By GWENDOLYN WEILER
Moapa Valley Progress
Martial Arts instructor John Goff grabs Noah Tait, of Hurricane, Utah, by his shirt collar and presses a cold blade to his neck. Fortunately it was just an exercise done during a knife-defense workshop held Saturday, July 14, in Overton.
A moment later, Tait twists free, disables his “attacker” and throws him to the padded floor. Goff applauds his student’s quick progress.
The workshop was hosted by Nick Yamashita, owner of Under the Mountain Martial Arts. Yamashita regularly hosts workshops throughout the summers when his regular throng of students ebbs down during the hot months.
Saturdays workshop included knife-defense instruction as well as tips on how to take the offensive position in a knife fight.
“This is not a self-defense class,” Goff said. “This is an offensive stay-alive class.”
Yamashita said he was honored to host Goff for the day. “To him, it’s all about what’s practical in self-defense,” he said. “Some people teach these fancy jump kicks and things like that, which aren’t very practical in a self-defense situation.”
Goff said that many Martial Arts masters—even those who have been studying for 30 years or more—have never been in a real fight. Part of his passion is teaching these masters how to transition from the art to application. Participants of Saturday’s class included two Martial Arts instructors from Las Vegas.
All of Goff’s trainings are as close to reality as possible in order to prepare his students for real fights. This means all of his students start making physical contact in sparring situations from day one and use real (albeit blunted) knives in his knife-defense classes.
“When you make direct contact, you’re learning physiological responses,” Goff said. “You’re feeling a little bit of pain, you’re feeling pressure, so your body-mind connection is actually clicking.”
Even though it takes years for someone to become a Martial Arts master, Goff was confident that the three-hour workshop was enough time to give participants valuable skills.
“I can give you six months or more of training in three hours because what I show you, you’re going to remember,” he said. “What I show you, you’re going to feel.”
Kunia Burnett, of Hurricane, has been studying with Goff for about 18 months after training with other instructors. He said Goff stands out because about half of each class is dedicated to sparring at full-speed.
“You’re learning tactics based on reality, not fantasy,” Burnett said. “They aren’t based on what you hope will work, but on what you know will work because you’ve already used it.”
Goff, 33, is a mixed martial artist with multiple master ranks. He has studied all over the world and currently teaches at Lion Heart Academy, a Tang Soo Do dojo, in Hurricane and owns Evolution Martial Arts.
UMMA will host its next workshop, a woman’s self-defense class, the second week of August. For information, call Nick Yamashita at (702) 286-5469.
