Wild Geese Demo for SpunOut.ie

Yesterday we posted an interview Paul Cox gave for the youth charity SpunOut.ie , this video is the demonstration we gave.

In the clip you'll see how we put the Filipino Martial Arts and Kenpo karate together to form a complete self defence system.

Enjoy




Regards
Wild Geese
every cause but our own
Kenpo / Eskrima / BJJ / Strength & Conditioning
www.wildgeesema.com/ wildgeesema.blogspot.com / www.WG-Fit.com
info@wildgeesema.com
+353 87 672 6090
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Paul Cox interview on SpunOut.ie

Wild Geese Martial Arts founder and chief instructor, Paul Cox, has just been interviewed by http://www.spunout.ie/, supporting and empowering young people.

SpunOut.ie offers young people a platform for personal and social development leading them to increased all-round wellbeing in their own lives and in how they engage with society as citizens. . SpunOut.ie is youth-led in design, development and content, ensuring it reaches young people in a way that appeals to them. Using the pull factors of youth written magazine-style articles and a vibrant online forum for discussion and debate, SpunOut.ie provides a safe online space for young people to realise that they are not alone in the issues they face whilst growing up and, importantly, that they can make a positive change to their own wellbeing and to the world around them.

Since its launch in mid-2005, SpunOut.ie has received over 400,000 website visitors, directly involved 100s of young people in its development, reached millions through the media, and received awards and widespread praise from young people, parents, educators, youth workers and health professionals. This ongoing success is testimony to the demand that is out there, not only for ways of addressing our young people’s health needs, but also for the provision of innovative and meaningful platforms for catalysing social change.
Only by taking new approaches to engaging and involving young people can their needs, and the needs of the wider society, be understood and met. SpunOut.ie is leading the way in this regard and signals a powerful opportunity that, with the right support, can only get better.
See our blog for all the latest news on SpunOut.ie MAKING A DIFFERENCE!
SpunOut.ie is developed and managed by the youth-led Community Creations charity, is endorsed by key youth, health and community bodies and receives funding from a range of public, private and philanthropic sources

Now here's the interview:



Regards
Wild Geese
every cause but our own
Kenpo / Eskrima / BJJ / Strength & Conditioning
www.wildgeesema.com/ wildgeesema.blogspot.com
info@wildgeesema.com
+353 87 672 6090
Facebook / Twitter / RSS feed

New Wild Geese Fitness site

Wild Geese co founder and conditioning coach, Dave Hedges, has just launched his own website.

If you head over to www.WG-Fit.com you'll be able to read more about the services as well as read fitness related articles and info.
Ever since Dave failed a grade and got whupped in a tournament when he was 16, he's been looking for that edge that takes his martial arts to the next level.

He found the edge was simple, Strength & Conditioning. Watch a Rocky film to see the training montage and you'll get the point.
So in order to get the best info on training for health, fitness and fighting get over to www.wg-fit.com and have a look.
You'll also be able to subscribe to new blog posts there.

Regards

Wild Geese
www.wildgeesema.com
www.wg-fit.com
+353 87 672 6090

Quick Update

A couple of quick updates for you:

1. Judo is now being taught every Wed (8pm) and Friday (6.30pm).
   Top judo coach Mr Donal Tannam 3rd Dan of the Daigokan school has recently joined our team, please drop in and experience what is possibly the ultimate wrestling art taught by one of the countries top players.
   Donal is pictured here taking 2nd place in the British Masters
   


2. Wild Geese Training T Shirts are back in stock
   Put on your Christmas lists kids, we have small, med and large and for the first time we have women's skinny tee's, which are white. They're only €12 each and are top quality (Head coaches Paul and Dave have thoroughly road tested them, Paul really likes the skinny tee's....)
   


3. Tuesdays Beginner Kettlebell sessions are currently sold out - we hope to rectify this soon.
   


4. We are expecting samples coming in of Boxing Gloves, MMA Gloves, Hoodies and Shin guards, if they are up to scratch expect a full line of training kit available by Christmas. We will operate a two tier price scheme where our club members get the best price and we charge Joe public a small fortune......
   


5. Wild Geese conditioning Coach will be launching lunchtime fitness classes. If you've tried the kettlebell fitness sessions, you kinda know what to expect.
   He plans on running an open session, 30 minute workouts will be posted on the wall, you just turn up, get it done and get out, all under his watchful and beady eye.... This ought to up and running by the end of this month, keep an eye open here for more details.
   


6. The Wild Geese Xmas party will take place in January, this means you can get your boring work parties out the way and have something to look forward to in the new year.
   
