This
non-fiction title is a collection of blog posts by Jamie Clubb, the founder of
Club Chimera Martial Arts. I’ve never read the author’s blog but the chapters
of this book are plenty long enough (not always the case with books formed from
a collection of blog posts) and they group very nicely into the four sections
of the book. Also worth a mention is the writing style which makes for easy
reading while delivering enough detail to satisfy. The author manages to get
his knowledge and experience across without preaching or condescension.
Extensive use of reference material provides further credibility and the seven
page list of those references provides a great starting point for those who
might wish to delve further into martial arts reading.
The first
section is titled Martial Mutterings and provides some very interesting
background to the various combat sports that are known as the martial arts. If
the reader is a martial artist (such as myself, I’m a karate practitioner) then
these chapters help to place your sport in the martial universe. Jamie Clubb’s
leaning is obviously towards self-defence and he begins to hint that many
martial arts are not really practical in that sense, but he deals fairly with
the validity of the different disciplines and clearly has a great breadth of
experience.
Self-Protection
is the second section and here the author begins to deal with his own special
area of focus – how to be emotionally prepared and physically secure in the
increasingly physically threatening modern environment. The four tenets of Club
Chimera – Respect, Awareness, Courage and Discipline – are delved into with
unassailable logic. The section concludes with some very interesting suggestions
on pre-emptive strikes, proactive training and pressure testing. Having myself
trained with four very different karate clubs over thirty years, I can
appreciate the acid testing that is needed for effective self-defence. All too
often martial artists can become deluded about the effectiveness of their
carefully perfected, artistic techniques.
Reality
Training for Children deals with the thorny issue of exposing children to the
threats of twenty-first century life and finding ways for them to handle such
situations. The first step is to train the teachers, as genuine self-defence
for children is a rare commodity. Then the author deals with the why, what and
how of his approach to reality training for children. He doesn’t give away his
trade secrets but just enough to tantalise.
The fourth
and final section is Training: Fit for Purpose – a very interesting set of
perspectives on attitudes towards and types of training and fitness, including
the pitfalls of being led astray by fitness training as an end in itself.
In
conclusion, I found Mordred’s Victory and
other Martial Mutterings by Jamie Clubb to be a very thought provoking
read. Each chapter deserves careful reading and contemplation. Whether you
pursue martial arts for fitness, sport, competition, art or self-defence, this
book will assist in self-realisation and help any martial artist find their own
path. The extensive reference section deserves another mention. Overall, highly
recommended.
Disclosure:
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair review. I have no
prior connection with the author (although I am a martial arts fan and
practitioner).
