The concept
of role-playing has become an essential part of reality self defence training.
However, most trainer's idea of role-playing is to practice "yelling drills".
This article offers some advice on how to get the most from role-playing and
scenario training.
This article was inspired by a discussion
on my Combative Minds Group on LinkedIn. If you are not a member yet, head over
now and join the group.
Role-play has become an essential part of
self defence training. It used to be that training didn't go much further than
the actual physical techniques. Now, most people who train in reality self
defence wrap up the physical techniques inside some kind of scenario. In the
quest for ever more realism in training, instructors began to introduce the
concept of role-playing, where students would "play the part" of an attacker as
opposed to just being somebody’s training partner.
The
Interview
We know that in most conflict scenarios
there is a build-up of tension and aggression and this build-up always begins
with dialogue. It therefore makes a lot of sense to introduce this build-up of
aggression into self defence training.
A lot of assaults happen because the victim
didn't handle this build-up- the “interview”- properly. They allowed themselves
to be further drawn into conflict, or they allowed the aggressor to intimidate
them into submission. Either way, the fight was over before any punch was
thrown. By practicing managing this interview stage in the dojo however, through
roleplaying, there is a much greater chance that you will do so with more skill
and with greater confidence if you had to do it for real outside the training
hall. There are a few things that need to be understood about role-playing
however.
Realistic
Build-Up
Firstly, most scenarios in a lot of gyms
are no more than what Jamie Clubb calls "yelling drills", where the attacker
immediately gets aggressive, starts shouting and pushing the defendant around
the mats, asking him what his fucking problem is.
This may seem real, and it is in a way, but
in actuality, most conflicts don't start that way. There is usually at least a
few lines of dialogue spoken before the aggression levels get that
high.
With predators especially, there is always
an interview included in their plan of attack. They always approach initially
with deceptive dialogue and body language. They innocuously ask for the time or
directions before they launch their full assault.
The reason being, to take you of your
guard, to distract your attention and create a window of opportunity for
themselves.
Scenario training has to reflect that.
There has to be a lead up to the assault.
Soft
Skills
Secondly, good role-playing allows for
practice of the soft skills.
Quite a lot of conflicts and assaults can
be stopped through self-assertiveness and de-escalation.
In relation to street predators, if you can
communicate your intentions through correct body language and dialogue, you may
be able to put most of them off. Your calm and assertive reaction to their
threats or bad intentions will communicate to them that you are not what they
are looking for, which is an easy victim. They will move on and find someone
else.
In the case of dealing with someone who is
building up to violence for some other reason (if they were monkey dancing, for
instance) you may be able to defuse the situation through
dialogue.
In both cases, you stand a much greater
chance of reaching a non-violent conclusion if you practice such scenarios,
properly, with full dialogue, in training.
To do so requires a bit more creativity and
imagination than the standard yelling drills. It requires a bit of
acting.
Improve Your Acting
Skills
And that's the third thing to understand
about role-playing. To role-play successfully, you really have to improve your
acting skills.
All it really takes is a bit of imagination
and lots of practice, plus the ability to just go for it and not be embarrassed
in front of your training partners. It's easier if you try to relax and have fun
with it.
Needless to say, the more you put into
these role-plays, the more you'll get out of them. You want to get to the stage
where you can have whole conversations and diffuse the situation without
recourse to violence. For that to happen though, the person playing the threat
can't go into the scenario thinking they are going to attack straight away. They
have to be willing to play things out a little before deciding whether to attack
or not. If the defendant does a good enough job of dissuading them, then they
don't attack. If things go sideways they will attack.
Like I say, both players (or all players in
the case of multiple threats) have to try and immerse themselves in their roles
as much as possible. The more you immerse yourself in the role, the more
naturally and realistically the scenario will play out.
Scenario training is an essential part of
self defence training, but to get the most from it you may have to look at
outside sources for information, like in the fields of acting, behavioural
psychology, criminal psychology etc. in order to add more depth to your
practice.
Playing scenarios is a skill, but one which
is well worth learning.
