|
Latest News
Mark interviewed by the BBC for Reporting Scotland on his views on the latest anti knife crime legislation
Mark was once again featured on the Television due to his knowledge of knife crime & edged weapons. Mark is an internationally renowned expert on the subject, & has been interviewed several times on national radio & television. The interview was part of a feature on BBC 1's Reporting Scotland programme about the latest legislation being introduced by the government to try to tackle knife crime.
Please take a minute to sign up to this petition!!!!
Maybe you will join this petition? Only 5000 people thereabouts have done this so far which is hardly a blip when compared to other petitions!!!!
Just some background- 2 Para alone have on this tour sent back over 50 casualties to the UK. The existing facilities & the NHS cannot cope, the individual troops are sent home to recover relying on NHS visiting services which themselves are over committed.
A lot more than 5000 names are needed for this petition and quite cynically, Downing Street has put a time limit of one month for this to be achieved. Do what you can. Please copy/click the link below to confirm your signature on the petition.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Wounded/
The petition was created by Denzil Connick and reads: "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Create a dedicated Military & Veterans Hospital within the UK." You will then have to enter your details then click on the reply from No 10 (I kid you not)to count. Please take a few minutes to support those people who give so much & get so little thanks.
Kettlebells Seminar on Sat July 19th a huge hit!
A big thanks to Rannoch Donald for a great course. Rannoch will be back again in October.
Tactical Edge Edinburgh going strong!
Tactical Edge is going strong in Scotlands Capitol city under Instructor Marcus Houston.
Marcus was certified as an instructor by Mark Davies in 2007, & immediately started teaching a Tactical Edge class in addition to his Krav Maga class. The Tactical Edge class has been a great success, & Marcus has already hosted 3 seminars with Mark Davies for his students.
Marcus started training with Mark Davies around 5 years ago through Marks work with Special Forces. This led to Marcus taking private lessons & becoming a student in Marks Arbroath class. Marcus has a wide range of training, having trained in various arts since he was a teenager.
Anyone looking for Reality Based training in the Edinburgh area should contact Marcus for class details on 01383 722219 / 07809 157200. Marcus has classes at Edinburgh Judo Centre, Lorne Street, Edinburgh.
Tactical Edge will be expanding this year, with representatives coming soon in Northern Ireland, Central Scotland & in Europe.
Mark Davies Certifies Greece's first ComTech Drawpoint Instructor
Mark Davies was invited to Athens Greece to perform a private seminar for Nikos Voyages & a hand picked group of training friends. Nikos had contacted Mark with a view to becoming qualified to teach ComTech Drawpoint in his instructors Kwoon in Athens.
After getting the go ahead from Master at Arms James Keating Mark put Nikos through an assement of his ability in the Drawpoint System, & after a small amount of fine tuning Mark was delighted to welcome him to the ComTech family & certify Nikos as a Drawpoint Instructor.
ITF England Masters Seminar great success
Mark was asked by Nick Symonds (ITF England technical director) to teach Applied TaeKwon-Do on their 'Masters Course' on the 11th November 07. The seminar had roughly 80 participants, with a 50/50 split between coloured & Degree grades. In the morning Competition sparring was covered by two of ITF Englands young stars, Matt & Felix. Master Ellis & Master Nardizzi took over to teach TaeKwon-Do basics & patterns; & then from 2pm they were handed over to Mark for around 3 hours of Applied TaeKwon-Do.
Mark started everyone on pre-emptive strikes, then moved into situational based training against common street attacks, & finally looked at weapons defence.
Everyone worked VERY hard, & showed a great deal of enthusiasm; & Mark has been invited 'down south' again by several instructors who enjoyed his material. Photo's will be in our 'previous seminars' section soon.
ComTech Europe- The elite in Self Protection in Europe!
Mark Davies is now the European Representative of Master at Arms James A Keating & Combat Technologies. Mark is the ONLY instructor certified as a Full instructor in Master at Arms ComTech fighting arts in the whole UK. We have now formed ComTech Europe to promote these systems throughout the UK & Europe. Mark is available to teach all the ComTech disciplines along with Tactical Edge through seminars or private tuition anywhere in Europe.
The Riddle of Steel 2007
Mark Davies is just back from Master at Arms James A Keating's Riddle of Steel seminar in Hells Canyon in the USA.
The Riddle of Steel is considered to be the most advanced Edged Weapons course in the world. The course itself is what MAAJAK calls 'one of the last American adventures'. Just getting to the course involves a 4 hour jet boat ride up the Snake River through Hells Canyon, crossing white water & rapids to get to Copper Creek Lodge. The course is performed amongst the Mule Deer, Bears, Cougars & Rattlesnakes common to the area. The 'Riddlers' first meet up at the dock at the back of the Quality Inn in Lewiston, the crowd on this Riddle was a good one. There was a good mix of people who had been on past Riddles, as well as people with no experience of MAAJAK's ComTech system. The participants were from all different backgrounds; with police & FBI officers, soldiers & civilian contractors, tradesmen, martial arts instructors & knifemakers.
