Introduction by Michael Kann

I’m glad you made your way to us. In the beginning Progressive Self Defence System was my own way to think, to live, to feel and to teach martial arts. So Progressive Self Defence System was my personal concept for training and developing my students’ possibilies and my own. It is nothing new (I did not have to invent anything new) and it also is not a new style and it definitely is not a new organisation.

It is a teaching method – that is all!

More and more people got interested and they wanted to have a kind of structure in PSDS (being an education programme). This made me change my mind a write a teaching and educating manual.

This was already completed in 1996.

The interest in Progressive Self Defence System is enormous and the training to become a Progressive Self Defence System Trainer (C and B license is a great success. My motto in this case is quality in stead of quantity, this proved to bet he right approach to things in the past.

Why have an own education programme?

I have been practicing martial arts since 1974 and in this whole time I learned own thing – people like to argue! No matter where I was or in which club I was a member the main topic was always power and money. Most of the time it was only a few so called officials who said what was to happen.

“Of course” only for the athletes’ best! I always ask why most styles started to destroy themselves so quickly – arts of self-defence were transformed to sports with rules and fair competitions.

You can earn lots of money by doing that (if you do it properly).There are enough examples for this, look at boxing or Judo. Others created new styles out of old ones by adding there own name to it and trying to make themselves famous. Old stuff gets a new name and presented on the martial arts market – quite a simple idea. And then some people make their teachers to idols and their rules to dogmas and say that their system has existed for centuries or even thousands of years (believe it if you like); but they never paid attention to changes time has brought along. Basically I have no problem with fair competition, earning money, caring for traditions and people who want everybody to know their names but this has nothing to do with fights in the streets any more.

My idea was to create a teaching method, which

• puts self-defence/street fights in first place.
• ”lives“ for its members, respects their wishes and lets them take part in the conception
• open for new ideas
• which allows changes
• does not have unflexible structures
• is not made for praising me all the time, for earning millions or for lying to people
• tries to simulate reality
• is open for everyone (I do make one exception: the statement of conduct has to be flawless)
• does not distribute belts and certificates as if they were candy
• is not based on the most secret of secret techniques, that only the “grand masters” know of
• does not have the title “We are the best and have the only right answer to every problem!“

Cooperation, communication, development, education, with each other and for each other, rational and efficient, economic, connecting, without restrictions and without time and money costing paper work – all this is Progressive Self Defence System.

On the following pages you will find more information about the Progressive Self Defence System, our friends, partners and lots of other martial arts and self-defence styles and other aspects.

For further information please contact our headquarters.

Progressive Self Defence System Headquarters

Michael Kann

Sankt Sebastian Str. 3

91336 Heroldsbach

telephone   00 49 91 90 – 99 78 82 / 00 49 177 – 6 16 03 66

fax             00 49 91 90 – 99 78 81

m.kann@t-online.de

m.kann@warriors.de

www.warriors.de

I hope you have fun reading and I wish you successful training.

Yours,
Michael Kann

Best presentation: Explorer Version 5 or better

design: Michael Kann

translation: Nathaniel Melling
All pictures are possession of Michael Kann and his copyright.