The concept
of role-playing has become an essential part of reality self defence training.
However, most trainer's idea of role-playing is to practice "yelling drills".
This article offers some advice on how to get the most from role-playing and
scenario training.
This article was inspired by a discussion
on my Combative Minds Group on LinkedIn. If you are not a member yet, head over
now and join the group.
Role-play has become an essential part of
self defence training. It used to be that training didn't go much further than
the actual physical techniques. Now, most people who train in reality self
defence wrap up the physical techniques inside some kind of scenario. In the
quest for ever more realism in training, instructors began to introduce the
concept of role-playing, where students would "play the part" of an attacker as
opposed to just being somebody’s training partner.
The
Interview
We know that in most conflict scenarios
there is a build-up of tension and aggression and this build-up always begins
with dialogue. It therefore makes a lot of sense to introduce this build-up of
aggression into self defence training.
A lot of assaults happen because the victim
didn't handle this build-up- the “interview”- properly. They allowed themselves
to be further drawn into conflict, or they allowed the aggressor to intimidate
them into submission. Either way, the fight was over before any punch was
thrown. By practicing managing this interview stage in the dojo however, through
roleplaying, there is a much greater chance that you will do so with more skill
and with greater confidence if you had to do it for real outside the training
hall. There are a few things that need to be understood about role-playing
however.
Realistic
Build-Up
Firstly, most scenarios in a lot of gyms
are no more than what Jamie Clubb calls "yelling drills", where the attacker
immediately gets aggressive, starts shouting and pushing the defendant around
the mats, asking him what his fucking problem is.
This may seem real, and it is in a way, but
in actuality, most conflicts don't start that way. There is usually at least a
few lines of dialogue spoken before the aggression levels get that
high.
With predators especially, there is always
an interview included in their plan of attack. They always approach initially
with deceptive dialogue and body language. They innocuously ask for the time or
directions before they launch their full assault.
The reason being, to take you of your
guard, to distract your attention and create a window of opportunity for
themselves.
Scenario training has to reflect that.
There has to be a lead up to the assault.
Soft
Skills
Secondly, good role-playing allows for
practice of the soft skills.
Quite a lot of conflicts and assaults can
be stopped through self-assertiveness and de-escalation.
In relation to street predators, if you can
communicate your intentions through correct body language and dialogue, you may
be able to put most of them off. Your calm and assertive reaction to their
threats or bad intentions will communicate to them that you are not what they
are looking for, which is an easy victim. They will move on and find someone
else.
In the case of dealing with someone who is
building up to violence for some other reason (if they were monkey dancing, for
instance) you may be able to defuse the situation through
dialogue.
In both cases, you stand a much greater
chance of reaching a non-violent conclusion if you practice such scenarios,
properly, with full dialogue, in training.
To do so requires a bit more creativity and
imagination than the standard yelling drills. It requires a bit of
acting.
Improve Your Acting
Skills
And that's the third thing to understand
about role-playing. To role-play successfully, you really have to improve your
acting skills.
All it really takes is a bit of imagination
and lots of practice, plus the ability to just go for it and not be embarrassed
in front of your training partners. It's easier if you try to relax and have fun
with it.
Needless to say, the more you put into
these role-plays, the more you'll get out of them. You want to get to the stage
where you can have whole conversations and diffuse the situation without
recourse to violence. For that to happen though, the person playing the threat
can't go into the scenario thinking they are going to attack straight away. They
have to be willing to play things out a little before deciding whether to attack
or not. If the defendant does a good enough job of dissuading them, then they
don't attack. If things go sideways they will attack.
Like I say, both players (or all players in
the case of multiple threats) have to try and immerse themselves in their roles
as much as possible. The more you immerse yourself in the role, the more
naturally and realistically the scenario will play out.
Scenario training is an essential part of
self defence training, but to get the most from it you may have to look at
outside sources for information, like in the fields of acting, behavioural
psychology, criminal psychology etc. in order to add more depth to your
practice.
Playing scenarios is a skill, but one which
is well worth learning.
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