Your first line of self-deFence

The fence is simple to learn, but it maintains your safety space and places your hands in a good position to defend yourself from

In almost any confrontation situation, it's preferable to calm things down than to progress to violence, even when you're nearly certain of victory. Equally, if things do look as though they might escalate towards violence, it's important to be prepared.

One of the most important things is to retain distance between you and the aggressor, so that they cannot surprise you. Most karate works best at mid to long range. Some people will point to the locks and grapples, and tell you that karate is fine at every range, but the truth is, grappling is what you do when your other skills have failed.

Most of the striking techniques we practice work best when your opponent is away from you. To ensure that they stay at that distance, we use a technique called "The Fence" to maintain their distance. Now most people's instinct when they face a hostile situation is to back away from it. The trouble is, there could be danger behind you; a kerb,  a car, a wall. Even if there are no obstacles for you to trip over or bash into, backing away gives the aggressor the wrong mindset - it reinforces their feeling of dominance, making it more likely that they will launch a physical attack.


Using the fence - Teens and adults

1. Don't allow the other person to get any closer than kicking distance

2. If the other person starts to walk forwards, slowly step one foot back into sanchin or heiko sanchin stance. Don't make a fast aggressive move or it may escalate the situation.

3. As you step back, raise both arms in front of you with index fingers touching, and palms facing 45 degrees towards the ground. Your finger tips should be throat height for the other person (aim for the little v shaped notch where the clavicles converge), which serves to discourage them from trying to barge through your fence. If you raise your palms flat towards them in "stop" position, many aggressors will try to walk through it to prove how tough they are.

Incidentally, raised arms also obscure your legs if you decide to use a front kick.

4. Wave your hands up and down in calming, waving motion as you try to talk the situation down. This shows clearly to any cameras that you were trying to diffuse the situation.

5. Do not step back any further. Look the attacker calmly in the eyes as you talk. You should already be considering how you will hurt them if needs be. The two most likely options are; "block right punch, strike to face." or  "front kick to hip flexor, hook punch to jaw."

6. If their posture indicates that they are preparing to hit you, hit them first, and hard, and don't stop until the threat is neutralised. Do not use excessive force such as stomping on them when they're on the floor.


Using the fence - At school

1. Don't allow the other person to get any closer than kicking distance

2. If the other person starts to walk forwards, slowly step one foot back into pigeon toed or natural stance. Don't make a fast aggressive move or it may escalate the situation.

3. As you step back, raise both arms in front of you with index fingers touching, and palms facing 45 degrees towards the ground. Your finger tips should be throat height for the other person (aim for the dimple where the chest and the throat meets), which serves to discourage them from trying to barge through your fence. If you raise your palms flat towards them in "stop" position, many people will try to walk through it to prove how tough they are.

4. Wave your hands up and down in calming, waving motion as you try to talk the situation down. This shows clearly to any cameras that you were trying to diffuse the situation. If you are at school, repeat in a loud voice, "Stay back!" or "Stop, stop , stop!" or "No, no, no!" This may attract the attention of teachers who can help, but even if it doesn't, the noise is shocking to the other person, and it gives you confidence.

5. Do not step back any further. Look the attacker calmly in the eyes as you speak. You should already be considering how you will defend yourself if needs be. At school, strikes should be used only as a last resort. A less harmful solution to a punch might be "block punch, shove opposite shoulder" or "avoid shove, trip them up and run".

6. If their posture indicates that they are preparing to hit you, hit them first, and hard, and don't stop until the threat is neutralised or you have escaped to safety. Do not use excessive force such as stomping or kicking them when they're on the floor.