After 10 years of training, a group of students from Alexandra received their certificates and new belts in krav maga and Japanese jiu jitsu.
A team of instructors took on 42 specially selected students under the Take ACTion Foundation a decade ago and began the training with a specific purpose in mind.
“Our intention was to train them to become self-supporting martial arts instructors,” said Dion Fransman who is a 7th dan in krav maga.
“We knew that the majority of these students would not make it through our intensely designed training programme and we wanted to be left with a handful of highly trained and enthusiastic instructors. This is what transpired.”
Msuli Mohlongo was the first to receive his black belt and become a qualified krav maga instructor.
“Our gradings are internationally recognised so it is a great achievement.”
Fransman explained that krav maga was originally developed in the late 1930s by its founder, Imi Lichtenfeld, to meet the rampant surge of anti-semitic attacks by fascist groups in Czechoslovakia.
During this time, Lichtenfeld trained vigilante groups to defend themselves and the Jewish communities against these violent attacks. Following his migration to Israel in the late 1940s, he continued to teach krav maga to soldiers and it rapidly became the preferred combat system for the Israel Defence Forces.
It is a practical, no-nonsense approach to self-defence which takes techniques sourced from boxing, wrestling and judo, along with realistic street fighting.
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