Krav Maga is A Journey
If you had mentioned to me, when I first became and instructor, that I would one day be an Expert ranked Krav Maga instructor, I would probably just smile at the idea “knowing” very well that there was no way I could get that far. And here I am the first Expert woman in the US, among the top 10 experts in the US, and among top 5 female instructor in the world! Wow! But it is not about the patch or the rank. That is only the symbol of the amazing trip that brought me all the way to this point.
The bumps, the bruises, if you have ever practiced Krav Maga, you know are part of the deal. But then comes the sweat. Lots of it. And then the persistence and the repetition. We, as Krav Maga, practitioners, may often roll our eyes at the thought of repeating, again, a 360 defense. How many of us rather play with rifles, or guns, or even throws (my personal favorite)? But I realized, and even more so after attending the Expert camp, that one of the things that sets great practitioners of Krav Maga apart, is that perseverance of wanting to do that 360 defense for the millionth time that much better than the 999,999th time; more technically accurate and strong.
During the 8 days of 8-10 hours/day of training, I was nervous and excited all at the same time. I felt like a kid in a candy store. The crispness of techniques, accuracy, strength as well as the mental and physical toughness, the fighting tactics and strategies is just what we as instructors work for and what the participants of the Expert camp pushed to achieve.
Imi would be proud.
In his words “the lethal nature of the encounter [life threatening situations] requires an effective response. (…) sound both physically and tactically in order to prevent serious bodily injury or, at worst, possible death.”
Of course you cannot become an “expert” (again let me repeat, it is not necessarily about the rank, but reaching a certain level of expertise) by attending an 8 day camp. Getting to this point is definitely a journey, a continuous one, of pushing to improve. And for me, in a male dominated world of Krav Maga, the gender difference has been an additional welcomed challenge. I was the only woman out of 80 males attending the entire camp and testing. But the guys have always made me feel like one of them. Maybe even too much when during training, they strip down to their boxers or briefs to tie on their groin protection! They have always treated me with the outmost respect as a human being, as a practitioner, as a fighter.
But it is not just my effort and my perseverance but that of my greatest ally, who has also become my trainer, my coach and my instructor, Yury. We discovered Krav Maga together and he has been my secret weapon every step of the way. Other than the General Instructor Courses, and the 6 days of Instructor Updates a year with Eyal Yanilov or other global team members, it is what happened behind the scenes, during the rest of the approximately 300 days of the year(s) that mattered most. Although I put the work in (but I have to be honest, with lots of moans and groans), it is Yury who broke down, analyzed, cleaned my techniques, who prepared me mentally and physically as a practitioner and as a fighter, stand up and on the ground. It is no small accomplishment, not only because I complain quite a bit during training, but because to have scored second best in my testing group and be among the top 10% in the world is something to be proud of. We are both proud of how far we have come.
And the journey that I traveled so far, has been filled with bruises, bumps, sweat and tears but also filled with the discovery that you are capable of more than what you thought you could be. And the journey continues… for us, for our school, and most importantly for our students. We are privileged that you have trusted in us your safety and honored that you have allowed us to be part of your journey. We are excited for every single one of our students’ development and path of discovery. Hope you are excited for your journey.
CLICK on the pictures below to scroll through the gallery of photos from Veronica’s trip to Expert Camp in Israel.
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