The Forming of the British Krav Maga Organisation

The BKMA Experience and the Forming of the British Krav Maga Organisation

We have run full time schools for over a decade and have been successful for a very long time. Krav Maga has been a passion since we went to Jacksonville to visit Master Bill Clark of Karate America in 2004. Bill Clarke is a well respected figure in Krav Maga Worldwide. Our Martial Arts Curriculum is a Freestyle curriculum that incorporates Sport, Self defence and fitness. Since our visit to Jacksonville, we have studied and taught Krav Maga techniques as additions to a mostly sport and fitness program. In early 2013 we approached Paul Grey of Bristol Krav Maga about his instructor training program so we could get an apparent Krav Maga instructor stamp on our soon to be total self defence program. Mr Grey told us he was a life-long martial artist that had taught Wing chun for many years and came across Krav Maga which he found more useful. He claimed he was high up in the IKMF and when he realized they were just out for themselves he left and started up his own Association. After a chat with Mr Grey I decided to attend his course so as to get his qualification.

The BKMA Qualification

This is an 18 day course. The Training Program is heavily aimed at the military due to present funding opportunities through what is known as LCAS. In order to get LCAS funding Mr Grey has added on a teacher training qualification known as PTTLS that can be taken separately from most learning providers for £250+. The military would not normally fund a Krav Maga instructor course because it is not a recognised course. Paul Grey advertises his course as a Level 4 qualification which is misleading as he hands out a basic certificate to candidates. The level 4 is the Pttls qualification which is useless for instructors who have no intention of teaching a QCF accredited course. Mr Paul Grey charges over £2000 for this course. Military Personnel The requirements of being on a BKMA Krav Maga course apparently was 3 years martial arts experience or equivalent military or police experience. Before the course I thought this was a great idea however I have recently discovered military and police do not have much hand to hand experience if any. In today’s modern armed forces hand to hand combat is obsolete due to modern technology. Being a security trainer I have numerous ex-police, and ex-military friends who have verified that fact. So why do the BKMA Krav Maga Group accept military personnel on a course where these guys will be teaching physical self defence skills to the public who are none the wiser and just a few days behind there trainers. The answer is Marketing and financial reasons. Most of the general public believes from the movies that the military are specially trained in all aspects of self defence. They couldn’t be further from the truth. The armed forces is giving out £2500+ per year for each leaver, that is easy pickings for training companies and the BKMA Krav Maga offer something new to leavers who believe they can teach the public self defence after a 18 day course.

My Experience of the Course.

Phase one The course was held at a MMA gym in Somerset which had the EDL flag plastered everywhere. On my course we had two military guys Chris and Will. We had a personal trainer Paul who was the most experienced, Martial arts wise but had no idea of running a school as he was a personal trainer by trade. We had a South African by the name of Sean who claimed had not much experience but was looking for a new direction. We also had two Taekwondo guys Mark and Michael and last of all a kickboxer by the name of Kai. In all I was the only one with business experience and a good grounded knowledge of multiple martial arts styles.

Day one was what Paul Grey called the arse hole filter. He beasted the guys with Burpees, press ups, sit-ups, squats, runs and more. At the end he got us all sparring. Throughout Day one we worked on mainly 360 blocking which is the most practiced defence system in Krav Maga. After Day one I was beginning to question the abilities of Mr Paul Grey as for me the course was about knowledge and not doing a whole day of cross fit training and a few drills.

The whole 9 days of phase one was much of the same. Fitness and small amounts of krav maga such as 360 blocking and a few knife techniques. On day 8 I had the chance to spar again and with a few visiting instructors of Mr Paul Grey. It was apparent that I was paying for what I already knew, it was like sucking eggs. I am in my 40’s and these guys were being hit at will. Chris one of the RAF guys started to call me Master E and said I should have been teaching the course it was that bad.

