A college-prep course that has some real kick
October 10, 2007|By Wes Smith, Tribune Newspapers and The Orlando Sentinel
ORLANDO — Jennifer Woodbury of Orlando sent her daughter Abby to
college with the usual boxes of clothes, dorm decorations and snacks.
But Abby, 18, also headed for campus packing a punch, not to mention
an eye gouge and a throat jab.
Concerned about reports of date rapes, carjackings and assaults on
young women everywhere, Woodbury signed up her daughter for a nononsense
back-to-school special: Self-Defense 101.
Abby and a group of friends from Lake Highland Preparatory
School learned their “ABCDEs” — “Attack him. Blind him. Choke
him. Drop him. Escape.” — in the college-prep course at TLM’s
Fighting Chance Combat Systems.
This martial-arts school in Orlando charges $250 for a two-day, 10-
hour course that teaches women methods for escaping armed
assailants.
Self-Defense 101 trains students to handle attack scenarios including
attempted date rape, parking-lot and dorm-room attacks, bar and club
assaults, carjackings and muggings at ATMs. Additional training
includes techniques for profiling potential date rapists and
precautionary measures to avoid being drugged, stalked or abducted.
“Abby is going to be on her own for the first time, and there are
criminals out there, so I definitely feel better sending her off with these
skills,” said Woodbury, who may join other mothers in taking the
course.
They were led to Fighting Chance by Mary Ann Gruenberg of Winter
Park, Fla., who sought a self-defense program for her daughter,
Katherine, 18, after seeing news footage on the abduction of Kelsey
Smith. The Kansas teenager was slain after being kidnapped in a
Target parking lot in June.
April 25, 2011
This is an excellent time for all of you to think:. ” What could we REALLY have done if it was us that was targeted?”
Everybody’s knee jerk reaction is, ” hire more security, install an alarm, buy more guns, thank God you’re safe,” etc. Reality is, there will never be enough police or security to protect everybody. Alarm systems can be gotten around. Guns are only useful if they’re in hand, loaded and ready to use by someone that knows how to use them in high stress situations, and God gave us brains, instincts and bodies that can be formidable weapons when trained and unleashed.
The US has become a nation of sheep, content to graze, thinking that the few sheep dogs on the perimeter will keep them safe. That’s the mindset predators depend on and why they keep prowling in the shadows looking for an easy target. Here’s the grim news folks….the bad guys are getting younger and meaner….male and female…and will most always be armed. If my attitude pisses you off….good…maybe it will make you think a bit more about your own responsibility to protect yourself and your family.
And please don’t think your black belt is gonna help when the punk has a knife or gun to your wife or kids throat. Families need to train together…as a unit…so everyone’s on the same page when the shit hits the fan. Compliance is a 50/50 chance of survival. It’s 82 % statistically…but the bad guys threatening you are the X factor….they may or may not hurt or kill you. They are not part of that statistical analysis. I’m telling the hard truth because I give a shit…I don’t talk it.
Chief Instructor
Jeff Moldovan
April 18, 2011
The families of victims suffer the loss of a loved one for the rest of their lives. Neither drugs, alcohol or therapy can fill the void or erase the loss. Police call it an abduction and home invasion but reports say the 25 year old brother WAS IN the house and saw his sister being taken into the woods. Where’s the home invasion?
Every one says, ” I can’t believe it happened here.” Or, ” I can’t believe it happened to me.” Or, more commonly about the perpetrator; “I can’t believe he/she would do such a thing.”
Get a clue folks…It can happen to anyone, anywhere at any time….yet, how many people actually take steps to prevent this horror from effecting their lives or their loved ones?
Most concerned, buy guns…but few learn how to shoot under stress and combat conditions. Fewer still realize that the predator will always pick time and place and never allow an armed citizen to get to their weapon in time. I am saddened and frustrated as a self defense instructor, that even though this happens every day in every town, city and state, that we have to go out and look for students…then we have to convince them that they can prevent tragedy with proper training….then we have to convince them it’s time well spent for very little and often, NO money.
Just ask the many students I train for free and the hundreds that we’ve helped doing free seminars to convince them that they ( anyone ) have a fighting chance. We are not a martial art…we are a combat science institute…it doesn’t take years or require athleticism or enhanced strength. We’ve trained all ages, both sexes of all sizes and those with no prior skills and sometimes those with black belts in many styles that never learned tactics to handle modern threats.
