Freshman Ben Block leads a Krav Maga club at 3:30 Saturday afternoons behind the Mu Alpha house in the field across from Broadlawn. The club’s first meeting had 12-15 people. Their goal is self-defense and staying in shape. Anybody can show up, regardless of martial arts experience.
Drew Jenkins, also a freshman, was one of the first students to join Block’s club.
“The first night we were here, we started talking about what we had done back home, and I had done martial arts for eight years, and Ben had done it for about that time. We wanted an opportunity to get together and practice martial arts. And so when Ben started the Krav Maga club, I got involved,” Jenkins said.
Krav Maga was developed by Imi Lichtenfeld, a Jewish martial artist, as a means of defending his community in present-day Slovakia from fascist and anti-Semitic gangs during World War II. When he immigrated to Israel in the late 1940s, he began to train the predecessors of the Israeli Defense Forces.
Today, Krav Maga is the official combat system of the IDF, as well as the Israeli espionage and special operations units. It is taught all around the world to military units and paramilitary police forces. Krav Maga is characterized by practical no-nonsense defense and vicious counter attacks.
“It’s basically anything goes. It’s all about winning, surviving,” Block said. “It’s really more mental than physical. There is a discipline you get in martial arts you can’t get anywhere else.”
Block received his training from an American military veteran.
“A friend and I started to get into it, and we knew a guy who was former [Special Operations] and he was a friend of a friend’s dad, and so we learned from him for a couple of years,” Block said.
When this reporter visited a lesson, Block and Jenkins went over everything from knife defense to choke-outs. The club is in the process of becoming official and filling out paperwork, so equipment is relegated to two punching pads. The knife was a stick. Jenkins and Block took turns poking at each other; the other responding with a deflection and rapid takedown.
One drill involved throwing punches at pads in Block’s hands while doing situps. His smirk, the situps, and the reach combined to create a frustrating experience.
In another drill, this reporter had to deflect attempted tackles, subdue opponents to the ground, and hit the pads with a combination of punches and elbow strikes. Care was taken by all involved to ensure that no one was hurt. As it was, people hit the ground hard, resulting in an assortment of grass stains.
Freshman Luke Zahari also participates in the club and said he plans to keep attending.
“If I ever get into a situation where I have to use it, I’ve been prepared and I can deal with it,” Zahari said.
“My goal is to just keep going with martial arts, help people learn self-defense and learn self-confidence,” Jenkins said.
Block said he is excited to become an official club and looks forward to it growing.
“Anybody can show up 3:30 p.m. on Saturday behind the Mu Alpha house,” Block said. “We usually start with a warm up—running, pushups, things like that—then we get into the actual lesson.”
Hillsdale’s Krav Maga club from Hillsdale Collegian on Vimeo.
