I Fought the Law

One interesting fact about Sho-Rei-Shobu-Kan hombu dojo is that behind John Roseberry-Shihan; in Karate, Judo, and Jiu-Jitsu, the head instructor is a police officer. John Pitts-Sensei, our Dai Sempai-San, has been with the Lincoln Police Department for thirty-six years, and he has trained with Shihan for the last thirty-four of them. As part of his job, he teaches other officers to defend themselves.

I know that the things these instructors teach me will work on the street, because they have each had many years of real world experience to draw from. They don't teach useless self-defense strategies. Following Shihan's theory of "keep it simple, keep it practical", they know that in a stress situation your abilities often revert to the lowest common denominator, so we focus on things that are uncomplicated, and proven to work. They also know how important it is that physical confrontation only be used as a last resort.

In my (ahem) wild youth, I probably would not have found being surrounded by police officers as comforting as I do now, but I think it goes to show the validity of our school. If the officers who are sworn to serve and protect the people of Lincoln trust in Shihan and his training to keep them safe, then it's more than good enough for me.

“The mistakes you make on the mat can get you tapped out. The mistakes you make on the street could get you seriously injured or killed. I have no doubt that my Jiu-Jitsu training has afforded me the skill to take control of threat situations and end fights before they started. When matters have became physical, I’ve been able to end them effectively and without undue injury to either party.”- Conan Schafer-Sensei