The Syracuse Wing Chun Academy.

On a pleasant Spring day in May -- a rarity in the often cold, often rainy Syracuse weather that characterizes the month or two immediately following Winter -- Sifu Anthony Iglesias phoned his students.

"We're doing a knife defense seminar today," he told my answering machine.  "Come on down, if you can make it.  You can wear plain clothes.  You don't need your uniform."

I could not have said no, of course.  Any chance to train with knives at the Syracuse Wing Chun Academy is one I can't refuse.  Metaphorically pulling on my "journalist" cap, I drove across town full of curiosity about the seminar.

With knives freely available and carried by many people -- good citizens and societal predators alike -- the chance that you might one day face an attacker armed with a blade is a relatively good one.  Anthony takes this threat very seriously.  While his goal in teaching Wing Chun is to produce effective, efficient fighters, his purpose for the day was focused entirely on defeating an assailant wielding a knife.

"When defending against a person with a knife," Anthony told me, "you have to go all out. Understand that your chances of getting slashed or stabbed are great, but with that understanding we defeat our fear and accept death as a possibility. Accepting this truth will give you the power to fight like an animal.  Even wounded, an animal will fight to the death." 

To keep things simple -- and because, obviously, he'll have the opportunity to revisit this subject in subsequent classes with the same students -- Anthony chose to focus on one sequence of techniques.  His "instructional design" for the seminar was quite good:  he made "building blocks" of the various techniques in the sequence and then taught each one in order.  In between each technique, he observed and offered input as students practiced them.  As the class progressed, students worked in pairs and used chains of the techniques.

Anthony observes as students work in pairs.

The sequence demonstrated was fairly straightforward.  It is used to defend against a low straight thrust.  (There are other techniques used for different attack angles, but this was the one on which the seminar focused.)

WARNING!
Don't read this article and think
you're capable of defending against
a knife with no actual training.  For one thing,
still photos can't convey full training realities.
For another thing, this is one very specific
sequence for specific applications.

The Sequence 

Anthony (left) side-steps and pivots his
body off-line from senior student Al's attack, 
while delivering a stiff-arm slapping block.

Anthony drives forward off his rear leg and delivers
a strike to Al's face.  There is another strike, not shown, 
delivered with the knee.  These strikes "sauce up" 
the attacker to disorient him and make him
vulnerable to a take-down and disarm.

Having maintained his grip on Al's knife
arm, Anthony  arcs his striking arm under Al's
knife arm and seizes the knife hand, pressing
his thumbs against the back of the hand while
turning the wrist inward.  He swings the captured
arm up and over while pulling, driving Al to
the floor.  The strikes to Al's face and body
should make this possible.

With the opponent on the floor (Al is starting to rise in
this photo), Anthony digs his fingers into Al's
palm and pries the knife free by the handle only.
He avoids the blade while disarming Al in order 
to avoid being cut.  If Al resists the disarm, Anthony
is positioned perfectly to smash Al in the face with
an elbow until Al gives up his knife.

Eventually the students learned the complete sequence.  After working in groups of two, Anthony brought the class together to do one of his notorious and whimsically titled  "Circles of Death."

(I love to joke with Anthony, whenever we have new students at SWCA, that the "Circle of Death" should be discontinued.  "I don't know," I'll say, wrinkling my brow with concern.  "We lost two students last week.  Relatives are starting to complain.")

During the "Circle of Death," one student stands in the middle of a circle comprised of his or her fellow students.  Facing each opponent in turn, the student in the middle executes the technique he or she has just learned.  This can be an extremely fast-paced exercise, depending on how quickly each successive attack is made.

Mike (left -- in motion with knife), a local bouncer and a 
student at SWCA, attacks Jay (facing him, right)
as other members of the "Circle of Death" 
wait their turns to attack.

While working with Anthony, I paused as he stopped me to comment on my walk-through of the technique.  "I'm seeing a lot of this," he said, mimicking my somewhat lethargic movements.  "You have to train like he's really trying to hurt you."  He pointed to Don, one of SWCA's senior students and my training partner at the moment.  "Don's trying to kill you.  Train like you mean it, like he means it."

I went through the sequence again, this time giving it everything I had.  "Better!" Anthony smiled.   "You even had a mean expression."  I chuckled over that, but he went on.  "You have to flow relentlessly onto your attacker like a storm. Never give him the chance to gather his thoughts. Be an animal!"  He went through the sequence himself.  Those who believe in "chi" would say that Anthony "puts chi into every move he makes."  He projects a force, a snap, that characterizes his movements and is the ideal to which students should strive.  He has speed, power and flow, the most important physical components of effective fighting.

In classes at SWCA I have I spoken with Anthony at length about the type of attack to which this defense sequence is geared.  Some of the photos in this article, for example, show the attacker lunging like a fencer, something that is unlikely in reality.  The technique shown works on most low straight thrusts, provided the defender has room to slap the knife hand while moving off the attacking line of the knife -- but what if this can't be done?  What if there is neither time nor room for it?

Anthony explained again that the sequence depicted here is one defense only.  He also demonstrated a couple of defenses against overhand and arcing, slashing attacks.  I pressed him, however.  "These are simple, single attacks," I pointed out.  "What about someone who moves quickly, or is sneaky, or who has training with a blade?"

The first time I asked this question, Anthony tossed me a rubber knife and told me to attack him.  No matter what I tried, no matter how fast I tried to stick, slash, or cut him, he stopped me almost before I'd made up my mind to attack -- trapping my elbows and attacking my vulnerable points before even thinking of disarming me.  The principles, Anthony explained, remain the same.  Trapping the elbows is an important component of stopping a knife attack in this manner, but Anthony also emphasized the need to counterattack with aggressive and overwhelming force when facing an assailant armed with a blade.  Arching his back outward, he showed what I would call a simple "Oh shit!" move for a quick stab to the stomach, slapping the incoming blade down as he curved his torso backwards.

Another trait Anthony possesses is a willingness to adapt what the student already does to produce effective self-defense.  Rather than simply say, "No, that's wrong," when a student does a technique differently than shown, Anthony will work with that student to see if his or her natural tendencies can be used when facing an attacker.  

During one sequence with my training partner, for example, my arm missed the arm slap completely.  My initial impulse was to employ some sort of arm bar or arm lock.  Anthony showed us how to do this properly to avoid being cut while performing it.

Anthony demonstrates an alternative technique.

"Remember," Anthony said after a particularly... energetic... demonstration, "this person pulled a knife and attacked you. This person should be given no mercy. Beat him down until he is no longer a threat to you."

Such force is only used when legally justified, of course.  The assumption of the seminar was that the defending student is in imminent fear of great physical harm or death. 

"Someone once asked me why I always break the arm, break the wrist, or dislocate the shoulder," Anthony commented.  "My response is simple.  He might have another knife on him. He might have friends.  [If I break his arm or wrist] he'll be more concerned with the broken limb and less concerned with coming after me again. Does this seem over the top? Does this seem like overreacting? I don't think so.  Always remember -- the SOB pulled a knife! He wanted me hurt and hurt bad. 

"His attack warranted an equally devastating response."