Jesson in the News

Jesson has been practicing a form of martial arts called "Krav Maga" for over 6 months now. They did an article on his gym and though he wasn't quoted in the article, they used a picture of he and his instructor practicing. Below is the picture with the caption and then the full article. Enjoy!

Jesson Bateman, 27, and Steven Faison, 23, warm up with some krav maga techniques as instructor Steve Del Castillo looks on.

Premier Martial Arts of Tampa teaches Israeli fighting system krava maga

By Mike Camunas, Times Staff Writer In Print: Thursday, March 26, 2009

LUTZ
Defense wins games. • That's an old saying in sports. And though in the krav maga classes hosted by Premier Martial Arts of Tampa, there are no games or sport applications, it can, however, win a battle. • In some cases, the battle of life or death.

"Its only purpose is to get home alive at the end of the day," Shihan and instructor of krav maga Steve Del Castillo said. "It really is a practical self defense technique. Everybody needs self defense nowadays, and this is one that keeps you on the defensive."

Krav maga (pronounced krahv magah) is used on a day-to-day basis by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) including their Special Forces Units, Israeli police and Internal Security branches. In the United States, it's used by the NYPD, the FBI and the U.S. Armed Forces. It originated in the 1930s by Imi Lichtenfeld, its primary founder, who fled Czechoslovakia to the British Palestine Mandate, now Israel, where it was further developed by the defense forces.

The form is more of a survival system, considered to be a modern street-fighting system, designed to be used against armed and unarmed attackers. This form uses a variety of punches, kicks, chokes, bear hugs, headlocks, grabs and defenses against multiple attackers and assailants armed with any sort of weapon. During the class, participants will team up on each other, as well as use plastic handguns to simulate situations.

But krav maga isn't about going all Steven Seagal on someone. It's more like going all Jackie Chan.

"My old instructor used to say, 'Not real pretty, but real hard,' " Del Castillo said. "It's not quite as much of an art as it is martial. It's a fighting system used to defend yourself, not beat someone up."