"What's that “Academie du Couteau” "?

"What's that “Academie du Couteau” "?

"Do you train with real knives?"

"Is it true that to defend oneself it's good to use a knife?"

"Do you advise to carry a weapon?"

"Ah yeah, the ACDS, those people that teach knife fighting..."

Those are some questions or affirmations about us that deserve, in my opinion, some clarifications...

So you're gonna tell me: "It's still you who chose that name!"

Except that the complete name of our association is "Academie du Couteau et de la Defense en Situation" or "Academy of the Knife and of the Defense in Situation"... Which for me is not totally the same...

Of course , the foundation of our technical work is the knife... But simply because its dynamics transfers itself quite well to empty hands, sticks or any improvised weapons.

We also have to put knife use in perspective because it's first and foremost a tool than can in some rare situation become a weapon... Let's face it, we all use a knife at least once a day and most of the time more then that. At least I do and I've never yet had to use one to defend myself or hurt anyone.

By the way this is well understood in the new Belgian law.

This one states that all knives are considered tools and as such are free to detain but submitted to the legitimacy of their carry.

The only exceptions being the Balisongs or "Butterfly knives" and the automatic knives which are completely forbidden without derogation.

So in town, it could be considered normal to carry a small folder and/or a mutli-tool to open boxes, cut cords, fix things, peal a fruit, eat... In the countryside, whether for camping, trekking or hunting, the carrying of fixed blade can be justified by the execution of some chores.

But of course one could question the goal behind carrying of a machete or a big kitchen knife in town!

We also need to mention that our association promotes the recognition of the craft and art linked to knifemaking and that we have among us many amateur or professional knifemakers (the most renowned being Fred Perrin of course).

The construction of a knife is a also a part of the course we offer as is the survival in the wild (among joined seminars with David Manise ( www.davidmanise.com ), gun training for the instructors or the safety professionals via Neurone Defense Systeme ( www.nds-ch.org ).

We want our vision of self protection to be global and integrated and not limited to its urban aspects or even to intra-species aggressions (what good is there to be able to defend yourself against a knife threat but being incapable to survive to a night lost in the wild or stuck in your car on the side of a snowy road!)

But let's talk again about personal protection in a more common sense, the analysis of real cases of aggressions even only  through newspapers clips show us that most of the time the aggressor(s) is/are armed (regardless the type of weapon). Because for criminals, the fact of carrying a tool as a way of helping him attack someone is not based on legal criteria (they couldn't care less about the law) but only on the necessity to raise his chances of success in his craft.

So the matter of the fact for us is not to encourage our students to go around knife in hand and play the vigilante... The foundation of our training stays the pro-active analysis of his or her surroundings, avoidance and negotiation strategies which are the most valuable ones. Because we can never remind people enough that no one can be certain of the physical, psychological and legal consequences of a fight. So people fantasizing about the possibility of dueling with knives or slitting their adversary's throat will be disappointed by our instruction.

But we still have to put in perspective the weapons work in a self protection course. Honestly too many systems offer solution to armed aggressions that are ridiculous as they're based on a total misunderstanding of the proper use of a weapon... An armed aggressor does not move, presents himself or catch your attention like someone who's simply nervous or wants to "have a fight". And the damage potential of a weapon of any kind far surpass any strikes given with a hand, a foot or any natural weapon.

Teaching someone to use a weapon is first and foremost teaching the responsibility of the user and the dangers linked to it. Speaking of the knife, we'll show and explain the kind of wounds produced by a knife. It's fast, cuts and stabs relentlessly, change direction in a blink of an eye... It has many dangers!

At the most we have to say that for self defense applications, the knife really lack stopping power. We have to admit that apart for some cuts on joints or tendons giving bio-mechanical damages or some stabs to the face or the spine, the knife's strikes still give to the receiver a fairly long window of opportunity to keep defending. This might also explain the number of persons surviving an edge confrontation even if the physical and/or psychological scars are often horrendous for the victim.

Keeping that in mind, we must come to the conclusion that the knife is far from responding to the principal criteria of legitimate self defense which are to stop the aggression as quick as possible and while doing the minimal amount of damage to the aggressor(s) and us. But let's face it those considerations are not taken in account by the crime professionals, they just count on the psychological impact of the knife or even the blood if they strike without telling. This can plunge many in a state of shock. It's this particular element that makes the necessity of training with a knife to understand the psychology and the strategies of the aggressor and enhance our capacities to avoid it. Who better than the one who learned how to use a knife can offer to his training partners a real kind of threat helping them establishing realistic defense strategies? Because once the basics are learned, we find out that it's the one who take the initiative who leads the dance... Eat or be eaten... Always cheat, always win!

Those principles are the same whether we speak about improvised or impact weapons but this is a vast subject that's better left to our live sessions...

As a conclusion I would like also to mention that teaching a system should not be done through DVDs or books (even if I have a huge number of them with various level of quality). Those

should be considered only as support material for direct teaching which is the only way to insure an efficient transmission and control over the abilities of the students. The real goal of instructing is first and foremost to make him better after all.

Best regards,

Rodolphe