Black Belt or Not
By Moshe Katz
CEO
Israeli Krav International


July 7, 2014



I paid my martial arts dues, I rose up the ranks the slow and traditional way. I studied various forms of Karate, Kung Fu, jujitsu, judo, wrestling, Brazilian Jujitsu, Hapkido, Kickboxing, Pressure Points, and of course Krav Maga.

I was up at 5 am each morning to take the train to class, heat or snow: I was there.

I was motivated and made great sacrifices for training. I saw that many many students came and went but I was told that I am different. I was told that I am the one who is going to make it because I have heart and devotion and dedication.

I was given the traditional wisdom: I was told "Of all students who put on a white belt only 6 will one day wear a black belt".

Later on I heard it was only 2 of 1,000. the poster above says 10, that must be the updated program with more lenient standards.


Recently I saw this beautiful, motivational, poster on Facebook. Someone tagged me on it, meaning well. Clearly the intent was to offer praise. For today I hold the illustrious rank of...Does Not Matter Anymore.

I did not accept the tag.

Last night I asked Laizer, a true Krav Maga black belt, to stay after class. I said, "Pull up a chair". I set up a few chairs to look like the front and back seats of a car. He smiled, he knows me well. He knew what I was doing, he knew where my mind was going.

It was eerie, I set up the chairs to recreate the situation the boys faced just a few weeks ago when they were taken hostage and then executed in the car. We went through a few different scenarios of what the boys might have faced. It only took a few minutes. Although we had never trained in this situation before the IKI gun defense principles easily answered the situation with clear, simple and easy techniques.


Being a black belt is important, but I do not accept that poster. I do not like it, not one bit. That is the old way which I reject. For us it is not applicable.

If only 1 out of 10,000 reaches a competent level, then in essence the system has totally failed. That means that 0.0001 of all students reach the desired level. What about the other 9,999? What if they are attacked?

What if they are among the next group of kids to be taken hostage????

NO, 9,999 failures out of 10,000 is not something to celebrate.

Even most styles of Krav Maga are filled with too many techniques, too much memorization, too much everything! It is all too much.

It took me a long time to face the facts: People do not have the interest or the time or the attention span to learn that much. They simply will not. So our choice is simple; find a method that is Easy to Learn, Easy to Apply in many diverse situations, and Easy to Remember. Or...Go home.

Most Krav Maga systems require: Coordination, fitness, athleticism, strength. These are all great attributes to possess, but what if you have those only in short supply?


Years ago, I took Dassi to see the Chinese acrobat's performance in Israel. We were amazed by their extraordinary skills. We commented that they must have been training since childhood and have devoted their entire lives to their art.

Now I can understand if you tell me that only one out of ten thousand will be able to do those amazing juggling acts and be a member of the Chinese national acrobatic performers' association. I can accept that. But I cannot accept that only 1 out of 10,000 ordinary people will be able to defend themselves. That is unacceptable.

Every day we receive questions, from our Online Krav Members, and every day we try to solve the problems that emerge. And we try our very best to keep it simple so that 10,000 out of 10,000 can be Krav Maga Black Belts, or at least be able to survive a violent situation.

We Take A Different Approach

I have been through several martial arts schools over the years. I have visited literally hundreds of schools. I have seen a lot. In most schools the student must prove himself. I recall one of our grandmasters, until a student reaches brown belt level I don't even want to look at him! He must prove himself first.

I have seen this attitude all over, it is the student who must prove himself or herself worthy of the master, worthy of being looked at, worthy of receiving some attention and some personal instruction. Is it any wonder then that so many drop out? that so few reach their goals?

That is the old way, a student must prove his worth, his toughness, otherwise we will not waste our time on him or her, anyway they will probably not last long, so why even bother.

But I have a different attitude. 

A violent crime takes place, a woman is brutally raped, a teacher is pulled into the bathroom and murdered, her body dumped in a trash can, a girl is murdered by a group of teenagers because she "stole" someone's boyfriend, and a million people watch the news, and a million people are horrified. 

Something must be done! They holler, but by tomorrow 900,000 have put that thought to rest. But 100,000 are still thinking about it, for a while, but soon they too forget and go on with their daily lives. Little by little people stop thinking about it, within a month there are only 100 are still disturbed and say to themselves, it is really time that I do something to protect myself, I really should sign up for self-defense class. A few will look at the Yellow Pages, or online, and actually take an interest, of those perhaps a handful will actually walk into a martial arts school to check it out. 

When that potential student walks in, I will not bully them, I will not expect them to prove themselvs to me, they have already proven themselves. They are the 2 or 3 out of a million who dared walk into the school, the smelly, sweat filled school with boxing gloves on the floor, with a heavy bag hanging, with people hitting each other and grunting or rolling on the ground wrestling. They have left their comfort zone, thought outside the box, and entered a strange world that is intimidating. Yes, you have proven yourself, and now the question is, am I worthy of teaching you? Now I must prove myself to be a good teacher and role model. You are the 1, or 2 or 3, out of a million, now I have my work cut out for me. Now let's begin our training. 

MiyagiWaxOn

Krav Maga Tour and Train


Luis (Puerto Rico) grabs Michel (Chile), in the background Srdjan (Croatia). These men are not so young. Luis was celebrating his 70 birthday, our Krav Maga still works for them. The Perfect system for imperfect people. 


The fastest way to improve your Krav Maga, or to start your Krav Maga survival training, is by coming to Israel and join us for Tour and Train.

Two weeks of intensive training combined with touring the land and seeing sites of historical, religious and combative importance.

Or, we have a shorter program, Five Days Training Camp

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Mike (Colorado, USA) kicks Colby (Michigan, USA), in the background Laizer (Israel)


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