Archive for July, 2009

A real life self-defense situation can be a surreal experience. Many that have experienced this have wondered – it is really happening? How did I get here? And sometimes they start getting mad and put up a fight!

Here are some news stories about the San Diego Serial Rapist that has plagued San Diego since 2008!

NBC SanDiego News: Good Samaritan Helps Catch Serial Attack Suspect

NBC San Diego News: Details Emerge About Sex-Assault Suspect

And the best overview story including earlier assaults:

San Diego 6 CW News: Serial Rape Suspect Dead in Jail; Victim Describes Her Attack 

Self-defense can come in may forms; in this story I am presenting today, the last victim, Christina Hennigan finds herself in a tricky situation and starts to turn the tables on her attacker! In this post I will highlight the self-defense story here, evaluate some of the considerations and give an overview of the serial rapist in San Diego. Here is Christina recounting the attack and chase.

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This post is an update of the last housekeeping post. From time to time I change the look and feel of the blog to try and stay in-line with my goals for this site. What are my goals you might be wondering?

This website was created so I could help people understand how the martial arts might help them in their quest for self-defense prowess! Some other goals I have are to reach out to people of all walks of life, preferred fighting styles and just try to take some of the mystery out of self-defense. On that vein before I get into Ikigai’s eBook, the new links and upcoming stuff – here is a funny self-defense video  (with a little colorful language) taught from the reverse perspective!

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Here is an introduction by my friend, fellow black belt and hall of famer - David Hays:

I wanted to give this post a introduction.  Many of you know that this post is done by John Zimmer.  John is a good friend of mine and was inducted into the KenpoHall of Fame this past weekend along with Victor Hervias and John West. All of these men are from the San Diego school of Dick Willett. All of us that come from that school are proud to be part of this great fighting system.

 

John Zimmer, Victor Hervias and John West are some of the best all around fighters I have ever trained with.  The speed of Victor, the hard hitting, unorthodox left handed style of John Zimmer and raw brutalness of John West always kept me on my toes. All three of these men are greats in the arts. 

 

Last year at the 40th anniversary of Dick Willett’s  San Diego American Kenpo School (now owned and ran by Todd McElhinny) a statement was read by Al Tracy.  Master Tracy said that Dick Willett had produced some of the best fighter in Kenpo Karate. 

 

The legendary fighter, Joe Lewis, who was at the event, stood up and said “That statement was not completely true.”  Joe went on to say “Dick Willett had produced some of the best fighters anywhere period”.  We were all humbled by that statement coming from the Joe Lewis.  Congratulations men!

I am pleased to announce that I was among three black belts (John West, Victor Hervias and John Zimmer) that were nominated and inducted into the Kenpo Hall of Fame this last weekend in Chicago! Dick Willett’s American Kenpo Karate board selected us to go the the Tracy’s Karate – Gathering of Eagles 2009.

John West, Victor Hervias and I (John W. Zimmer) were all students of Dick Willett at Tracy’s Karate. Later we amicably split off from Tracy’s Karate and Dick formed American Kenpo Karate.  In this post I will give a brief bio of each of us and speak more on the Gathering of Eagles 2009. Here is a picture of my instructor, Richard “Dick” Willett and myself.

Dick Willett & John Zimmer

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