Knife Defense Seminar

The History of Krav Maga in the Philippines

Krav Maga first arrived in Philippine shores when Krav Maga Philippines was founded in 2004, as the brainchild of Kenneth Asuncion, who discovered Krav Maga during a nine-month stint in the United States. A search for an efficient and reliable self-defense method that he could properly learn in a realistic and reasonable amount of time led him to the unique Israeli system created by Imi Sde-Or, whose legacy, in the form of the International Krav Maga Federation, was being headed at that time by Eyal Yanilov.

With the support of Eyal Yanilov, who became a mentor and friend, Kenneth founded Krav Maga Philippines, the first local affiliate of a major international Krav Maga organization in the country. To help launch this effort, Eyal, with the full support of the international organization, flew in to conduct a series of demonstrations for various law enforcement military groups, and civilian groups, introducing Krav Maga to the Philippines.

Since there were no local instructors available, Krav Maga Philippines’ dedication to maintaining the integrity of the craft led them to bring in foreign instructors to help properly introduce Krav Maga to the Filipino public. The first order of business was to train homegrown talent, so in 2006, the first Instructor’s Course was held in the Philippines lead by Eyal, attracting local enthusiasts as well as foreign candidates from Singapore and Australia.

By the end of the course, the Filipino participants, financed by Krav Maga Philippines, were declared qualified to be assistant instructors—a step closer to the dream of having a self-sustaining Philippine Krav Maga group. Training continued until finally, in 2009, four candidates would become the pioneer instructors of Krav Maga here in the Philippines: Kenneth Asuncion, Fredrick Nogales, Edmundo Ongsiako, Jr., and Dindo De Jesus.

2010. Eyal Yanilov announced that he was setting up his own organization, Krav Maga Global. Having benefited greatly from Eyal’s guidance and contributions, KMP chose to become an official affiliate of Krav Maga Global—a departure understood by those who remained with the IKMF organization.

2011. With a fresh batch of internationally certified local instructors, Krav Maga Philippines set out to offer a wider variety of training courses and more specialized training, partnering with law enforcement agencies to train PSPO, the PSG Police Unit, barangay tanods, bodyguards, and other security personnel.

2012. Krav Maga Philippines expanded its horizons by offering regular instructor training programs and special weapons training, in order to empower its clients to take charge of their own self-protection based on their need.

2013 to the present day. Krav Maga Philippines continues its growth with the addition of 3 new instructors: Jericho Viejo, Tuesday Alipon and Joebert Uygongco. In addition to the San Juan gym, KMP is now maintaining satellites in Alabang, Makati and Quezon City in Manila as well as the first Krav Maga satellite in the Visayas in Iloillo.

Fueled by a passion for equipping the Filipino public in self-defense, Krav Maga Philippines continues to grow and improve, strengthening as a movement and as an organization. Krav Maga Philipines is steadily advancing in its goal of enabling the everyday Filipino to take charge of their personal security.

Imi Sde-Or, the founder of Krav Maga, was born in 1910, in Budapest Hungary. His father, Samuel Lichtenfeld, was a big influence on Imi, and with that Imi trained his body with many sports. Anti-Semitism was on the rise back then, so Imi devoted his physical prowess into defending the Jewish communities.When Israel was founded in 1948, Imi trained the soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces. He worked with the IDF for 20 years, making sure the soldiers are ready for many different threats. This is where he perfected Krav Maga as a self defense system.

After his time in the IDF, Imi modified Krav Maga for civillian needs. He wanted people to have the skills they need to escape all the different dangers the world could throw at them. He made the system applicable to everybody, men or women, boys or girls.

Even in his later years, Imi would still help out in the development of Krav Maga. He would monitor the progress of the advanced students. He also spent time with the instructors, improving the different techniques.

Sadly, Imi passed away on the 9th January 1998. Eyal Yanilov, Imi’s closest student, was at his bedside.

Imi’s legacy, his belief that the common man should be free from persecution, lives on in Krav Maga.

Krav Maga integrates instinct based self-defense tactics, with a strong curriculum that trains aggressiveness, fighting spirit, situational awareness, and verbal de-escalation of conflict. There are three main parts in the system.

The Self-Defense component is the foundation of Krav Maga. It contains techniques that enable the practitioner to effectively defend himself against both armed and unarmed attackers. The techniques are practiced in unknown situations, such as in the dark, on the ground, outdoors and in a situation which limits the practitioner’s movement.

Hand to Hand Combat comprises an advanced level of Krav Maga. Here the student learns how to defeat an opponent quickly and effectively. This involves different elements of a fight: tactics, techniques, combinations, psychology and mentality of a fighter. (Use of Knives, Sticks & Guns for attacks is also included).

3rd Party Protection/ VIP Protection. Defending the 3rd party against all kinds of attacks and threats; dealing with one or more attackers; moving, evacuating and taking care of the other; functioning under different conditions in different environments and locations.

Knife Defense Seminar

We invite everyone to join Krav Maga Philippines’ Knife Defense Seminar on May 28, 2016! From 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM. Participants will be able to learn basic and advanced Krav Maga combative skills, use common objects to protect one’s self during a knife attack, develop skills to defend, counter attack, control/disarm common knife attacks (overhand/downward, underhand/upward, & straight), and defend attacks from standing, seated, and on the ground.

Register now (1000) until the 20th of May to get free shirt. Address: 2nd Floor Krav Maga Philippines HQ. 20 E Maclang St. near P. Guevarra, San Juan City l Email: admin@kravmaga.ph l Phone: (+632) 726 5021 (632) 917 843 KRAV | (632) 947 990 KRAV