Page 118 - Pat O'Keeffe Combat Kick Boxing

Combat Kick Boxing

Summary
All these scenarios are idealised. You should stay flexible in your responses and
strike hard and fast when the opportunity presents itself. Once you have gained
an advantage, keep it.
Decide whether to start your defence seated or standing. Be aware of your
environment and seek to make it work for you. Beware of the instinct to try and
stand up immediately; you are at your most vulnerable at this time.
Many years ago I became involved in an incident that came out of nowhere. So
unexpected was the encounter that I acted without thought and managed to save
a friend from serious injury or death. Looking back, I realise the seriousness not
only of the attack, but also of my response.
One evening some friends and I went for a drink after work. We had a few and
then split up. One of my friends and I planned to carry on the evening, but decided
to get something to eat first. We went into a restaurant and were seated at a table
by a young waitress who was chatty and friendly. My friend placed his jacket over
the back of the chair next to him. It was early evening and there was no one else
in the restaurant.
The waitress took our order and went into the kitchen. Immediately we heard
the sounds of raised voices. Suddenly an irate man came out of the kitchen and
started shouting at us. Bemused, my friend and I looked at each other. The man
insisted that we change tables.
We had been placed at this table by the waitress, there was no one else in the
place and no ‘reserved’ sign on our table. We hesitated and the man picked up my
friend’s jacket and threw it across the restaurant to another table. My friend got to
his feet and words were exchanged, but my friend didn’t swear, shout or wave his
arms about, he simply asked what the hell was going on.
The man suddenly launched himself at my friend and threw two quick punches. One
landed and my friend pushed the man away and shouted at him to stop. Up until this point
I had done and said nothing. However, as the man went backwards, he turned and picked up
a glass and tried to break it on the edge of the table. My friend was hemmed in between the
table and the wall and had nowhere to go.
Had the fight remained a fist fight I would not have intervened, but the minute
the man went for the glass I judged the situation as very serious and potentially
fatal.
I came off the chair I was sitting on and in one motion brought the chair over my head and
hit the man across the head twice. The chair broke and he fell, but as we tried to leave, he
grabbed my friend’s leg. (Hold-breaking rears its head again.) I kicked the man’s hand away,
pulled him to his feet, hit him in the stomach, spun him and sank two more shots in his
kidneys. This all sounds very professional, but it was fast and scrappy.
We fell against a rail alongside a stairwell and the man tried to choke me. I hit
him and turned him over the rail straight down the stairwell. At this point the
kitchen staff exploded into the dining part of the restaurant and my friend and I
made a run for it.
To this day I have no idea what was going through the attacker’s head. Maybe
he was the jealous type, but what took place between the waitress and ourselves

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