Protection Training)

and 'Fit To Fight' (high intensity training for personal combat).

For countless years I have had a physical training regime that few

in the martial arts would ever subscribe to and I say this and

provide my background, not for any self-aggrandisement, simply to

make a point of reference for what I am about to say. I had over 60

they were convinced of the efficacy of Torite Jutsu. Not because

they were hoodwinked, but because they know from personal experience

when something is so painful and effective.

As a consequence, I have been appalled by some of the internet

correspondence to this site. Sadly, there is a new breed of martial

artists coming to the fore and that is the "Keyboard Combatant".

Unable ever to reach a high standard in a rigorous and stressful

training regime, they are able to enjoy some prominence through the

polemics and semantics of arguing against a system. I have had one

or two of these same people on my own seminars and have to say it

but quite frankly they "couldn't fight sleep".

I am one of the most powerful strikers in the world of martial arts

and 8 police forces and the British Home Office have seen fit to

employ me as a consultant to pass on some of the dynamics of these

skills. I am therefore more qualified than most to adjudge that the

DSI system of 'Meridian Points' works and works well. It takes the

'science' of martial arts into another, less physical plain, and

before you "typists" get your combative fingers going, when I say

'science' I mean science as it relates to the workings of system we

may call Chinese Medicine. It is not provable science, it is

'feeling science'. I have felt it, my people have felt it and they

are intelligent enough and more than experienced enough to know that

it is unnecessary and irrelevant to try and put a slide rule to it,

so as to establish the 'rules' of the science.

But that is precisely what these and you'll have to pardon me

'nobodies' feel is their right to do. Having achieved nothing

themselves, they will now work hard at making sure no-one else does.

When you see such questions as "Well will it work in a real combat

situation"? You know precisely who you're dealing with. You're

dealing with someone who wouldn't know a real combat situation if it

bit them on the arse.

People who do know have the perception, ability and adaptability to

take a technique that they will adapt, adopt or modify into their

own armoury. Whether it is for pro-active intervention through

pre-emption or reactively for a more defensive strategy, they are

skilful enough to see how they can make a technique fit in the

overall jigsaw of combat.

What also disappoints me is that one of the great assets that Rick

and his people, like Russell Stutely bring to the world of martial

arts, is a great system, but without the baggage of ego that we

usually get from ultra-talented people. This is what makes some of

the letters I've seen even more galling. I could understand it if

these letters and negativity were directed at certain well known

figures who now believe their own press releases and whose ego

exceeds their talents, but with the DSI people, this is just not the

case. Small, closed minds, allied with marginal talent and a

reluctance to work hard would seem to produce in these

correspondents an intransigent dogmatism. There is an old Arabian

saying, however, that I feel fits the bill in this case:-

I'm writing this letter, not to deter free speech, but that speech

has to be tempered with both common sense, intellect and be spoken

by people who have the competence and background to judge certain

experiences. If you don't like it then I suppose it's keyboards at 5

paces - forget that, make it 10 paces, 5 may be too close for you.

An Open Letter from Rick Moneymaker...Why the BCA?

Greetings, Due to the number of recent inquiries concerning the joining of

forces between the BCA and the DSI. I thought it would be easier to

just post it to the discussion group rather than keep answering them

one at a time. So if you are not interested just hit the delete key

now.

Who is Peter Conctantine and Geoff Thompson? Well in my travels around the world I have had the honor of working with many extremely talented martial artists and I would have to rate these two men in the top 1% of the martial artists I have seen. They are not tournament players, they are not interested in looking good doing kata, they don't care about the judges opinion. They are interested in reality. They have produced tapes and books on the subject of real world activities. They are streetwise and are probably the best qualified to give you a real assessment of what should and should not be tried in combat. If I lived in England they would probably get real tired of me showing up all the time and bugging them for classes.

If you are one of the martial arts types that wish to be pampered and handled with tender loving care, and want to be taught in a way that is politically correct, do not go to these guys. If you want an honest, real answer, and really want the facts, no matter how hard and cold they may be. These are the men!

Why are the DSI and the BCA joining forces so to speak? Both camps

believe in reality training. When I was doing a seminar for the BCA

I demonstrated some of the TORITE techniques on the members that I

knew were extremely painful and to the man they all said "Damn, that

hurt!. do it again so I can learn to do it". I knew I had found the

group I was looking for. They knew that there was pain involved in

combat and to do combat you had to be willing to accept pain and be

able to give pain. They remind me of the Navy SEALs in their

attitude, they will not quit! I am extremely interested in how this

is going to work out. The DSI is going to furnish some new

technology and the BCA is going to furnish real world experience

that is invaluable to research. The combination of the two should

produce some real interesting results.

When setting up the DSI convention in England in November I was

thrilled when Peter accepted my invitation to be a Guest instructor,

I hope that Geoff will be able to work it into his schedule to be

there also. I look forward to training again with the BCA on my next trip to

England.

Thank you for your time and I hope this clears up most of the

questions on the matter,