At the end of day 8 Mr Grey decide to get us all full contact sparring. I began to really question Mr Greys experience when I was sparring with Will Maunder Taylor who is a large Military guy. I picked Will off with a simple Jab and Paul Grey shouted at him to go forward as he was the bigger guy. So what Will did was to put his head down and plough forwards which exposed him to an onslaught of vicious hooks and uppercuts. Will turned up the next day unable to spar as he believed he may have concussion, I shook my head as it was Mr Grey that put him in danger and I was just defending myself. The lack of sparring ability for instructors was put down to it being too dangerous to really spar Krav maga. I was told it was different for me (in other words I could spar) as I have competitive sparring experience, which was just sport but not reality based. This concerned me as this meant BKMA Krav Maga instructors were untested and never would be, based on that way of thinking.

 Day 9 we covered one gun technique and the business side of running a professional school. To my dismay I knew more than Paul did on all aspects of running a school. He was a member of United Professionals which is a consulting and billing company that went bust some years ago. He explained he’d left them before they went bust due to their inability to help him with his curriculum. For me this was the final nail in the coffin. United Professionals have helped 100’s of Martial artists to run very successful schools. For an individual to leave based on the fact they could not help him with his curriculum meant not so long ago Mr Grey was still finding his feet so therefore this is a case of the blind leading the blind.

I was also unhappy with the course when he began to ask me about my class planning as he wanted some fresh ideas. Mr Grey invited his Bristol university, Glouster and Swindon instructor Will Bayley to give us a testimonial on his time with the BKMA. From what I gathered Will had done a little Ninjitsu and went on to do Paul Greys Instructor course. Will was ecstatic that he had 60 students in 5 months. From a professional background 60 students amongst 3 locations one of which being a university group was a bit low. I suppose to the guys with no experience at all 60 students was an amazing number. We see double that in one day of the week at one location.

Phase Two This phase was very much of the same cross training and bits of Krav Maga except we covered baseball bat defence and his version of stick defense. We also covered stick verses knife. Apart from that we continued to cover mainly 360 blocking, some knife and sparring. There was nothing new and the whole 2 phases made it clear the BKMA Krav Maga syllabus was 80% cross fit and 20% self defence drills. From what I gathered about Krav Maga it was a mixture of Martial arts aimed to provide self defence solutions for all possible attacks. Paul Grey seemed to provide bits of Krav Maga with classes padded out with fitness. By giving little bits a potential instructor is tied to keep going back to Paul Grey for updates while teaching watered down classes of fitness and bits of Self defence.

BKMA Instructor Exam that I attended

On the day of the grading I was greeted by Mr Grey with indifference and also by his equal opportunities officer Mark Edwards. Mark is one of those that yes’s and no’s for Mr Paul Grey and I just knew the fix was in, I even called my wife before the grading kicked off to let her know that it looked like there was no way I would be passed no matter how hard I tried. Paul Grey looked at me as very much a threat and was concerned that I didn’t want to affiliate to the BKMA based on the fact I was already established.

My Paul Grey felt he had trained a competitor. We asked two of his Bristol Krav Maga instructors prior to the exam taking place what would be expected on the day of the exam. We were told lots of drills and sparring. Mr Paul Grey for the first time decided not to have sparring. At the end of the session the decision was obvious before i even started. I went ballistic and made it clear how corrupt his system was. He refused to give me a retest and I threatened to sue.

He then changed his tune and gave me my money back but has not yet recompensed me for my time, loss of earning and accommodation from my time spent doing his 18 day course. Passing novices to teach Krav Maga, and most clearly not having 3 year continued martial arts experience was not a problem for him. I immediately texted the guys of what I thought and you can see for yourself there answers. (Click on the image and it should get bigger)

   

Mr Grey thinks he’s in a fine position. He can hand out certs to whoever will line his pockets and thinks he can kill competition by just failing them and publishing the fact if they set up a rival business.

As a fighter and a champion I was not going to stay down and hence began my own Krav Maga classes and association. Validity of a BKMA Qualification A QCF accredited qualification such as NVQ’s and Btec quals require a sector specific qualified tutor, assessor and internal verifier as well as an external verifier from an awarding body.

The BKMA Krav Maga Qualification does not have this infrastructure. Mark Edwards was down as the examiner but in reality he was just an accomplice as with what seems little experience then what he received from Paul Grey and no accomplishments martial arts wise he would pass who he was told too. The testing method is open to corruption. In reality there is no proof of competence on a BKMA Krav Maga instructor exam as there is no video evidence. All we have to go off is the word of a competitor and rival that I did not meet their standards.

