Four Winds Martial Arts

About

This is the information page, containing the background, purpose, past and future events of the "Hardened Target" Personal Protection Systems, "Tom Sipin's Training Solutions" and Four Winds Martial Arts

Story

Thomas Sipin started training in the Filipino Martial Arts when he was about 3 1/2 years old, with his father Isidro Sipin. After earning his Black Belt in Traditional Taekwondo he started managing several schools in 1972. He left those schools in the mid 1970's, starting Four Winds Martial Arts with the idea of combining the Filipino weapons with TKD. Gathering several other Instructors that had been managing or teaching in other schools and systems- including Black Belts in Judo, Kung Fu, Karate and students experienced in Collegiate Wrestling and Boxing, they started cross-training together, long before "mixed martial arts" was acceptable.

Starting side-jobs in security and as a "bouncer", he learned that there was a big difference between success in the school and competition, and what worked against "non-compliant" and combatitive subjects. Several Police Officer students perked Mr. Sipin's interest in becoming a Police Officer. While in recruit school, he was "recruited" to become a Defensive Tactics Instructor, at a time when Policies, Procedures, Training and Legal Standards were becoming more important, and LE curriculum was quickly becoming more standardized. This in turn opened up whole new areas regarding the use of force, and training within the law.

In the early 1980's, hearing about Doce Pares Eskrima, Mr. Sipin invited Dionisio Canete to Milwaukee. After spending time with Mr. Sipin's father and conducting his first seminar at Four Winds, Canete stated the Four Winds students were as- or more advanced than any Eskrima group he had been working with in the U.S. Mr. Sipin went on to become one of the three prominent figures in D.P. Eskrima in the U.S., as well as a founding member of the World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation. In 2003 GM Canete stated in an interview in "Filipino Martial Arts" magazine, "His students are one of the best groups in the whole world in terms of their skill, discipline and knowledge. They have cultivated a very strong environment of friendship and brotherhood". Continuing with all of the above: experience and training in the LE / Security field, the Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) and Personal Protection have provided the basis for a philosophy and system that Mr. Sipin has taught to Instructors, Civilians, Military, Law Enforcement, Security Officers in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

The “Hardened Target Personal Protection System” is based on your legal rights, and your duty and responsibility to yourself and your family. The “HT” instructional template is based on methods that have proven effective in teaching officer survival. It makes use of a persons’ natural response to stress, body mechanics, and power development and most importantly, the techniques and tactics are limited to what is easy to learn, retain, and effectively perform by the average person under stress, and under the conditions they’re likely to be used.
Unarmed striking, ground tactics, O.C. (pepper spray) impact, edged, and improvised weapons along with basic firearms training and tactics are all part of the “Hardened Target” curriculum.

"Training Solutions" started as a concept in 1980 when Mr. Sipin was first accepted and certified as an Instructor for Police and Security Officers by the "Justice System Training Association", then the premier organization for training in the U.S. The Director was Dr. Kevin Parsons (CEO of A.S.P.), who was also responsible for developing Wisconsin's statewide training standards - one of the country's first. Starting in 1979 when Mr. Sipin became a LEO, realizing that using force for Defense / Protection, Control and Apprehension under strict laws, standards, policies and procedures and with increasing options and equipment (both as a benefit and a hinderance) he started attending advanced tactics and instructor training that was available.

With previous and continuing ("moonlighting) experience with "hands-on" private security and crowd control, added to Police Patrol in a cruiser, on foot, a boat and a bike - as a Training Officer, SWAT team member and Rangemaster - on the street, checking policies and procedures, testifying in depositions before commissions and in court - from first aid through deadly force - that experience is passed on in our programs.

Mission

HT: When a criminal assault occurs, the Victim is on the scene long before the Police - You are your own First Responder. At No Time do we advocate the use of force against another unless that use of force is reasonably necessary and legally justified. But when the use of force against another person is reasonably necessary and legally justified, that use of force must be effective. Against a serious and motivated attack the most effective option is not to defend, but to take out the threat.

The purpose of the Hardened Target Program is to: * Help people to recognize and believe in the difference between "the Right to Defend Yourself" and "the Responsibility to do so". * Understand the basic legal requirements regarding the lawful use of force in defending people and property, how to recognize and articulate "disparity of force, threat recognition and assessment, and reasonable force options". * Show people how to develop not just awareness - but determination. * Teach people how to develop power through using basic body mechanics and movement. * Introduce techniques that are effective: Easily learned and retained by the average person, easily performed under conditions of high stress and in different environments, with a high and proven success rate.
* Provide an instructional template that leads people to develop strong techniques, combinations that make use of natural movement, able to perform these combinations in the air - on pads and on padded people, stationary – moving and under increasing pressure - to "program in" an emotional response, until the person is able to disregard planned combinations and just hit with physical and emotional intensity from different positions and angles with one
purpose - to stop the threat. * Be able to articulate their actions - "debrief" afterward.

The program does this with the use of:
* Personal / emergency weapons - Hands, feet, elbows, knees etc - On your feet and on the ground
* O.C. (Pepper Spray) tactics integrated with the above
* Impact tools - Flashlights, Kubotans, Sticks etc, Integrated with the above
* Edged or Pointed tools - Knives, pens etc, integrated with the above
* Firearms - Integrated with the above

We stress and make use of 2 factors:
* Nothing (no technique or personal weapon) works on everyone all the time
* Under a "fight or flight - adrenaline dump - stress response", any person is
capable of extreme strength, high pain tolerance and "manic" determination, which can make that person extremely dangerous and hard to stop.


Training Solutions: If your job description or situation demands that you Control or Protect others, you must also be able to Protect Yourself. We provide instruction in all levels of force, from Presence and Dialog, Control and Protective Alternatives through the use of Deadly Force. This includes all "tools" from O.C. (Pepper Spray) through Firearms, from the classroom, through "hands-on", to providing Expert Review and Testimony.

Four Winds Martial Arts provides training in Personal Protection, LE / Security Training and Certification, FMA, Kickboxing, Brazilian JiuJitsu, a combination Martial Arts Class, Little Dragon and Childrens' classes.

Products

Instructional Services, Lecture/Presentations, Qualified and Professional "Hands-on" training, Seminars, Training DVD's and Expert Witness services. Our Training DVD's are produced by Century Martial Arts- the world's largest Martial Arts supplier. They include a series of Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Eskrima, "Hardened Target" Personal Protection Systems, "Defend, Control and Apprehend" for Law Enforcement, and "starting a Padded Stick Program"- 19 DVD's so far. http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fvimeo.com%2F35577240&h=eAQG-R4ezAQEO13uCj0EpjYMxh5G4SpKO8gUclhLskcjKxw