Martial arts saves boy from harm

By Michael McQuillan - Burnaby NewsLeader - April 28, 2008

Mario Bartel video

Sean-Douglas Sime is in his fifth year of learning martial arts and he likes that it makes him physically and mentally tougher.

But the nine-year-old never thought he’d have to use it to save himself from harm.

His martial arts instructor Jim Hanger didn’t either. But he prepares his students for that possibility just in case.

And that training and preparation paid off earlier this year when Sean-Douglas was grabbed from behind by a stranger. He was not only able to get out of the man’s grasp but also delivered a crushing blow to his assailant.

Sean-Douglas’s father Dean never believed his son’s martial arts training would help save him from harm. That’s certainly not why he registered him and his 11-year-old brother Connery.

“It was more or less for the structure, for the discipline,” said Dean, a member of the Canadian Armed Forces. “It’s the healthy body, healthy mind approach—keep them busy instead of in front of the TV and the video games.”

The attempted assault happened in February as the two brothers were walking a short distance to a friend’s house.

Connery ran ahead while Sean-Douglas fell behind as he sauntered down the Queen’s Park neighbourhood sidewalk.

Sean-Douglas recalls a man jumping out from behind some bushes and grabbing him from behind in a choke hold.

With the stranger’s arms around him, Sean-Douglas initially panicked—despite the training. He let out a yell for help which Connery heard and then ran back to help.

But by the time Connery returned, it was all over.

The stranger was staggering away, hobbled by an injured knee.

Sean-Douglas had broken the man’s grip with the techniques he learned, and then swept back with a side round kick. He connected with the side of his attacker’s knee, causing him to fall to the ground incapacitated.

“The guy went down to the ground screaming,” said father Dean, recounting the boys’ description to him.

Hanger wasn’t surprised at the damage Sean-Douglas did to a man more than twice his size.

“Believe it or not, it takes seven pounds of pressure to take a knee from the side. A five-year-old could do it,” he said. “If the guy had his weight on that leg and he hit him on his knee, that’s all that it would take to do the damage.”

The stranger, believed to be Caucasian and in his 30s, made his injured escape while the two brothers ran full sprint to the safety of a neighbour’s house.

It was perfect execution of the side round kick technique, said Hanger, proud of his student’s reaction in the incident.

He believes in teaching self-defence and not just how to bow and memorize the proper terms used in martial arts.

Occasionally the owner of Red Tiger Martial Arts in New Westminster has his instructors sneak-attack students during classes. Eventually, students learn not to panic and then properly use the defending moves they’ve learned in their training, said Hanger, a fourth-degree black belt.

Dean was also happy with the way the boys reacted.

“Sean-Douglas told me he was panicked for his life. But he just did what he was trained to do,” he said.

“That’s what you hope for.”

mmcquillan@burnabynewsleader.com

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Martial arts saves boy from harm

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