7. Our graphics people are designing up Christmas gift vouchers - Give them to someone you think will benefit from them (even if it yourself, we won't tell anyone...)
   
8. I mentioned Christmas 4 times in this post and it's not even December yet, I hang my head in shame - Sorry

Ok, I know I said a couple, but I thought 8 was better value for money....

Regards
Wild Geese
every cause but our own
Kenpo / Eskrima / BJJ / Strength & Conditioning
www.wildgeesema.com/ wildgeesema.blogspot.com
info@wildgeesema.com
+353 87 672 6090
Facebook / Twitter / RSS feed

Who's the new guy at Wild Geese?

Wild Geese is pleased to welcome a new instructor to it's line up.

We already have not one, but two National Kickboxing Champions, a World Champion in Kickboxing and another in Doce Pares Eskrima. We've a man who took a bronze in the Kali Stick World Championships.
The list goes on.

So lets see how the new guy matches up to the standards expect. Here's a list:

2009
Atlanta Masters - 3rd place
Hungarian Open - Silver
2008
Irish Open - Bronze
London - Gold & Bronze
French Masters - Gold
Hungarian Masters - Bronze
Waterford Open - Bronze (senior men & masters)
2007
Irish Closed - Silver (masters)
Irish Open - Gold (masters)
NI Open - Bronze
British Masters - Silver
Hungarian Open - Bronze

Well you get the idea, my fingers are getting sore so I'll not continue. Between 2002 and 2009 this guy has amassed 2 golds, 5 silvers and 8 bronze medals, as well as a number of other championship titles.

And that's just the ones he's told us about.

Interested in learning form this man?

Who is he?

His name is Donal Tannam, he holds 3rd Dan black belt in Judo and is a respected member of the Irish Judo Association.

He'll be teaching every Wed 8pm and Friday 6.30pm. Beginners and experienced are all welcome.
Special note to the MMA guys, this guy will seriously improve you take down ability...

Drop in and meet Donal any Wed or Fri.
Or better yet, jump into his class.

Regards
Wild Geese
every cause but our own
Kenpo / Eskrima / BJJ / Strength & Conditioning
www.wildgeesema.com/ wildgeesema.blogspot.com
info@wildgeesema.com
+353 87 672 6090
Facebook / Twitter / RSS feed

Knives - Again.....

In the news again this week, another fatal stabbing.

The quiet country town of Tullamore, Co. Offaly, a woman stabbed to death receiving in the region of 40 wounds.

The weapon of choice...... A bread knife.

Thankfully our government saw fit to ban Samurai swords, otherwise the situation could have been a whole lot worse!

Apologies, I'm being facetious. I mean no disrespect to the victim or her family. I do however wish to take a look at the larger picture, one in which she has unfortunately become a detail in.

The picture is this, weapons are easily accessible to anyone who wish to cause harm. Right now, as I write this i have a steak knife left over from dinner beside the laptop, a glass bottle (yes, it's a beer bottle) beside it, a steel pen on the other side.
All of these, if I so chose, could become offensive and potentially lethal weapons, and I haven't even got u from the table.
Imagine if I took out the tool bag from under the stairs and grabbed any one of the screwdrivers, a chisel or stanley. A few extra steps has me in the kitchen, well enough said.

What is there to possible stop somebody like me in a such a weapon rich environment as the humble family home?

There is only your own training, your common sense, your awareness. The prevention beats cure mindset is always the best, but you must have a cure ready just in case.
A powerful, repetitive right hand pummelling into my skull may just slow me down enough that you might make your escape or a well timed disarm or "return to sender" could end my attack there and then.
We'll never know, but it's worth thinking about.

In your house, right now, as your reading this post, can you see your escape route if someone attacked you, what weapons are close to hand?
Even if you have a weapon, do you have the knowledge, training and confidence to use them?

Maybe that woman could have survived if she'd been able to put the man down or disarm him. Maybe.

Perhaps if she'd seen the event before it occurred she may have escaped. Maybe.

It's easy to sit here an hypothesise, but put yourself in her shoes, how would you have coped with a lunatic coming at you with a blade, murder in his heart. No amount of harsh penalties or sword ban is going to stop a man like this only you can.

If you have the training.

Drop us a line now, we may be able to help you help yourself.

Don't become a statistic, take a personal responsibility for your safety and the safety of those around you. Get down and do some training, your not too old or too weak, but without it you are too vulnerable.

I'd like you to come to us (or book us to come to you) but there are plenty of others teaching good stuff, there will be someone in your area, you just have to find them.

