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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview With Tokey Hill
Aired October 27, 2001 - 11:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: One facet of homeland security is learning to defend yourself, and our next guest is an expert in the martial arts. Tokey Hill is the coach of the U.S. National Karate Team. He opened his first martial arts school in 1983. And he joins us now from New York.
Tokey, good to see you.
TOKEY HILL, COACH, U.S. NATIONAL KARATE TEAM: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Now, you started doing this training, this self defense program on airplanes and for people flying even before September 11, right?
HILL: Actually, yes. I was enrolled at Ohio University in Chillicothe, Ohio. And what I did is I attended classes for law enforcement technology and security and safety technology. And one of the components of that program was self defense. And basically I've been improving that program ever since.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's get down to it. Let's see some moves here. If I were a passenger on an airplane, and let's say there was a terrorist onboard, what are some things I could do if this person was coming toward me?
HILL: Well, the first thing that we can do if the person's attacking you sitting down, you're sitting on your seat cushion. That's usually used in emergency situations as a flotation device, but in this situation it could be used as a body shield.
So we take the cushion. We run it along the forearm, grabbing hold of it, holding it in one hand in front of the body from here. This way I'm holding my aggressor, my attacker back away from me.
So let's just say he was coming at me with a slashing motion, like with a box cutter or a razor. If he attacked me, I'd one defend, two defend, three -- and then come back and attack him.
All right, that's one way if he's coming at you trying to slash you.
Another way is if he's coming straight forward, trying to stick you with the knife. So as he steps forward to stick, I use the shield to protect it. I use my aggressive -- my attack back to him, sweeping him out, and then follow through with the strike, taking my opponent to the ground.
PHILLIPS: What if you're sitting in your seat. What if you don't have a chance to get up, Tokey?
HILL: There are many ways that you can help yourself out of that situation. But first of all, you want to make sure that you try to use items around you first.
If you have a table tray, there's items on that table tray that you could actually throw in your aggressor's face, or you can take it and throw it into their eyes.
If there's nothing there, you can use your own body. Number one, if I'm sitting there and he's trying to reach down and grab ahold of me, I can actually pick my foot up and kick him with the heel to the chest. All right, remember, you're just as safe sitting down as he is standing up. He's got to come down to you.
The second thing is, let's say for instance he'd grab ahold of me from here. He grabs me. What we would do is take the sharp part of the forearm right here, and take it and come down across his forearm from here, creating instant pain, making him release.
Once he releases that grip it gives me that split second to react, whether I push him away, get up and run, or follow through with more excessive force.
PHILLIPS: If he has ahold of me, what can I go for, face area?
HILL: The face area is very simple. The most sensitive part of the face, of course, is the eyes. But also a great tool is the nose, and one of the things, instead of trying -- remember what we're doing here -- we're not trying to make you vigilantes, we're trying to show you techniques that are very practical for you to be able to use that doesn't take a lot of training. So the techniques are very practical in that sense.
We're going to take the palm -- your palm heel from here. We're going to take this hand. If he has a hold of -- a grip on me, what I want to do is make him feel in control. OK, you got me; please relax. And then at that split second when I decide to make my move with 100 percent commitment, I take the palm heel and jam it straight to the nose from here.
Again, he's got ahold of me. OK, I'm all right -- what do you want me to do? And then a quick palm heel to the strike.
Remember, you have to use that explosive energy and you have to commit to it 100 percent in order for it to be effective.
PHILLIPS: And it's easy to have that explosive energy when you've got that adrenaline pumping, that's for sure. Tokey Hill, thank you so much; great words of advice.
HILL: Thank you.
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