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Often an Instructor, who, within a traditional association,
wishes to emphasise the practical or self defence aspects
of his art, will often have a very hard time of things.
Barriers will be put up by his seniors and a very restrictive
environment is created to deter the individual from
embarking on a learning curve about other systems and
concepts. As no one system has the complete answer to
effectiveness in a self defence role, an Instructor
must be allowed to practise, research and develop his
art or system. However, with strong style groups, any
outside training or research is frowned upon.
Also outside instructors are never brought in to teach
because of political reasons and yet most traditional
systems have little or no formal self defence curriculum.
Often the techniques taught are of a stylised and impractical
nature, with little credibility or chance of working
in a real life situation.
To date, instructors faced with such a dilemma have
either accepted the situation or moved to a non-style
organisation where they are usually left to their own
devices. This may be alright in itself, but fails to
provide a proper solution. Operating in such an isolated
environment leads to stagnation and a lack of awareness
of the ever-changing and developing world of Personal
Combat.
It is important that instructors and their students
who follow a more practical, combat oriented approach,
belong to an organisation which shares the same philosophy
and which works actively at gathering information, sharing
it and also promoting the groups within it. Since its
inception, The British Combat Association has been instrumental,
more so than any other organisation before, in educating
the martial arts fraternity on the true realities of
combat and the complexities of self defence.
The British Combat Association has, over the past few
years, become to be recognised as the international
centre for the development of defensive tactics and
concepts. Our exposure is on the world stage and the
Association now has links with the foremost International
Instructors and groups around the world. Our reputation
for providing the very best in tuition is second to
none and is the product of our bi-monthly Instructors
Course. These courses have become the focal point of
the Association's calendar of events and we have provided
the very best in outside instruction for our member
instructors.
In the BCA we actively encourage our instructors, as
part of our open philosophy, to seek as wide a range
of experience of other styles and systems as possible.
We now have Karate people as skilled at grappling as
they are at punching and kicking and conversely, we
have Judo people who are striking with alacrity.
The British Combat Association has a bi-monthly newsletter,
'Impact', which as well as giving details of courses
and news items, will contain articles on a wide variety
of subjects. Publicity is a vital part of any organisation
and the Association has, and will continue to adopt,
a high profile in the martial arts magazines. Both Chief
Instructors of the Association are regular contributors
to the martial arts press. Over the years, many of our
instructors have, with the help and encouragement of
the BCA, become martial arts correspondents.
The Association & Register of Self Protection Instructors
Every Instructor who is accepted into membership of
the BCA is also entered into membership of The Association
& Register of Self Protection Instructors and accordingly
entered onto the Register. We are often asked by outside
groups to recommend a self defence instructor in a particular
area and it is from the Register that these people are
drawn. An Instructor's students, on the other hand,
are members only of the British Combat Association,
until such time as they may be able to qualify as an
Instructor in their own right.
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