Doug - Jim isnt hard to get in touch with. He gets a lot of emails (couple hundred a day I understand), but he does get back to you in good time usually.
Send an email to
comtech@bmi.net (thats the email address for his company, combat technologies ) with a succinct subject line to relate right away why you are sending the email (always makes it easier to sort email by importance if people dont just go "Hey" in the subject line), and tell him the detals in your email, you have a daughter, this old, you want her to learn such and such, you are also in the Pac NW etc. and start talking with him about what she needs, and what the cost will be.
It will not be cheap. I have trained with Jim, at this years Riddle of Steel (Please see my review here:
http://www.themartialist.com/1203/riddle03.htm ) and no, it wasnt cheap.
But, I have been doing this stuff for about four years, the heaviest in the past two years, thanks to good friends, and a lot of help from the online community - I made a good amount of progress on my own.
In four days with Jim Keating and the two months afterward spent playing with the things I learned from him, I have made a step forward equal only to the distance progressed int he past two years.
I would spend three times as much for training with Jim. It is worth it beyond words.
Get in touch with him, and make this thing happen - for your daughter.
I dont know anything about the school she is in now, but I am always wary of martial arts school professing to teach knife skills, or knife defenses - because all too often what they teach requires the attacker to do a set number of things, or just to stand there while they are dis-armed or defeated. There is no realism to the training, it is as formalized and dance like as a kata form all too often.
Watch for this... if you see that type of stuff happening, get her into a different school.
Knife defenses, knife work, should be filled with dynamic movement from both sides, the off hand and weapon hands of the attacker and defender need to be working at all times, feet need to be moving, etc etc.
If its "Jake, walk up to Julie and stab her like this *overhand stiff arm stab* then just stand there so she can disarm you" - get her out of that school so fast it makes her head spin. That doesnt teach anyone anything, except how to get hurt.
Unfortunate fact about all too many traditional martial arts schools.
If you have any concerns about this type of thing, drop by the Practical Tactical forum here on Blade Forums and voice your concerns to get some feed-back. Or drop by
www.selfdefenseforums.com - thats the best bunch of guys on the net for this stuff, IMO - a lot of experiance with a lot of different types of instruction alla round the world, if you have a concern about something in her training (or yours), drop by and speak up. We'll be more than glad to help you out.
Spend a little extra money and pick up some of James Keatings video tapes, so she can train at home, and you can train with her (nothing builds a good father/daughter relationship like some bruises from training knives :d
). Jim does a really good tape, I like the ones I have seen a lot.
The tapes I'd reccomend to start with are the Reverse Grip Knife Fighting/DrawPoint series - of the ones i have seen, that'd be the best to start with.
I thinky ou are doing right helping to make sure your daughter gets this kind of training.
Learning to use a knife, a gun, isnt blood-thirsty, or it doesnt have to be to be realistic or valuable. Like learning to change a tire, or build a camp-fire, its a survival skill, and the knife or gun is just a tool, like the car-jack.
Its not about death, or violence for the sake of violence, it is about preserving life. Thats what you are equipping your daughter to do, preserve her life.
"The knife that takes life is the knife that gives life" Jim Keating.
Congratulations on being a wise enough and kind enough parent to do this for your child, you deserve an award.