The birth of the BKMO

 Sat in my office I was pondering what to do now. Do I go to Israel where I can get a qualification. I wasn’t prepared to do this. I have a wealth of experience and have all the ingredients to give justice to a true British Krav Maga system. I hold an instructor red arm band in Muay Thai, 5th degree Kickboxing black belt, 1st dan in Karate, 1st Degree black belt in Escrima and practice Krav Maga syllabus for 9 years. I am the World Fight Martial Arts England President and been a national coach for 9 years. Sat in my office with my team we started the English Krav Maga Association. A week later a friend of Mine Everton Smith of Newport Martial arts approached me about coming on board.

Everton being Welsh made me think bigger and we became the British Krav Maga Organisation as BKMA and BKMF was already taken. 18 Days or 8 day Courses The BKMA Krav MAga system is about getting total novices in to a position to teach some form of class that will keep them entertained until the instructor gets some updates on their CPD events.

I feel 18 days is not enough to get a novice teaching true self defence. At first we tried the 18 day thing and realised a competent Martial artsist can grasp the syllabus a lot quicker as 80% would have been covered by most styles. “The striking is all the same just the rules are different.” We will not take novices on as instructors. All our guys are accomplished martial artists. Krav Maga is a syllabus that takes out all the complicated techniques and gives students something workable in a short space of time.

Krav Maga defences are taken from other martial arts and as said before 80% of accomplished martial artists would have covered the techniques at one point in their training. Escapes from chokes and holds are all generic amongst most martial arts. Punches and kicks are very much the same. Accomplished martial artists provide a polished element to Krav Maga as opposed to 18 day novice instructors who deliver some pretty poor striking techniques which learners copy.

I liken teaching to a baking tin. If there is a dent in the tin all the cakes that come out of it will have dents. Paul Grey passes the unpolishedness of the instructors with the phrase Krav Maga is not made to look pretty. As our instructors are accomplished we only require them to do a 8 day course to get them started. Anyone can view our syllabus on our website and see what we cover as well as understand there is ample material to go through.

Paul Grey at present has not published a syllabus on his site and from what I experienced on the instructor course I understand why. They want to give a little and hope people keep coming back. One of their instructors Mark Papiani mentioned this as he criticised there website that there was no syllabus.

Paul Grey I have been combing the web to find out more info on Paul Grey and cannot find much apart from this popular quote he writes about himself:- “My name is Paul and I am a professional Martial Artist. I have trained and taught all over the UK for various organisations and run Bristol Krav Maga. I have trained to advanced and expert levels and teach the British Krav Maga Association’s 18 day Instructor Course through to advanced Krav Maga Instructors. I am a certified personal trainer and a crossfit certified trainer. My work has taken me from a range of conflict management roles including trainer and specialist conflict trainer drawing up programmes for institutions.” Paul never talks much about his martial arts experience. From talking with him he is very much unaccomplished as a martial artist. He is a wing chun teacher who went on a Krav Maga course when the Israelis first came over to England and he began teaching after the short course. From talking with Paul he has never been in any one to one confrontations. He was a Psychiatric nurse in a prison I gathered.

A bit about Myself

 I am a fully qualified trainer who teaches conflict resolution and personnel safety, Security training, first aid and more. I have worked with schools, colleges and firms to provide personal protection training. I have worked for the Olympic games providing Assault and avoidance training for civilians and joint armed forces (This can be verified) I am very much an accomplished Martial artist. I am:-   WFMC England President (This can be verified by visiting the WFMC Website) National Coach for many years (This can be verified by contacting Master Curtis Page)  Kickboxing 5th Degree Black Belt (This can be verified by contacting Master Curtis Page)   Systemized Escrima Black Belt (This can be verified by contacting Tony Sykes) §  Freestyle Karate Black Belt (This can be verified by approaching Dave Breed) Fung Sau Street fighting Kung Fu (Grand Master Malcom Chamberlain is now deceased) Muay Thai Red Arm band (Master Sken can verify this) I came across Krav Maga and how the syllabus was taught on visiting Karate America in Jacksonville in 2004 and that can be verified by my traveling Partner Tony Higo of the National Martial Arts college, Everton of Newport Martial Arts, Stephen Thompson of Kaizen Dojo or Bill Clarke the owner of Karate America.

