Having grown up on a farm in the Northwest province, I was introduced to the responsible recreational use of firearms at a young age. Like many young boys, I also had a healthy interest in the martial arts and joined the Shukokai karate club of Sensei Manie Combrinck in high school. We were victims of a farm attack when I was 16 years old, and I vowed never to let it happen again. As a result, I became more interested in the combative side of firearms and martial arts. There were no combatives trainers in the vicinity of the small town where I lived, so I used to take my allowance to purchase expensive overseas martial arts and Guns & Ammo magazines, replicating the combative shooting exercises I found in the magazines (most notably from famed author Jim Grover, aka Kelly McCann). While at university my interest moved to the fitness industry, and I became qualified as a personal trainer and group trainer. During this time, I attended a close protection course in Durban. This opened my eyes to the importance of factors like awareness, avoidance, and pre-planning, as well as close quarters combative skills in conjunction with firearms skills. There were no combative type clubs in my hometown, so my wife and I started one of the first affiliated training groups of JKD High Performance Street Fighting under Coach Morné Swanepoel in the year 2000. We both later achieved the rank of full instructors. When JKD HPSF evolved into CombatCoaching.com, I stayed with the organisation, achieving the rank of full instructor over time. JKD can be considered the forerunner of modern MMA. What attracted me to the approach, was the constant pressure testing of techniques against resisting opponents and the emphasis on being able to fight in all the ranges, with or without weapons, against one or multiple opponents. I still attended as much shooting courses from different instructors as I could, and around 2005 I met combatives and pistol instructor Arno Barlow of Kembativ Concepts. I liked his realistic approach, and the way that he combined combatives with pistol shooting, and have trained with him regularly ever since, achieving the rank of Level 1 Kembativ Pistol instructor. Over the years I have trained with many instructors, including Don Gold, Adrian Burrows, Adrian Rosslee, Mark Eekhof, Mark Human, Rob Pincus, Burton Richardson, Tom Sotis, Jim Wagner, Baret Yoshida, Felipe Costa, Chris Haueter and notably my childhood idol, Kelly McCann. This exposed me to a broad spectrum of real-world, first-hand knowledge on different subjects. I came to know Len Visser of Tenex, and we instantly became friends, little knowing that a couple of years later I will be running a Tenex branch in Potch. Training in MMA, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Combatives has had a profound effect on my life, confidence, and abilities. Through training in these functional martial arts, I learned many life skills like perseverance, focus, refusing to quit, just being yourself and constantly keep looking for another way if at first you don’t succeed. This is something I would like to share with people, especially our future leaders, to help shape them mentally and physically and provide them with the best in civilian self-defence training that I know and have experienced myself over the years. Consequently, common sense realistic firearm skills and training are not always so common, and I feel it my duty to equip good South Africans first of all with the required skills to obtain and safely handle a firearm, and further to be able to realistically protect themselves and their loved ones, with one of the best equalizers available, being a legally owned and employed firearm. Achieved the following:
Full Instructor – JKD High Performance Street Fighting
Full Instructor – CombatCoaching.com
Level 1 Pistol Instructor – Kembativ Concepts
Close Protection – CQPOA
Professional Personal Trainer, Aerobic-Step Teacher, Aqua, Cycle & Final Cuts instructor – Reebok Instructors Alliance
Supervise Firearm Training – Global Tactical Training Institute
Conduct Outcomes-Based Assessment – Global Tactical Training Institute
Attended various MMA, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Combatives and Firearms courses from top local and international instructors.