Pete Kautz, Sean & Aussie Mark on the dock
The Jetboat ride is spectacular. Those boats really shift, & the pilot can really throw them around. You really get the feeling of travelling into the wilderness as you watch the scenery change & become spectacularly rugged. The course participants take the time to watch the scenery change, & to chat & catch up with old friends. Sitting beside Santos Garcia I had the privilige of being educated about the country we were travelling through, & learned about the spirit of the river we were travelling down.
Mark & Vinnie on the Jetboat
The jetboat stops off about half way to take on fuel & give the travellers a chance to refuel as well, giving everyone a chance to talk & exchange ideas & thoughts. Conduct on the Riddle of Steel is very important, & was something MAAJAK emphasised to everyone at this point. The Riddle is 4 hours away from the nearest help, & anyone doing something thoughtless or stupid could lead to some very serious concequences. A sobering thought.
Jim speaking to everyone about the 'house rules' o the course
After this stop the country gets much wilder, & the ride alot more fun with the boat banking about like a jet fighter as the pilot runs the rapids. We got it fairly smooth, according to Jim the run up the river when it is in spate during the spring is very entertaining & exciting. The journey really sets the course off, many courses you just turn up at another sports centre in another city- the Riddle is truely special!
The pilot puts his foot down
After travelling through beautiful scenery we reach the lodge. After finding our rooms its straight into training, with Jim taking everyone through some basic drills to get everyone reading from the same page. We started off working on the ComTech grip changing drill, & then moved into the thrusting triangle & tapping drills. One of the things I enjoy the most about training with Jim is that you learn as much listening to him as he lets his talk flow taking regular turns down 'tangent boulevard', as you do from the physical training. He is always enjoyable to listen to as he leads you to explore new ideas & concepts.
MAAJAK explaining the finer points of knife grips
The whole Riddle experience is one to remember. We would rise & start training early, so we could meet the rising sun. Jims friend Santos Garcia would then lead us in some energy work as the sun rose. Training was then performed in roughly 1 hour blocks with breaks for lunch & tea, right the way through into darkness. Once again Santos would finish each nights training with some energy work which gave everyone a sense of deep peace in that beautiful setting with the stars shining down. Laci Szabo provided us with some surprise entertainment on the Saturday night with some improptue 'fire breathing'. Laci is a fantastic character as well as a skilled martial artist & knife designer.
Jim & Eric demonstrating the thrusting triangle
Over the course of the camp we worked through Jims 'Street Steel' curriculum & Asian Blade concepts, Drawpoint drills & applications, Bowie techniques, Bandanna & flexible weapons, disarming techniques & much more. Pete Kautz did some great instruction along with Jim, & Ken Smith took everyone through a really enjoyable session on stick disarms. Ken Smith has to win the award for 'Hardest looking person on the planet 2007'. As Jim & Pete took everyone through the various aspects of the ComTech syllabus ComTech instructors Eric, Sean, Ken, Daniel & myself wandered around correcting & coaching. Sessions were fairly often visited by some of the local wildlife which was very amusing. Picture all these rough & tough knife weilding guys with 'bambi' walking about in their midst wondering what the hell is going on.
Our course is visited by one of the 'locals'
Pete & Mark demonstrating drawpoint drills
James Keating, maestro of the Bowie
MAAJAK demonstrating disarming techniques
Pete Kautz taking the group through Bandanna with Mark
Silence as we greet the sun rising over the mountains
Disarms using the Bandanna
The training kept going even when the sun went down
Pete Kautz speaking about the Bowie
James Keating & Mark Davies during some down time
Mark coaching Drawpoint Cover & Slash
A quiet moment talking by the river
Mark with the king of the AK47, Vini- glad this guys my friend!
Mark being the 'bad guy' for Aussie Marks 'In Quartata'
Mark with horribly multi talented Laci Szabo
Mark playing bladework with his teacher James Keating
It doesn't matter how many times I train with James Keating, I'm always captivated by the depth of his knowledge & experience. Its not just what he teaches, but how he teaches & explains things that for me makes him the masters master. In a speciality where many instructors push unrealistic hyper violent & bloodthirsty methods that would get you convicted in any jurisdiction in the world (& that are too long winded for military use), Master at Arms Keating always gives everyone a sober wake up call explaining the reality of what you will face if you have to use your skills. He is a man who has 'been there & done that' many times. His methods are fast, deadly, elegant & intelligent.
By the end of the course we had covered some of the most advanced knife combat skills on the planet. We headed back down river, everyone I think wishing we'd just had more time & to keep training & to keep the camraderie going. On the way back we stopped off to see some petroglyphs dating back thousands of years, long long before the Nez Perce tribe. It was a strange feeling, connecting you with warriors & hunters who moved through the same country thousands of years before you. You felt a sort of kinship with the spirits of that sacred place.
Ancient Petroglyphs
The path leading us home
The river eventually led us home, where we all said our farewells until next year. Everyone on a Riddle shares a very special time in a very special place, & many friendships are built on Riddle's. Graduates take the skills taught & spead them all over the world, along with the ethos & thoughts of James A Keating. Until next year guys.........
James A Keating, a man I'm proud to regard as my friend & teacher. A big thanks to all those who took some of the photo's I've used.
Page changed on: 31/07/2008
|
