Violence in the Jacksonville, Florida area, like many other cities in the country, has escalated recently. Personally, I have to look no further than the local news to see this, but this year it is more real than ever. How? Well, in the last 4 months, 3 students of mine have had to actually use and apply the Wing Chun street survival skills that I have taught them in order to survive life-threatening attacks from complete strangers on the street. Fortunately, all 3 of the students not only survived the attacks, but each came away without a scratch physically.
Moreover, mentally, they have become more inspired, and even enlightened in many ways, since those disturbing encounters. It has been said, "everything happens for a reason". Although it is hard to see the reason many times, much less understand why some things happen, we can learn and grow from these incidents if we allow ourselves. What have I learned? I have learned that there was more of a reason for me getting laid-off last year than just my long-time employer needing to cut costs and overhead. That was simply the micro-reason. Meaning, that was the corporation's reason for a massive, national layoff. However, the macro-reason, or "big picture" reason was unclear for a little while longer. However, the big picture is crystal clear now. There was a larger purpose being orchestrated for a higher good. What is the larger purpose? It is clear now that I was simply reallocated to help a more pressing need. I was yanked out of the corporate world so that I could be dedicated full-time to a specific mission...the mission of saving lives.
Now, instead of only teaching The Science of Self-Preservation part-time, many more lives are being touched through Atlantic Warriors, full-time operations. There are now two locations where Wing Chun, and also Women's Self-Defense classes take place on a daily basis. As a result, this has allowed many more individuals in the Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beaches communities to get the proper training needed for defending themselves in the ever increasingly violent society.
The latest case-in-point is the below testimonial from a student of Atlantic Warriors, who has been with us for only 5 months. He literally has only foundational teachings at his level, but the methodology in which he has learned them have made him able to apply them.
In his own words,
“On Monday, May 10, I went to a local truck rental company in Jacksonville, Florida that I use for my business. I arrived about thirty minutes before their opening time and waited for the manager to arrive to rent me a truck. It was a nice morning, so I walked around his lot looking at the portable buildings he has there for sale. The manager keeps them all opened up so perspective buyers can look them over inside and out. I heard some scratching noises coming from one of them, so I walked over there, thinking it would be a cat, or dog inside. As I got about three feet from the door and without any warning, or words, a very large man charged out at me wielding a wood log in his right hand. As he turned to hit me with it, I turned on my right leg (jeun ma turning) and at the same time thrust my left hand up as a strike and a block (taan sau), which compressed his left arm towards his body, which kept him from effectively swinging the log and I simultaneously struck him just below his jaw on his neck with my right hand (chang sau). His unprovoked, surprise attack occurred so quickly that I didn’t even have time to make a fist.
He crashed head first into an adjacent storage building, lying there a few moments before fleeing off down the road with his log in hand. As it turns out the manager has had problems with this man sleeping in his buildings before, but has not been able to keep him away. I also found out that the man suffers from schizophrenia, so there is no telling what was going through his mind, or what sort of threat he perceived me to be. I do know though that his intention was to hit me with the log.
I have taken other martial arts in the past. In fact, I practiced the most recent style for four years before I found Atlantic Warriors Wing Chun. What is truly remarkable is that even though I have had a lot of different training in various styles, it was the Wing Chun that came out of me automatically, even though I have only been studying it with Sifu Petree for about 5 months. I am so thankful it did because, unlike styles of martial arts designed for a ring and referee, the training from Atlantic Warriors was obviously very effective. It had to work instinctively, because this attack happened very fast. I feel there would have been no second chances had I not reacted as I did. The training I received at Atlantic Warriors is a life saver.
Mike Smith, student, Atlantic Warriors Wing Chun Gung Fu
If you'd like more information on training with Atlantic Warriors Wing Chun Gung Fu, please contact us by calling (904) 270-2237. Or visit our website at http://www.atlanticwarriors.org.
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