Gladiatorial Krav Maga

In 2009, on my way to IKMA training in Israel, I stopped in Rome to teach a seminar sponsored by my friend Silvio Izzo. I have a personal interest in the history of gladitorial combat and contacted Barbara Miloni, a troupe member of amazing reenactors. This great group of people graciously invited me to one of their training sessions to observe. When asked if I’d like to participate, at first I demurred explaining that I was just a fan. As they learned more of my background, my new found friends pressed me to join. I thought why not? I’ll simply apply krav maga principles the best I can. And I did.

In fact, the training Grandmaster Gidon instilled in me . . .

• Timing and recognizing an opponent’s balance/momentum shifts;

• Understanding angles of attack;

• Sound footwork and remaining on the balls of the feet when possible;

• Correctly stepping off the line of attack (not too much to allow the opponent to recover into another attack);

• Simultaneous defense and attack (including using a shield and sword as one movement);

• Using weapons and legs together as opportune;

• Stripping an opponent of his weapon (in this case the fishnet by using timing to avoid being ensnared and then stepping on to chase my retarius opponent.)

. . . led the group to believe mockingly that I was some type of ringer.

I had the opportunity, as some of the embedded photos depict, to show them how, in a worst case situation, an unarmed kravist might defend against their arsenal of weapons. I am forever grateful for their hospitality and encourage anyone in Rome to look them up. On a sidenote, for anyone who has watched the series Spartacus on Starz, there are some interesting hand-to-hand combat scenes to dissect. In my research, I am not sure how much ju jitsu the Gladiators learned, but, it is entertaining nevertheless!