Get some training.

Stay safe

Wild Geese
every cause but our own
Kenpo / Eskrima / BJJ / Strength & Conditioning
www.wildgeesema.com/ wildgeesema.blogspot.com
info@wildgeesema.com
+353 87 672 6090
Facebook / Twitter / RSS feed

Knives Don't Kill People, People Do

A few days ago I was asked to speak on Radio Kerry regarding my views on the ban on the sale of samurai swords.
In short, while I’m in favour of getting blades off the streets, I don’t think the ban is the right way to go.

While driving to and from Wild Geese HQ, I have time on my own in the car to spend thinking about various aspects of life. Since the phone call with Radio Kerry, I’ve been thinking about knives a lot. Then I thought, well it’s not the knife’s fault, it’s the person wielding it. Then I started to think back over the most recent incidents.

The phone call from Kerry was due to a clash between two rival feuding families. During this clash various weapons were seized by the Garda (Irish Police), these weapons included a few Samurai swords, several Slash hooks, hammers and various other weapons.
The most recent event leading to the sword ban was a chopping in Dublin, where a samurai sword and hammer were used in an attack which left a man missing a hand.
There was an incident in one of Dublin’s more affluent areas where a lad walked off, only to return with a kitchen knife which he used on several people before ending his own life. If I remember right, he actually walked around to a nearby shop to buy the knife before returning.
While we can successfully ban the outlandish, speciality knives, but slash hooks are a farming & gardening tool, kitchen knives are well, we know what they’re for, fancy living without them?

Then in the news there is talk of harsher penalties for those that are caught carrying a blade. Again fair enough. But still, I think they’re missing the point.

When asked about the ban and the various penalties I often compare knife attacks with shootings. In Ireland guns are illegal, they have never been legal and most likely never will be, yet there are still people getting shot in Dublin with alarming regularity.
If guns are banned, and the penalties for owning one, never mind carrying or using one are serious, what difference will it make for those who favour the blade?
In my mind, none.

So, back to knives. We’ve got two warring families using whatever’s at hand. We’ve got gangland choppings, most likely as a punishment or warning. We’ve got a disturbed young man on a suicidal rampage. All used blades in their attacks. Which of the three do you think was considering the possible penalties from their actions?

Most likely none of them. So what if the blades they used were unavailable, ie banned?
In my mind they’d simply find an alternative weapon. Hammers, screwdrivers, chisels, glass & bottles, baseball bats, hurls the list goes on. These things are merely tools, inanimate objects, without an operator to use them they are absolutely harmless. This was illustrated in Thursdays Independent newspaper there were two reports following the deaths of people beaten to death. Punched and kicked in the head so brutally as to cause death. Now we’re hardly going to ban shoes, or are we?

So if a ban isn’t going to stop people destroying other people, what is?
This is a whole other issue, one that I am far from qualified to talk about. There is however a comments button below this post, please use it and offer your opinions if you have them. Maybe we’ll come up with a few answers.

The final point I’d like to make, is that the majority of these attacks and their victims are targeted. Criminal gangs and families that are fighting and feuding for whatever reason. The reasons are unimportant to you and I, we merely have to make sure we don’t get caught up in the crossfire.
Many people are unlucky enough to get caught in these things, with a little bit of training in awareness and self defence, perhaps they’d be able to get out before things turned nasty.

Obviously there are attacks with purely vicious motives, thefts and even random attacks where the attackers don’t know their victims. These our the main types of attack we need to prepare ourselves for.
Your safety is your responsibility, keep yourself aware of your surroundings and undertake some form of training so that you can get yourself out of trouble.

Remember the bodyguard mantra:
Avoid – Stay away from the threat
Escape – Get away from threat
Confront - If all else fails, go on the attack and dissolve the threat.

If you choose to learn how to defend yourself against a knife, Wild Geese chief instructor Paul Cox is one of the few European Doce Pares blackbelts to be registered in the Philippines. It is commonly accepted by those in the know that the Filipino Martial Arts are at the top of the food chain for when it comes to weapon defence. Paul regularly travels over to Grandmaster Danny Guba, a man with, as he says, a record.
I myself learn from Paul, when I have opportunity, Danny Guba and also have put together self defence training programs that are now being implemented by our associates over at ESTS (www.specialist-security.com)

Regards
Dave Hedges

Wild Geese
every cause but our own
Kenpo / Eskrima / BJJ / Strength & Conditioning
www.wildgeesema.com/ wildgeesema.blogspot.com
info@wildgeesema.com
+353 87 672 6090
Facebook / Twitter / RSS feed