Get into the game! Most players and coaches will tell you baseball is 90% mental, I say self defense is the same way. When in the field baseball players are always playing the “what if” game. They have a plan of what to do if the ball comes to them, even what to do if the ball is a fly, on the ground, or comes on the left or right. Their choices depend on what is going on around them, how many outs, who is on base, how well they run, and who is batting, what the score is, and what inning they are in. It sounds like a lot, but it is possible for a player to come up with all the info and know what to do with the ball if they get it. They even see themselves doing it in their mind. And they always look perfect (in their mind).
So you need to get into the game too. While you can’t be perfect, you can’t look at all the variables, and can’t know what to do for everything that happens, you can still play “what if.” If that person turns and attacks me with his fist, what would I do? While sitting in line at the bank, what would you do if someone ran in with a gun to rob the place? More importantly (because it’s more likely), what would you do if you where in a convenience store and someone was robbing the place? What if you walk into a robbery in progress?
If you have a basic plan in place it makes it easy to act. Military units will practice the basic things that can help again and again. The Marines call them IA Drills (immediate action drills). They are for the most important things, like surprise attacks. They practice from the left, right, back, front, near, far, and even above. The plan is not perfect, but most of the time doing anything is better then nothing, and the faster you can do it the harder it is for the bad guys to react.
When I’m out, I’ll look around at the people around me and try not to use someone actually standing there, because I don’t want to have it in my mind what a bad guy looks like. If a person attacked me in this alley right now, I would push him back and run…maybe. Or if I walk into a bank and it’s being robbed, I would turn around and run out the door, turn left immediately, and move to the side of the bank away from the windows. If the convenience store I’m in gets robbed I would run out the back door and go away from the building and just keep going. I’m sitting in a restaurant with my family and someone comes in with a gun and starts shooting, I’d grab my kid under one arm and push my wife with the other into the kitchen and find a back door from there. All of these depend on what you are doing, what you are carrying, where you are compared to the bad guy, where you are in the store, how well you know the area and…the list goes on and on.
There are just so many variables it’s impossible to come up with something for everything, but if you have an idea it allows you to move faster and hopefully be safer.
Stay Safe,
Ben