The Cover at Kingham Hill (diary entry)

22.05.19 Today Kingham Hill School reached the half-way point of this term’s self-defence course. We looked at the first line of recovery counter-offensive skills. This is concerned with the in-fight stage of conflict when an individual has been struck and needs to regain the initiative. The lesson began with transitional postures warm-up, which would have specific relevance with the final exercise of the day. We then looked at the cover and went through its application. I have dedicated an entire chapter to this tactic in my book “Mordred’s Victory”. In essence, the cover is a natural flinch response to being overwhelmed by strikes. It should be utilised to move into the attack as a temporary measure to return the strikes. We trained this tactic first against focus mitts using the code white test (begin with eyes closed and then open eyes when physically prompted). This training exercise was then turned into a pressure test using boxing gloves and head cages for the antagonist. The lesson finished with a transitional pad drill, pitting one student against the rest of the class.