The Best Offence is a Good Defence

When you are standing in front of a group of attackers, how do you perceive them? Do you think you have to defeat the immediate attacker in front of you, and then the next one, and so on?

Our thinking for defence against multiple attackers has been heavily influenced by our experiences and training for the single opponent battle. We believe we have to defeat the opponent in front of us in order to win the battle and achieve safety. Against multiple attackers, this approach will get you bogged down in attempting to fight and defeat too many opponents.

We also condition ourselves to think of battle in terms of attack and defence. In reality most fights move back and forth between the two, unless it is one-sided with a fighter being heavily outclassed by his opponent. The result is that your attention is usually split between attack and defence.

The classic proposition is that ‘the best defence is a good offence’. For dealing with multiple attackers you should consider the opposite to be true. The best defence in a group attack is to accelerate through the group along a line of progression to an exit. This gives you a valuable offensive capability – your accelerated mass. The important distinction here is that you are not setting out to attack the group. There is no ‘offence’ being undertaken, and importantly, you don’t have to defeat the attackers in front of you.

What you have to do is ensure you get to safety in the shortest time possible without getting taken down by the group. At no time do you want to control the opponent; you cannot afford to spend time attaching yourself to either resistance or your surroundings. Your mind and body have to be at ONE, and therefore if your body is accelerating through the group to the exit, then your mind cannot be stuck on one attacker.

This points us in the direction of having a focus on freedom. You are not fighting the attackers; you are fighting for your freedom. If you accept freedom as your philosophy for dealing with multiple attackers then you realise that you couldn’t care less about either attack or defence as they are a distraction in themselves. Just do whatever it takes to maintain your freedom when you face a group attack – all else is wind.

As always with group work, train safely and under the supervision of a qualified instructor