Practical Protection

With karate, his hands become a lethal weapon!

According to FBI statistics, roughly one in four people in the U.S. will be violently attacked sometime in their lifetime. Among those in this statistical group, a small portion will be attacked with some type of weapon. This fact, and the idea of not being a victim, are examples that serve, in martial arts instructor Dave Boise’s estimation, as solid reasons for getting involved in the discipline he teaches.

Boise has been involved with the martial arts for 30 years, with 21 years as a professional teacher. He is the regional director for the karate studio he operates in downtown Plattsburgh and has been instructing at Plattsburgh State Universty (PSU) for four years.

Boise thinks that martial arts has much to offer beyond mere self-defense. “Most people don’t realize the health benefits or the advantages of improving focus and self-confidence. In my classes, we work on developing what is called ‘Mushim’, which, loosely translated, means ‘the no-mind principle’," Boise said. "It’s about training the mind to focus at the highest level.”

Boise also stresses the physical conditioning involved and mentions a practical advantage of physical fitness through the martial arts. “Do you play sports? Take football, for example. When you’re 40 or 45, are you going to want to get together with your friends and play a game? If you did, you’d probably wind up feeling really sore. Martial arts are something you can do at any age, for the rest of your life,” he says. Boise further explained that there are low impact variations on the training techniques and programs are customized for different types of people. “I take the approach of building around individualized talents and strengths,” he says.

Crystal Thomas, a junior and education major, says that while she is taking the class because a physical education credit is a requirement, the martial arts class was easily her first choice. “I took kick boxing when I was at Clinton Community College and it definitely got me into shape,” she says. Another student, senior Antoine Moore, agrees that martial arts are an effective means of keeping physically fit. While he has previous experience in the martial arts, he prefers the style that Boise teaches.

“The karate I learned before was very traditional. This class mixes the traditional with the practical and teaches every aspect of dealing with a violent confrontation,” he says.
Boise explains to his students that when they graduate from college, most of them will be headed for larger cities to seek employment. For the sake of example, he requests a show of hands of all those students that are from New York City. He then asks these students if there’s violence in New York. "Yes", these students quickly respond. Given the fact that larger cities tend to be more violent, the relevance of his idea becomes clear.
“By being prepared for a violent encounter, you decrease the likelihood of becoming a victim,” Boise explains.

He also has a statistic for people who say they won’t get into a fight or would walk away from such a situation. In a violent encounter, approximately 9 times out 10 you’re not given the option to back out,” he says.

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