Hock,
It's been about 10 years since I trained at one of your seminars, and I look forward to seeing you in September in Kansas City. I've been training in Krav Maga for over 10 years, and have been teaching for 7 years.
I've enjoyed most of Rob Hamic's work on
www.fakeselfdefenseinstructors.com, and I recently sent him a message saying as much, and adding a couple of points. One of those points is that there is a certain amount of outing the phonies that is helpful, and then a point at which we begin in-fighting within the legitimate Krav Maga community. The public has no understanding of the issues involving politics, money, and succession.
There has been high-level Krav Maga practiced in the U.S. for many years now. I received all of my instructor training through Krav Maga Worldwide, under Darren Levine's group. I haven't spoken with Darren in years, and I doubt he'd know me on sight. I'm no longer a member of KMWW, not due to any problems, but I've started my own school and am being careful how I spend my money.
Darren was part of a group of Americans who were invited to Israel to train in the early 80's, and all of the training was provided by the IKMA. Anyone can log on to
www.kravmaga.com and see the certificates of authenticity, which are all on IKMA letterhead. There are some legitimate criticisms of KMWW, which I'll get to, but I think it's a mistake to question Darren's legitimacy, or the quality of instructors he has produced.
There have been a few hatchet jobs on him, such as the one by USADOJO, implying that he bought his credentials and took advantage of Imi when he was very old, but anyone who has ever trained with Darren or seen him practicing knows he practices Krav Maga at a very high level. Darren built the largest and most successful reality-based self defense organization in the world, and provides a very large target.
The money he spent marketing created a Krav Maga brand within the U.S., and both the phonies and other legitimate organizations have benefited from that. Rob has done some great work with his website, but I recently saw the article about Eyal Yanilov, another senior figure in the KM community, stating he is a thief and stole money from the IKMA.
When I first started reading Rob's blog, he had links stating that Eyal and his organization (IKMF) were the SOURCE for Krav Maga training. Anyone I know who has trained with Eyal thinks he is a fantastic instructor, and holds him in high regard. If there has been any impropriety, it should be handled within an organization or the legal system. No one who has ever taken a seminar with Eyal was cheated out of their time or money....
To me, it is very easy to tell the real stuff from the fake stuff. Look at the line to Imi on instructor certificates (how far removed, who is the teacher), and look at video. It is easy to tell that the IKMA/IKMF/KMWW techniques are very similar, and show a common root, as well as the drills.
I'll share a few thoughts on what I think the legitimate criticisms are of KMWW and the larger community - but it has nothing to do with Krav Maga technique or training, which is unfortunate. People love a flame war. I'd rather see them training, getting stronger and safer....
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Topic: Are there ANY reputable sources of Krav Maga? (Read 4688 times)