Krav maga martial arts classes now at Boonshoft CJCE

Story and Photos By Jessica Montan, The Dayton Jewish Observer

A dozen students, teenage to middle age, stood in groups of two: one ready to point a fake gun, the other ready to swiftly but simply disarm the pretend assailant.

If you walked into Timothy A. Tharp’s evening krav maga martial arts class at the Boonshoft CJCE, you would see this scene unfold. Neutralizing a gun threat is one of the maneuvers Tharp teaches his students. He prepares them physically and mentally to defend themselves if they are attacked.

Since March, the Dayton Jewish Community Center has offered the Israeli martial art of krav maga as one if its fitness classes.

Krav maga (Hebrew for contact combat) was created by Imi Lichtenfeld, a Jew born in Hungary in 1910. Growing up in Bratislava, he and his friends were the victims of antisemitic violence. This led Lichtenfeld to devise krav maga so they could defend their community. He learned multiple styles of martial arts such as judo, jiujitsu and muay thai, then combined different aspects of these. His focus was strictly defensive, to prepare people for worst-case scenarios.

Lichtenfeld fled to the Jewish homeland in 1942, where he began to lead troops in specialized fitness training.

In 1948, when Israel became a state, Lichtenfeld was recruited to teach krav maga to the Israeli Defense Forces. Over the decades since, it has spread around the world: the U.S. military and law enforcement agencies such as the FBI and the DEA use krav maga.

Tharp, who is not Jewish, is a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. He has trained in tae kwon do, judo, jiujitsu, aikido and muay thai. He believes krav maga is more practical for self defense. It focuses on readying people for real life instead of for martial arts competitions found in judo, karate and tae kwon do.

Tharp said krav maga’s main objective is to mentally prepare people so they won’t freeze up during an attack.  “Fear is the number one reason that people don’t survive an attack usually,” Tharp said. “The surprise of the moment catches people so off guard that they are unable to act against it.”

To help people manage this fear, he conducts scenario and stress training, creating as much stress as possible in a controlled environment without causing anyone harm.

Tharp and other krav maga instructors have their students line up against the wall and close their eyes, then surprise them with an attack to have them respond as quickly as possible.

Although some people have a hard time with this stress training, if they experience it in the classroom they will more likely be able to handle a real threat if one were to present itself.

About seven years ago, Tharp first heard of krav maga. He researched it, and contacted Moshe Katz, one of the top instructors of krav maga in Israel and the founder of Israeli Krav International.

They communicated via e-mail and conducted training through videos several times a week.

Tharp also attended seminars when Katz would come to the United States. Tharp trained for approximately six years to become an affiliated instructor of Israeli Krav International.

This is the fourth krav maga school Tharp has established, because, as he said, “we move so much with the military.” He plans to travel to Israel to train with Katz in the future.

Katz trained under security expert Itay Gil, who now only teaches Israel’s special forces and elite counter-terror and rescue commando unit.

Because krav maga keeps evolving with the times, Gil continues to teach Katz who then passes his knowledge on to Tharp and other instructors.

Dayton Police officer Jimmy Howard has trained with Tharp and is now assistant teacher for his class at the CJCE. “Krav maga took a lot from different disciplines but it took out a lot of the nonsense stuff and fluff, and got down to basic motor skills,” he said. Howard said he’s used some of the skills he learned from krav maga in real situations.

In each session, Tharp focuses on one technique, such as how to protect oneself against someone who poses a physical threat or how to disarm an attacker who is carrying a knife or gun.

The students practice multiple moves in repetition, then revisit them in another class to make sure they are ingrained in their muscle memory.

“Anyone can learn krav maga,” police officer Howard said. “You don’t have to be a certain fitness level or age because it is just basic motor skills.”

Krav maga classes are held Wednesdays from 7- 8 p.m. at the Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville and are open to those age 16 and up. This fall, classes will also be held on Monday evenings. To register, call Timothy A. Tharp at Dayton Krav Maga, 367-1312.