Last Updated on December 10, 2013.
Targeting Victim
I truly hoped a week ago when stories emerged of an elderly woman shooting a group of teens who allegedly attacked her it meant the end of the ‘knockout’ fad.
As it turns out the story was a hoax, and the attacks have continued.
What makes it even more appalling is the fact many of the attacks seemed to be racially motivated.
I train every week with a group of instructors who hail predominantly from New York City and the surrounding suburbs. Recently police noted the 10th alleged ‘Knockout’ attack in the city. Many of them have occurred in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods with the victims being Jewish.
Origins Of Tiger Schulmann’s
Many of you have heard me talk about my instructor’s beginnings in Martial Arts. I will repeat the story anyway as it relates directly to this trend.
Daniel “Tiger” Schulmann hadn’t received the nickname yet when his older brother Ben was confronted by a group of bullies on the way home from school one day.
The two Schulmann’s father had moved to New York City from Israel. Born in Germany, he escaped during World War II, only to spend ten years in a ghetto in China. After the war the elder Schulmann went back to Germany, then to Israel and finally to America.
He came nearly penniless and worked multiple jobs without a place to live while saving enough money to bring his young wife and newborn Ben with him to the States.
Now Ben, barely into double digit years, was confronted on the streets of Manhattan merely for being Jewish. The bullies weren’t happy with simply mocking him and calling names, instead they laid his leg over the edge of the sidewalk and stomped on it, breaking his leg and putting him in the hospital for weeks.
No sooner had Ben recovered than he and his brother Danny were taken to a Kyokushin Karate school. Their father had spent countless hours in China watching the occupying forces of the Japanese military practice Karate. He had always been impressed with the discipline of the practice and felt it was the best way to help his kids protect themselves. Youngest brother Ron would follow as soon as he was old enough.
Tiger Schulmann quickly became a legend in the Kyokushin community, winning six consecutive North American Knockdown titles and competing in the World Karate Open at the tender age of 17, a tournament that featured no weight or age distinctions.
Passion For Helping Others
After completing his competitive career at the age of 21, Tiger Schulmann has dedicated thirty years to helping people of any race prevent what happened to his brother.
He continues to update our curriculum constantly to ensure our students have the best possible training to protect themselves on the street. He takes extra time to train our prestigious fight team compete at the highest levels of Martial Arts to test our techniques against other trained Martial Artists, competition that has proven the effectiveness of our curriculum.
Knowing the origins of our organization, and myself having been the victim of bullying, it makes it all the more sickening to see a game that glorifies targeting the weakest most unsuspecting target and trying to hurt them.
The game has in fact proved fatal on multiple occasions, unfortunately the one report of it being fatal for the attacker was not true!
The only way to stop bullying has been and always will be to stand up to the attacker. I can only hope that one of the kids who thinks this game is so much fun picks me or one of my fellow instructors as a target!
In the meantime I hope anyone who doesn’t know self-defense will take the opportunity to stop in to the nearest Tiger Schulmann’s! We will teach you how not to be a victim of any attack, let alone this senseless game!
By: Sensei Thad Campbell – TSMMA Feasterville