Short Stick
The baton, or short stick, is a very accessible and practical
weapon for self defence purposes. The initial focus is on
basic striking, blocking, manipulation, weapon retention and
striking defences against grabbing and moving attacks. Once
these basics are acquired, you can move to other more
complicated techniques such as controlling, locking and
strangulation techniques.
The technical inspiration for the programme comes from a martial
arts of Japan (tanbo jutsu) and Indonesia
(where the short stick is referred to as
"gada").
A baton (in various forms) has been and continues to be a
popular weapon carried by police forces. Generally, it is
regarded as a high level of force option. This is because it
is taught to be wielded with destructive force. This is
unfortunate. The fact is that the baton can be used
effectively to achieve self protection without reeking horrific
injuries on assailants. Skilfully used, it can be effective
as a low level force option. The programme focuses on
the use of the baton such that it is capable of providing
solutions through the whole spectrum of force options.
A short stick is a very versatile weapon of self defence.
It is possible to get someone to a stage of a very real self
defence capability much quicker than it would take to learn
sufficient empty handed skills to achieve a similar capacity.
To use a short stick as a weapon for self defence means that you
need to be alive to the issue of only using reasonable force in the
circumstances. If an assailant is unarmed there is an
immediate moral and legal issue due to the fact that you
have a weapon and they do not. Care needs to be exercised in
developing tactics for deploying the stick to meet the requirements
of different situations.