Memories 2000

The American Self Protection Association, Inc.

Home of America's first Mixed Martial Art Training Method for the Entire Family

Memories 2000

MEMORIES 2000

by Dr. Evan S. Baltazzi - Originator of A.S.P.

When I was living in Paris, France, I became interested in the oriental arts. These were then novelties for us. My research did not allow me the time to go across the city to row and to fence, so I joined a newly formed club, the club Daumesnil, right around the corner and became the first of the students to achieve the shodan (first degree black belt) in Judo. My interests extended also to the then arcane arts of yoga and taichi. The method of Judo I was trained with was developed by Mikonosuke Kawaishi. It was well structured in terms of technique organization and included comprehensive self-defensive knowledge. So when one achieved the shodan in Judo, he was supposed to have attained the same rank in jujitsu. Later, during the stay in Paris of Minoru Mochizuki at the College of Black Belts, I was introduced to Yoseikan Aikido.

At the time our information about these arts came from single sources, obviously biased and very mercenary. After my return from England where I was the captain of the Oxford University Judo team for the two years of my stay, I began to realize that there was much more about oriental arts than what we were told. I abandoned yoga because I found it too time consuming as one progressed and I also let go of taichi because I could not see its slow graceful movements as being very useful for practical self-defense. Being young and full of vim and vigor I preferred Judo and Aikido, particularly since the latter claimed to be using also the power of ki (chi). In my books and articles I have explained at length the method and A.S.P. system and it is not necessary to repeat it here. Perplexed by the stunning variety of "new" and old "systems and methods" in the combative arts and sports, I became convinced that a unified approach to all could be devised, concise and to the point.

Over a period of almost twelve years alone at first, then with the assistance of my students and friends Duane Marquardt and Ken Kirkbride, I developed a basic system that I called American Self- Protection for several good reasons. It was first made public at the West Suburban YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago in 1965. Imagine my gratification when A.S.P. was awarded the plaque for the best YMCA program in 1967 and professional physical educators who had no vested interest in the martial arts, endorsed the validity of my approach. Among these was W. P. Wilbern administrator of the President's Council on Physical Fitness under Johnson. When my first book was published I received many favorable comments and endorsements from here and abroad.

I was selected for the U.S. Olympic and AAU Committees for Judo, where I served for eight years. I also chaired for two consecutive years the Health and Physical Education Research Methods Conferences held outside Chicago and attended by several Olympic coaches, and I also served as a Judo official at the Winnipeg Panamerican Games of 1967. Not bad for a scientist who had no formal physical education training. Encouraged by such recognition, I proceeded to test the validity of my theory by applying it to throws, locks, kickboxing, and stickfighting. It became clear that the A.S.P. concept was indeed of general applicability. Here I must digress to mention how ill-informed I and many others were about the oriental arts.

For Judo we were led to believe that the shodan was a final accomplishment in itself. We were even looking down upon the ranks awarded by the Kodokan as being second rate! Ranks beyond the shodan were all but stratospheric. Yet the shodan is awarded in Japan to successful beginners and high school kids achieve the second third and even fourth dans. We had no idea of the many jujitsu schools and that there is absolutely no mutual equivalence in ranks nor in rank promotion requirements.

For Aikido, Mochizuki hardly made mention of the Hombu and awarded ranks on his own authority. It was only later during Koichi Tohei's stay in Chicago, where I was the highest ranking Aikidoka, that he recognized my rank after seeing me perform. At the time Aikido was so little known in the U.S. that I was asked by the organizers of the Chicago Ginza festival to demonstrate it. Later I found out that there was also a Yoshinkan and a Tomiki Aikido. There might also be others.

Like myself at the time, many people today are not aware that there are many kinds of yoga and many schools within them. What is mostly practiced is the Hatha (physical) yoga, yet there is the Pranayama (breathing), Bakhti (love), Karma (work) and Raja (Intellectual/spiritual) yoga. Similarly, for taichi we were not told about its many styles nor about the four main ones (pai) Yang, Ho, Wu, and Sun. Also, in passing, with all the publicity given to kungfu, not many realize that this is just a generic name that can be applied to anyone who achieves mastery in any field.

Because of my Aikido background, I felt that mind-body coordination was essential and I had included psychosomatic exercises in the basic A.S.P. program. Since taichi is considered a martial art and I had come to the conclusion that the chi is nothing more than mind-body coordination shrouded in mystery, I decided to apply the A.S.P. concept to taichi. I felt that it should include simple motions in very short forms performed in concentration and address breathing, the major joints, balance, relaxation and coordination. I included also some practical attack avoidance techniques related to the A.S.P. "before." ones. This program was tested in a series of free short courses, eight lessons each. At the outset I would state that this was not classical taichi and invited my audience to compare the tangible benefits they would derive from it (I called it taichi for the western man) with any other system they cared to choose, for the same amount of time and effort spent in its study. I asked them to compare accessibility and ease of performance, degree of retention and overall benefits. Probably, were they able to devote a lifetime to the study of chi that they could achieve impressive results, even though some scientists question the very existence of chi.

To get their attention and eliminate the shroud of mystery surrounding the chi, I paired one stronger person with a weaker one and asked the strong person to use both hands to bend the semi-extended arm of the weaker one. This he could easily do. Then I would ask the weaker person to forget what his partner was trying to do and to see in his mind's eye that a person most dear to him was about to fall into a precipice and that he was desperately trying to reach him and prevent his fall. To the surprise of both partners, the strong person could not bend the arm of the weaker one, because his mind and body were coordinated and single mindedly focused on a goal.

A session would start with some simple breathing exercises, followed by exercises for all the major joints. Then there would be exercises for balance and attack avoidance. The class would end with the most important exercise of them all, the A.S.P. relaxation/concentration. This short course was extremely well received, particularly by seniors.

I feel content and satisfied that I was able to devise a general method for developing motion skills for combative arts and sports, method endorsed by physical educators here and abroad. My reward comes also from the people who practiced and benefitted from A.S.P. and who recognize the major difference it made in their lives.

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