Steve Timperley and the KEWAP Instructor Course

Steve Timperley first came to my attention in around 2009. He contacted me via that social networking phenomenon we know as "Facebook". This was a year after he had finished his 22 year distinguished service in the British army. He had some exciting ideas and was keen to promote them. As is often the case, I had been the person he had been advised to contact regarding writing for the martial arts media. After Geoff Thompson helped me onto the pages of Martial Arts Illustrated and, for various reasons, I was introduced to a veritable who's who of the British pragmatic martial arts scene. To start with it was a blessing. I got rapid exposure to a lot of great people, some of who (Iain Abernethy, Alan Gibson and Mo Teague for example) I count as friends. Unfortunately as I grew as a journalist and a martial artist it became something a minor curse. Years prior to this happening I had already had some front page exposure in MAI's rival magazine, "Combat", when I was a professional wrestling promoter. Their then feature writer, Malcolm Martin, told me to enjoy the novelty of the experience as it would soon wear off. He was right. So, when Steve contacted me, although I was very impressed with what he had already done I was in a sensitive transitional period. I had a lot on and I was working hard to forge my own brand and get across my own ideas. Although I try not to have any regrets in the past, I cannot help but wonder what would have happened if I had been able to make the kind invitation he gave me to attend one of his first KEWAP seminars. As it turned out my other commitments prevented me and I fell out of contact with Steve. Over the past two years I have watched Steve grow at an alarming rate through martial media and easily beyond. He has a very impressive CV of accredited and non-accredited qualification and is part of the new breed of self protection/self defence coaches that understands the waning influence of the black belt mystique and the need for government recognized qualifications. Interestingly he isn't dismissive of the martial arts, not even the traditional ones, which a lot of people involved in the "Reality-Based Self Defence" movement are want to do. He founded the UKMAA (United Kingdom Martial Arts Alliance), a positive step forward for establishing a friendly yet standardized network of martial artists and combatives instructors. Fortunately for me, Steve offered me a second chance in the form of a kind invitation to his alliance. My qualifications ranked me as National Tutor. Following on from this I was invited to attend a one day KEWAP (Knife and Edged Weapon Awareness Programme) Instructor course. I also introduced Steve to my coach, Mo Teague, who was so impressed with the work Steve had done that he decided to include the KEWAP instructor seminar as part of the new six week intensive Hard Target Instructor training programme he was running. We ended up bringing 10 people to the seminar, including three Saudi Arabian trainee instructors who work for Saudi Aramco (the world's most valuable company) and Mo Teague himself! The course focused on the delivery of KEWAP approved material and was structured very professionally. Steve worked the instruction off the basis of 45 minutes soft skills (non-physical skills) work, executed using PowerPoint slides, followed by physical drills and 10 minute tea breaks. Due to the fact that the course is designed to train people to teach members of the public with little or no combative knowledge (or without much interest in pursuing any form martial arts training) it is unashamedly soft skills top heavy. As I have said more times than I care to mention, too much lip service is paid to the soft skills part of training. It is always refreshing to see someone who not only fully acknowledges the importance of teaching awareness, the nature of violence, public perceptions,  and the law as it relates to personal security and self defence, but can actually deliver this information in an engaging manner. The physical skills training was also delivered in a format I think was effective; it punctuated the soft skills sections. With the low skill level of the intended enduser in mind, the techniques taught were basic and generic, emphasizing the importance of evasion and escape. The 2000s saw the emergeance of the "instructor factory" in the martial arts world. Possibly off the back of the success of one-day Boxercise training courses being offered to fitness instructors, martial artists cottoned onto ways to make more money out of their own culture. Arguably there are plenty of valid instructor courses out there with high standards, but too many are just advanced training sessions. They don't teach people how to teach. Once again, I am happy to say this is not the case with KEWAP, where teaching methods were regularly addressed throughout the course. Steve was very aware of the different types of audience instructors may face and he made strong distinctions between the way one teaches adults, teenagers and children, as well as specialist clients in the corporate sector. He also showed and advised on the best use of visual aids (a veritable collection of modified, cloaked, made and intended edged weapons) and the legalities of transporting such aids. In additon to attending the whole course and confirming the techniques being taught, all candidates on the course were expected to memorize Section 3(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1967, deliver a three-five minute presentation (in order for Steve to assess their ability to teach) and to complete a pass/fail theory test on the material provided on the day. At the conclusion of the day, there was an opportunity for students to test the SK-2 Shocknife in a live scenario. I first observed this little beauty back in 2005 when many said it would be illegal to import and use them in the UK. This has turend out not to be the case. Although very expensive the "Shocknife" provides some input on the problem many self defence exponents face when it comes to live training. Often in these situations students either pay too much respect to an edged weapon and give up the second their partner makes contact or they don't pay enough and ignore the contact. Marker pens and the better developed practice "weapons" help to show students when they have been marked, and they can be used to scenario-based work to show how quickly and discretely someone can be injured. The senior KEWAP instructors at Total Dojo (the venue where this particular course was held) conducted an interesting experiment whereby they kitted their training hall out like a nightclub and organized training drills. Unknown to those taking part, individuals were marking them all with practice knives. The Shocknife, by contrast, gives the student immediate feedback (and I mean that in more ways than one!) and does not interrupt training. Of course, as Steve points out, as intense as the 20 second bouts are, nothing replaces the reality of a knife attack and these are "artificial" scenarios. Nevertheless, they provide another piece in the jigsaw puzzle. Since I first was a regular seminar attendee I have come to know many familiar faces. There seems to be several like-minded individuals who attend the sort of training days I feel are important. The instructor assessment section was divided up into those who delivered PowerPoint talks and those who just gave their personal reflections. This whole area interested me less from an educational perspective relating to knife crime and more as a sociological insight into the subculture many of us are a part of. Mo Teague, in typical controversial style, summed up a lot of my concerns regarding the reactive nature that is often way too present. This is perhaps not the right place to discuss my feelings and conclusions drawn from this experience, so watch this space for perhaps a rather contentious discussion on the RBSD mentality towards violent crime. I would recommend the KEWAP course to anyone and this particular instructor course to any self protection coach looking for some excellent resources and sage advice. Steve is a very professional instructor with bags of experience. His demeanour throughout the day was the perfect balance of courtesy and authority that makes a good teacher. The resources he provides are fantastic and exceptional value for money. I look forward to working with Steve in the near future.