The self defence system was incorporated into my class from then. After our run-ins, with a poorly run course by Paul Grey it is was apparent Krav Maga needed a professional approach with more polished practitioners. Paul Grey claims he teaches authentic Israeli Krav Maga . Our claims are we teach British Krav Maga. True brits teaching a very much home grown style of Krav Maga. British Krav Maga has adopted a generic Krav Maga syllabus which is devised to cover all aspects of self defence in the style of Main stream Krav Maga.

We are very open with our syllabus for all to see and use. We video what we do and place clips on the web so it can be compared to other Krav Maga groups. Like Brazilian jujitsu or Western Kickboxing our style is very much home grown and has no claims to have foreign affiliations as we are accomplished home trained instructors.

Similarities with BKMA

 The BKMA have made claims about site similarities and the name, site and certificates. The BKMO sites are word press sites and so are ours. It is a fact Black is the most effective colour so we chose black too. Our logos are totally different. They have chosen the Hebrew symbol of Krav Maga and we did not as we are British and we recall the BKMA had issues with another organization for using the symbol in the first place (Hence there’s is slanted as opposed to normal krav symbols). Check the sites and make comparisons.

The similarities of certificates are a coincidence as we designed ours in our offices after numerous drafts however the certs are very much our logo and refers to our Organisation and have no interest in having links to the BKMA.

What Makes the BKMO different from the BKMA

I honestly believe we are  better in every way. We only have accomplished martial artists teaching our classes as opposed to fresh no experienced guys who depend on us month by month for more material. We map out our curriculum to black belt and have published it. We are open minded and do not require a cult following of inexperienced guys.  Our Instructor courses are not drawn out with cross training and we see no need to teach experienced guys how to suck eggs. We are willing to take on other Krav Maga trained instructors and not put them through a full instructor training program as long as they pass our short cross over course.

 We do not charge 8% of instructors earning plus vat. We are not forever putting our hands in instructors pockets. From what I gather we have been running professional schools and instructor training for a lot longer than Paul Grey and so have a huge network and wealth of knowledge to make you a success. Currently working on a QCF accredited Krav Maga self defence program. BKMO Krav Maga provides a testing ground for students who wish to see if what they do is effective. Not through just pressure testing events but comps that can help them to develop the grappling side, stand up side or even demonstration of self defence techniques. British Krav Maga puts back the martial arts into Self defence. Remember all this is optional. We now have full time schools in Gloucester, Manchester & Newport

Choosing a Krav Maga School

1. Ask about the instructors Martial arts background. Get specifics. Paul Greys instructors are known to say they did the martial arts thing and now they are a graduate Krav Maga instructors. Get dates and their previous instructors and accomplishments.
2. Judge how much time you are actually learning as opposed to just working out.
3. Focus on who will be teaching you and not get sucked into a brand. Ask yourself the question. “Does the instructor look the part, do they walk the talk?”
4. Don’t mistake the work out and the games for what you came for. If you came for self defence do not get side tracked.
5. Ask for an idea of what you will be learning and over what time frame.
6. Make sure the instructor is insured to teach Krav Maga.
7. Be open minded. If you are offered a chance to try out a class do it. Feel free to compare. If you like it then great and if you don’t then no harm is done.

Never be dissuaded due to the prejudice of a few small minds.

Conclusion

In the words of Jobs: Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

If you thought BKMO was just Wayne Edwards then your wrong he has a several well respected BRITISH INSTRUCTORS to give you the best course you can imagine.
Click Link To Meet Our Instructor Training Team

If you have a busy lifestyle and would like to spread your instructor training then click this link for more details of his next course which is taught over weekends

If You are ex, current or about to be  in the Military or Police the BKMO has a program for you. Check this link to get more info on our next course


Check out the other blogs BKMO has put up as you may find it useful suchs:-

Fake Krav Maga in the UK

How to Produce Your Own Krav Maga Self Defence Program

9 Things you simply must do to succeed in teaching BKMO Krav Maga Self Defence: Guaranteed to sykrocket you adult numbers