Instructor teaches safe, easy self-defense
BY JOSH DAVIDSON
Staff Writer

ABERDEEN — Though it is easy, a new form of self-defense, learned by a township marital arts instructor, is also effective.

John Ralph, 44, Matawan, master instructor and owner of the East Coast Budokan Martial Arts Center in Aberdeen, recently returned from Weston, Fla., where he learned the form of defense taught to soldiers in Israel. The system was taught to Ralph by its founder Mike Lee Kanarek, an Israeli Special Forces combat veteran.

Ralph received his course certification June 5.

Haganah is a simple self-defense system, taught in a four-month time frame.

Its main purpose is defense against unarmed and armed attackers.

It still uses traditional karate punches, Ralph said.

Some of its moves were developed from daily occurrences in Israel, he said. For example, one move was developed from the act of a person covering his head to protect himself from a bomb attack.

"I’ve been to a lot of competitions and events and I think these guys have really done their homework," Ralph said.

The program allows people to quickly and simultaneously learn a form of defense, keep their heart rates going and stay fit, he said.

"The spiritual end of martial arts is wonderful," he said. "This sort of takes the spiritual end out and goes right to the source of purely physical martial arts and fitness."

Haganah is easy for anyone to pick up, he said.

The fact that it can be learned by a novice is an advantage over other martial arts, he said.

It normally takes two days a week to learn Haganah, he said.

Some people feel intimidated when they enroll in a self-defense school, but Haganah is not intimidating, he said.

"I want to try and take the intimidation out of the martial arts field and give more people a chance to stay fit and learn about martial arts defense," he said.

The school provides a non-intimidating place to learn, said Edward Botti, Aberdeen, who owns the Botti Stadler Group, a private real estate accounting firm in Matawan.

Botti earned his black belt at the school and now helps Ralph with some of his students.

New students are naturally scared at first, allowing more experienced students the opportunity to offer comfort and friendship, he said.

"You really do build up relationships here," he said.

"It’s a lot nicer than the gym, because you are not interacting at the gym," said Donna Meyer, Aberdeen, one of Ralph’s students.

Haganah prepares participants for the dangers on the streets of the United States, but is not a cure-all to prepare people for terrorist attacks, Ralph said.

"This is only to better your chances in a dangerous situation," he said. "This could definitely prepare you and give you a good mind-set and peace of mind for feeling a little better about yourself, keeping you more alert.

"There’s no 100 percent guarantee out there," he said. "No matter what you do, anything can happen at any time, but it will give a person encouragement."

In Haganah, minimal stretching is done before training, he said. This is because, in real life, when a person is attacked, they don’t have the time to stretch.

Rubber guns and knives are used in some Haganah courses to prepare for armed attacks.

Ralph said his years of martial arts experience allows him to teach his courses in a safe environment.

To learn the system, Ralph went through military style training for long hours.

"Basically, what they did is give us

the whole program in five days," he said.

"(Kanarek) has direct connections to operators who are still active in the Israeli military," Ralph said.

Ralph will return to Florida in November to learn the knife-training aspect of Haganah.

Ralph’s classes teach children respect and often improves their grades and confidence, Botti said.

Children will enter the school feeling timid, but will eventually develop social skills to converse and interact with others, Meyer said.

The classes are convenient and provide an escape from everyday stress, Botti said. Staying focused forces students to forget about their troubles, he said.

"When you are here on the floor, you have to be 100 percent focused," Botti said.

"That’s why I come here. It’s a way to get away from everything," he added.

Registration is now taking place for the Haganah course, which was sched­uled to begin in September. Unlike other classes for which Ralph will ac­cept students from the age of 5, Ha­ganah requires participants to be at least 18 years old.

Ralph was inducted into the Silver Achievement Hall of Fame of the American Okinawan Karate Associa­tion (AOKA) in 2000 and the World Karate Union’s Hall of Fame in 1996. His school, the only authorized Ha­ganah center in New Jersey, is located in the Strathmore Shopping Center, Route 34, Aberdeen.

Ralph can be reached at (732) 566-6666.