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Martial
Arts Expert Teaches Pensioners How to Turn Their Walking Sticks into
Weapons
The Daily Mail
January 2, 2008
Walking
stick ninja: Kevin Garwood teaches how to use the humble walking stick as
a weapon
A martial arts expert has set up special walking stick self-defense
classes.
Judo
and karate black belt Kevin Garwood, 58, is teaching his elderly students
how to transform the humble walking stick from a symbol of old age or
disability into a weapon to boost self-confidence.
And his lessons have already paid off after an old
woman fought off two thugs who tried to mug her.
Kevin, of Gorleston, near Great Yarmouth,
Norfolk
, is showing people how to use the walking stick to fight back instead of
specialist oriental fighting sticks, staffs or nunchuks.
He currently teaches three walking stick self-defense
classes a week and aims to start more sessions this year.
Kevin said: "What I am not trying to do is make
grey-haired ninjas or have people twitching and always looking over their
shoulders. What it does is give them tremendous confidence."
He said he was keen to make people present themselves
as less vulnerable after hearing American prisoners say they targeted
"the vacant, the bewildered, people who didn't know where they were
going".
His classes focus on how people look, starting before
they even leave the house.
"Before you go out of the house, think about the
route. Then even if you are walking slowly, if you are positive and your
brain is engaged, you look less like a victim," said Kevin.
Classes begin with a warm-up, focusing on gentle
movements of the hands, wrists, arms and bodies and going on to turning
and twirling the stick.
Pupils practice sets of movements and learn simple
strangleholds, arm locks and throws, using their walking sticks.
"We don't teach lots of complicated techniques. It
is basic stuff, stuff you can remember," said Kevin.
Techniques as simple as focusing on a target in the
mid-distance as they walk make elderly people look and feel more
confident.
And there have been definite successes including an
elderly woman in
Yarmouth
fought off two yobs who grabbed her arm and her handbag.
"She went to the police station because she was
worried about having hurt the boys," said Kevin.
The dad-of-four has been teaching traditional martial
arts since the 1970s and walking-stick self defense for three years -
building on his skills as a ju jitsu instructor and a leader of gentle
exercise classes for older people.
He added: "I have done martial arts for many years
and I was looking for something that people could take anywhere.
"Now I always carry a walking stick, even though I
don't need one to help me walk."
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