There is a vast difference between thinking you can handle violent confrontation and actually being able to.

To date we have given various seminars around the UK including 2 visits to Barclays Capital the investment banking division of Barclays and regular visits to Northern Ireland.

The S.P.A. also regularly arranges seminars for our students in order to gain exposure to the many different elements that make up 'The Martial Arts'.  Through our connections with the British Combat Association and Self Defence Federation we have access to a vast knowledge base with many different systems and instructors.  We take pride in the fact that we feel confident enough in our system to positively encourage our students to 'see the best of what's out there' and try it first hand. 

The following pages show some of the seminars the Self Protection Association have staged to date.  Initially, these were intended to be in-house seminars just for S.P.A. members so that the each of students would have the opportunity to ask questions and get involved rather than being on the sidelines in more of a spectator role.  What actually happened was we invited some of the other Martial Arts groups that we have worked closely with in the past such as Darrin Richardson who represented Britain in the Sombo wrestling championships in Russia in March 1999.  This kept the numbers low enough to maintain a good teacher/student ratio but more importantly when these other groups hold seminars we also get the opportunity to attend.  You will appreciate by the calibre of the visiting instructors that trying to book these people for a seminar is quite difficult due to their high demand in the seminar circuit.  As an example, we were fortunate to be able to see Geoff Thompson who was booked by Darrin for his school in Gosport, we would have had to wait months to book Geoff due to his many commitments. 

We try to hold two seminars a year but receive invitations to 20 to 30 or more a year which we pass on to the students.  Another benefit is that our members get the chance to train with students of different styles and see how their techniques stand up.  Sparring with Muay Thai fighters or ground fighting with Jiu-Jitsu exponents really opens your eyes and it's a great feeling to know you can hold your own with these people (One of our students, Tony Falconer, recently won the first BNMA ground fighting British Championship heavyweight title). 

If you would like to contact any of the Instructors that appear in the seminar pages you will find them in the S.P.A. Links page.  Alternatively, to contact the S.P.A. you can mail us from the S.P.A. Contacts page .  Please note that where there no web page is available, we will try to provide a contact address and telephone number.