Watch Out for the Pointy End: Knife Defence Manual to Assist in Training Citizens, Law Enforcement and Security Personnel

This book is a manual for the Knife Defence Course I taught at the Alberta Peace Officer’s 2017 Annual Convention. It covers everything taught at that seminar and more.

This is a very systematic layered training. I want to be clear for those buying this book that to make this approach to knife defence successful you have to work through the book from start to finish doing each of the drills until you gain the principles and skills intended from them. I think some look ahead and try what they see as a “technique” and they are shocked that it does not work well. Without doing the drills they won’t have the underlying principles required to make that “technique” work. I would ask that before judging the effectiveness of the book please take the time to work through it.

This is a system of counter assault. And while in this book it is presented to use against an assault with a knife this approach works against any sudden assault be that empty handed or with a stick or bat. The reason is that this system offers a tactical habit where the que is the assault, and the response is the approach trained in this book. For sudden assaults you can only have one response. There is no time to choose from options. If there is distance and time, then you have options but for a sudden assault you can only have one tactical habit trained into you.

Most knife attacks are knifings, which means they are sudden and start up close and personal. Knifings are most often done with one arm trying to control you as the other weapon arm stabs in short repetitive strikes like a sewing machine. That is the assault we must prepare for. But just as when learning to hit a baseball we do not start hitting the major-league pitcher’s 90 miles per hour fast ball we must start with easier attacks building the foundation, principles and skills to handle that fast ball. This book presents a system that builds toward the end goal of being able to defend yourself against a sudden all out brutal up-close assault. It will outline how your tactics must match your strategy to achieve your goal of survival. Two sets of tactics will be provided based on the four strategies for survival: Escape, Distance and deploy/grab a weapon, disable, and control. The way to use this book is to read and work through the drills beginning with assaults from a step away, then within arm’s reach, then one foot away and finally the brutal sewing machine strike attacks. The system offers techniques and ways to deal with the assaults but within those techniques are the underlying principles that make them work. Retain these and you increase your chances of survival.

Rick Wilson began his intense interest in the martial arts when his grandfather, Wallace Wilson, began teaching him boxing as a young child. Wallace Wilson had boxed while serving in World War I. This set off a lifelong interest in self-defence. Then later, as a young teen, he was briefly taught Judo by Master Masao Takahashi in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was his first hands on experience with the self defence arts of Asia. It was an interest and a love that would carry on throughout his life. Rick learned an appreciation for the devastatingly practical applications of martial arts when for a short period he studied Jiu-Jitsu in his teens under Kyoshi John Therien in Vanier, Ontario. He gained an understanding of the mental value of forms while training in Tae Kwon Do with Master Hong Park in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. All of this experience brought him to become a student of Uechi Ryu Karate Jutsu with Shihan Neil Dunnigan, then with Kyoshi David Mott and now, because of his focus on reality, he is on his own seeking the most effective material he can. Rick's delving into the reality base of martial arts was heavily influenced by two legendary Seniors of Uechi Ryu, Van Canna and Jim Maloney (both holding 10th Dan in Uechi Ryu) as well as the writings and teaching of Rory Miller. For Rick Wilson the close quarters combat aspect of Uechi Ryu with its Southern China influences was the style that suited him best. He could bring all his past experience and find a place for it. He continues his lifelong study of Uechi Ryu Karate and has established the International Uechi Ryu Pwangainuun Association (IUPA). In 2010 Rick Wilson was honoured to be evaluated by Jim Maloney Sensei and promoted to Rokyudan Renshi (6th degree). Rick also currently studies a version of the Chen Taiji Practical Method from his long time training partner, Rick Bottomley. Rick closed his martial arts school after eighteen years to devote more time to his grand children and now runs the Wilson Practical Defence website (wpd-rc.com) offering instructional videos and seminars and is also a Senior Consultant for Randy King's KPC Self Defense in Edmonton, Alberta, a Krav Maga school. Rick taught his knife defence system at the Alberta Peace Officers 2017 Annual Conference.