cktimes.ca

Dan Longtin and Chad Barry use bojuka self defence techniques.

Chad Barry's Martial Arts had a special guest for its Saturday session at the Chatham YMCA as Level 3 Bojuka Specialist Dan Longtin paid a visit to demonstrate bojuka to Barry's martial arts students.
Barry teaches Black Arts Unarmed Military Combat in his martial arts academy and that involves using the components of various martial arts fighting systems to develop a system that works as the most effective self defense technique as often as possible.
"We tend to incorporate techniques from various systems," said Barry. "We try to bring in the best of the best and use it. If we see a technique that only works 20% of the time, that's no good. If it doesn't work, you need something else."
Everything Barry teaches has to do with effectiveness on the street. "It's all self defence and not a lot of flashy stuff," he said. "It's all designed to work for you as self defense on the street. The problem with reacting on the street is that there are a lot of variables. This helps makes the response automatic."
The Bojuka system is a good fit for his school, said Barry. "It's a street-effective self defense system. It's been fully tested both by law enforcement agencies and individuals."
Barry brings in experts like Longtin as often as he can. "Dan will be back in at a Martial Arts Convention in Chatham in June," he said. He's hoping to have expert instructors visit from across Southern Ontario and the U.S.
"Bringing in someone like Dan raises the awareness that there are different systems out there," he said. "Bringing Dan to town helps give the students new tools to work with. They can apply them when developing their own system."
Barry said that learning martial arts can be a big benefit to most people. "A big thing is the self confidence that it builds," he said, "and everybody should be able to defend themselves. You might not have to use it, but you never know."
In fact, the martial arts instructor, who is a 5th degree black belt in the Black Arts and a 3rd degree in Kyusho Jitsu, had to put his own skills to use recently. "I had a break and enter," he said. "Potentially, my whole family could have been in danger. Because of my training, I was able to apprehend the intruder without a problem."
Barry said there is also a good focus on conditioning and flexibility. "There's not as much strength training," he said. "But being physically fit is just good protection."