Personal Best: Putting self-defense skills to the test

Holding his own: Geof Oppenheimer used the self-defense technique Krav Maga, which was originally developed in Israel, to fight off attackers in a subway in 2002. (Mike Koozmin/Special to The Examiner)

SAN FRANCISCO — An assailant in a Mexico City subway station messed with the wrong guy. 

The year was 2002, and Geof Oppenheimer was a relative newcomer to the Krav Maga self-defense system. He was traveling on business with fellow professors from Cal when the group was confronted by their “drunkenly menacing” attacker.

After one colleague, who attempted to engage the man in dialogue, was pushed to the ground, and another was punched by the assailant, Oppenheimer reacted instinctively despite a feeling of overwhelming fear.

“I did a vertical front kick to the bladder. The thug doubled over from pain, and I hit him in the back of the head and we ran,” he said.

Originally developed in Israel, Krav Maga is translated from Hebrew as “contact combat.” Its reality-focused threat neutralization is based on three steps: negate the threat, control the weapon and go combative.

Oppenheimer is currently on holiday break from the University of Chicago, where he is an art professor, to visit his family in San Mateo and his friends at the Krav Maga Official Training Center of San Francisco. He works out with his long-time instructor and facility owner, Barny Foland, who employs 17 instructors who teach 600 students the Krav Maga system.

“The difference between traditional martial arts and Krav Maga is martial arts teaches you how to fight, and this reality self-defense teaches you how to survive,” Foland said. “You’ll get a better workout, get in better shape, you get to hit things, let out frustration, and a by-product is you learn how to defend yourself.”

Krav Maga is a modular system based on building blocks. “Something you learn in Level 1 comes back to you in higher levels; that’s totally unique in Krav Maga. It is very basic,” Oppenheimer said.

In her seven years of training, 4-foot-11, 110-pound San Franciscan Pam Tao has been fortunate to avoid “real world” application of her Krav Maga skills.

Tao has mastered the initial step of the process, negating the threat. However, with her Level 6 brown belt, she’s confident and prepared should the occasion arise. 

Tao decided to leave her white-collar day job to train as a Krav Maga instructor; she is committed to imparting the benefits of the process to her students, particularly women.

“You think that you’re in shape, but you find out that you’re really not.  Those who make friends with their [own] egos are the people who last the longest,” she said.

“The system teaches you how to use your muscle groups and not rely on brute force.  Being macho is a good way to die.  But if your options are narrow, finish the fight,” Oppenheimer said.

And, fortunately for Oppenheimer and his colleagues in that subway station, he finished the fight.

Learn to defend

Information on the Krav Maga Official Training Center of San Francisco:

What: Unique training method recognized as the most efficient self-defense system for real-life situations, emphasizing practical defenses against real attacks, according to Web site
Where: 1455 Bush St., between Van Ness & Polk (12,000-square foot facility)
Who: Barny Foland, owner
Membership: $99 per month for unlimited use of facility, including 70 weekly classes
Info: (415) 921-0612 or www.kravmaga-sf.com