A close friend was lucky he was absent the other night when a friend was stabbed to death over a bar tab. Many people said, ” Thank God he protected you and you weren’t there.?” That may be true. But God didn’t stop a nutbag from stabbing an innocent bystander. It’s good to have faith that God will protect you….but God also blessed us with common sense. Everyone has auto insurance, health insurance, homeowners insurance etc…just in case…but how many of you bother to invest time or a little money in VIOLENCE INSURANCE? Some of you may look at this and say, “Jeff is on his soap box again.” Or, “He’s just trying to get new students. YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT I AM ! And if truth bothers or bugs you…please DEFRIEND me….and go back to your daily routine and pray for God and the cops, or your Glock to protect you. Instead of being personally responsible and learning to Protect yourself and your family.
Sept. 20, 2010
TLM’s FIGHTING CHANCE TRAINS 80 ORANGE COUNTY CORRECTIONS
SPECIALTY UNIT OFFICERS.
In September, TLM’s Fighting Chance instructors trained 80 of Orange County
Corrections Specialty Units in our systems basic tactics.
Officers learned weapons disarms, standing, seated and prone, against, handgun,
rifle, knife and shank.
They also learned disarms against extreme threats such as hostage and execution
style scenarios. Also covered were weapons retention tactics and deployment.
Training was geared toward each units special requirements. Perimeter security in
vehicles, transport teams and medical transport teams.
Response was very enthusiastic from all trainees and we look forward to continued
programs with Orange Counties corrections officers.
Dec. 17th, 2010
TLM’s FIGHTING CHANCE DEFENSIVE TACTICS, TRAINS AND CERTIFIES 12
ORANGE COUNTY CORRECTIONS OFFICERS.
Chief Instructor Jeff Moldovan, assisted by fellow instructors, Susan Saddler,
Justice Maynard, Eric Scott and James Urban, trained 12 of Orange Counties finest
DT instructors in a comprehensive, 3 day instructor certification program.
In addition to learning the “Savage Six,” tactics that comprise our system, the
officers also learned our unique weapons retention tactics, lethal/non lethal options
in Level 6 ( deadly ) threats, hostage and extreme hostage disarms.
The graduation test was each officer successfully surviving 30 random attacks from
fellow trainees armed with handguns, shotguns, knives and shanks. ( training
weapons of course. ) All officers passed the crucial test. Later we were told by the
head DT instructor, that ” none would have passed that test without our training.”
Our system was very well received by both male and female officers with 100%
positive feedback.
We welcome our new instructors to the steadily growing TLM’s Fighting Chance
family.
June 2009
CHIEF INSTRUCTOR AND FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER, JEFF MOLDOVAN
RETURNS FROM MUMBAI INDIA.
Chief Instructor Jeff Moldovan recently returned from Mumbai India, where he
choreographed a very involved fight scene onboard and yacht, built entirely from
scratch in one of Mumbai’s many movie studios.
Again, due to production delays, filming was postponed indefinitely.
Mumbai was the scene of a bloody, terrorist attack the previous year. Yet, despite
that tragedy amid some of the most impoverished conditions imaginable, Instructor
Moldovan found the Indian people to be both gracious and polite.
The trip left him both humbled and grateful to live in a country were the difficulty in
finding something to eat was deciding where, what and how much. In Mumbai, to
see people searching among mountainous piles of trash for something useful for
either sustenance or shelter, while maintaining a quiet nobility and acceptance,
revealed much about the character and resilience of the Indian people.
April 2009
CHIEF INSTRUCTOR JEFF MOLDOVAN RETURNS FROM BANGKOK.
TLM’s Fighting Chance chief instructor, Jeff Moldovan recently returned from 4
weeks in Bangkok Thailand where he worked with and introduced TLM’s tactics to
Thai superstar, Tony Jaa’s stunt crew.
Hosted by friend and fellow stunt coordinator, Andy Dixon, Jeff was there to
choreograph a very involved fight on a yacht for a Balliwood movie staring India’s
Robert Mitchum, Sanjay Dhut
Due to the stars political commitments, filming was delayed and postponed until
later in May and to be shot in Mumbai India. Scene of a deadly terrorist attack the
prior year.
Bangkok, as anyone who’s been there knows, is a wild, wooly and wonderful
country. Instructor Moldovan got to see many sides of Bangkok that other visitors
don’t often see. Both the beautiful and the bad.
Many nights would find instructor Moldovan and his friends, Andy and wife, Sai,
walking the wild side of Pat Pong Street in the early morning hours, when only the
desperate or abandoned were about.
Years of training and confidence in our system, allowed us to walk through the
combat zone….Alert Aware and Unafraid.