Where I begin

I begin with the kinds of physical aggression people actually face, rather than starting with a karate technique and looking for an attack to fit it.

Begin with what happens

If I start by demonstrating a movement from kata and then ask a student to attack in just the right way, it is all too easy to make the answer look convincing. That does not tell us whether we have understood the problem.

My starting point is different. Drawing on Patrick McCarthy’s Habitual Acts of Physical Violence (HAPV) framework, I choose a recognisable physical problem: perhaps a forceful shove, a grab at the clothing, a headlock or a close-range strike. The important thing is not to work through a list for its own sake. It is to look at the behaviour we are preparing for.

We examine what is happening. Have they been pulled or pushed off balance? Are they being moved, held or struck? What space do they have? What might follow the initial contact? And, importantly, was there an opportunity to avoid the confrontation or leave before it became physical?

Those questions give the training a context. Without it, almost any movement can be made to look like an answer.

Understand the danger before choosing a response

Take a double-handed grab at the front of the clothing. It may appear to be just a grip, but the real problem could be the loss of balance, a pull forward, a headbutt or another strike that follows. If students are trained only to release the hands, they may miss what the aggression is actually doing.

We can begin with a manageable version of that problem, then explore balance, distance, posture, movement and control. At first a simple response may be introduced so students can feel the mechanics. But that example is not a rule that one attack must always have one answer.

The student has to understand what the response is trying to achieve, because the other person's behaviour can change.

The attack is the question. The training must help students recognise the question before they commit to an answer.

Where kata comes in

Once the problem has been established, movements from kata can help us recognise and study useful principles. A movement we have called a block may function as control, a check, a pull, a change of angle or a close-range action. We test that possibility with a partner rather than assuming that a familiar shape proves its purpose.

In this way the kata becomes a memory aid for paired practice. It does not dictate what an attacker must do, nor does it supply a guaranteed answer to every HAPV situation.

That is the distinction I want students to understand from the beginning.