HOW STYLLZ SANDER BECAME STYLLZ KRAV MAGA LIMITED...
On the road to succes we all need several rolemodels to propel us forward faster. Rolemodels are brilliant gamechangers. With their influence clear vision becomes reality. Mostly rolemodels are background characters, mainly existing on adverts or posters. But sometimes you meet your rolemodel personally. My life provided me with such an oppurtunity. When life hooked me up with Krav Maga long ago little did I know what lied ahead of me for the rest of my life. It was in the year 2000 Eurosport was broadcasting a martial arts demo with several fighting components of which Krav Maga was one. Truly never heard of it at that time but watching the demonstration I was amazed by the things I was watching. The fighting skills demonstrated contained
armed attacks, multiple opponent fighting and the use of common objects, such as chairs, glass bottles, sticks and wood etc. The reality displayed in this demo was really amazing and left a deep impression as I had never witnessed such a thing. To me a fight was just a fight. Simple and pretty much strraight forward. But the reality shown in the demo changed that perspective once and for all. Something told me this was a call that needed more research. Research learned me Holland did not offer Krav Maga.
This ofcourse was very dissapointing to me. Krav Maga stayed on my mind from that point as suddenly there was a breaktrough.
Branimir Tudjan from the IKMA (Israel Krav Maga Federation started teaching in Leiden.
Receiving my Expert Level diploma from Eyal Yanilov passing the test with a 94% score after an eight days non-stop training.
It was the year 2001 and a wednesday evening as I took the train from The Haque where I lived, to Leiden to finally follow my long awaited first lesson in Krav Maga. Little did I know what would happen that very evening. After a very short introduction training started. During the "What the fuck is happening here" warming up I asked myself what the hell I got myself into. Sheer agression and pure testosteron. After that warming up classes started and my very first ever excercise was terminating a terrorist by throwing hium on top of his own activated hand grenade! At that time there was no such thing as the modern-day Civil Krav Maga, just Krav Maga. After that intimidating first part there was a multiple opponent sparring competition wearing gear and helmet. I really don't remember how I got back home again, only that I slept as if I had not slept in three days. But one thing was very clear: Krav Maga got me hooked on the very first ever training session!
The training with Branimir Tudjan in Leiden got me hooked immediately and I subscrided and started training every week in Leiden. As it took me quite some effort to get there every time, taking the train and buss after a long day at work I realised that there was a need to find my training closer to home or even at The Haque itself. One day I was walking through The Haque passing Laan van Meerdervoort when a white van caught my attention. It sported a huge Krav Maga logo. It was the IKMF (International Krav Maga Federation Logo as can be seen in the image at the left. I contacted the school owner which at that time was Martijn Bos. We made an oppointment for a thursday evening as Martijn was the teacher for the thursdays and Franklyn Hartkamp for the tuesdays.
And that was it: The start of training Krav Maga at my hometown. This would mean less travel time not having to go to Leiden again.
This is my only surviving Practitioner Level Diploma. It is the level of Practitioner 5. Proud to still have it in my posession, not knowing where all the previous diploma's are and if they survived.
I really was anxious for my first ever Krav Maga training session!
I remember Martijn made quite the impression on me as he showed me some true ground work skills during that very first training session. The students which I trained with were very open and friendly, somehow more than the students in Leiden. The venue was more intimate as the dimentions of the room were substantially smaller and the walls were completely covered by huge mirrors. This room would become the very room in which I would spent my entire Krav Maga career in.
That next tuesday I met Franklyn Hartkamp for the first time. He was the trainer for the tuesdays at the venue. He was nicked the Gentle Giant but looked somewhat frightening instead. But it soon became clear he was enormously skilled in fighting. Everything he did was on point, sharp and I never saw him miss of fail something in my entire career. After one year of training I took my very first level test in Krav Maga. Still remember very clear this was held at Scheveningen, at the Skotel to be more precise. I was extremely excited for that day. Seeing the huge number of students all ready for their first level test was a very intimidating experience. After 3 sweaty and nerve wrecking hours of testing we were all lined up and were told that the instructors needed 30 minutes to determine which students had passed the test and which hadn't. When the instructors returned we were told to line up again. They told me I just had passed my first ever Krav Maga level test! I was proud!
Graduation photograph of my General Instructor Course at The Haque, Krav Maga Global NL.
After earning my first level in Krav Maga, the so-called Practitioner Level 1, I was hooked. So i continued to my next level, the Practitioner Level 2 and Practitioner Level 3. The Krav Maga Practioner Level test usually was a local event, hosted by our own school, but the Level 2 tests and up always were national events and located in Zwolle where you could meet fellow students from the rest of the Netherlands. How huge those line ups were! I recall central level tests up to 250+ students! Those events really gave you a fantastic boost of energy.
After consistent training for years gradually getting better in doing what I did there was a significant moment at around the Practitioner 5 level. IKMF suffered internal struggles and difficulties as to the point where the two captains Eyal Yanilov and Avi Moyal decided to each go their own way and form their own organisation. Avi Moyal decided to continue with the IKMF where Eyal Yanilov decided to start his own organisation, which would become known as KMG, or Krav Maga Global, the system which would earn world-wide recognition for being revolutionairy and renewing.
It was at this point all students were asked to induvidually choose whether they wanted to continue training with IKMF, which meant a new gym location, or they would decide to follow Eyal Yanilov and his KMG Global organisation. I decided to follow the newly founded KMG and Eyal Yanilov. This meant all merchandise and training outfits had to be renewed, the new clothing sporting the brand new KMG Global logo by Eyal Yanilov. The curiculum was completely re-written, meaning some of the higher level excercises suddenly had to be tested at the lower levels, such as chokes and knife threats. This took me some time to get used to even up to one year. But the decision to follow Eyal and his Krav Maga Global organisation would prove to be the right one for me as many more stable years of great training would follow.
My long awaited Krav Maga Global Instructor Diploma awarded to me by Global Team Instructor Albert Kagalski and Uk Joe.
I very well remember graduating from Practitioner Level 5 to Graduate Level 1. It meant training in a new color of T-shirt, medium gray. No longer a plain white t-shirt, -which were and still are- notoriously prone to stain in a brownish sweat color. After my Graduate Level one I clearly was stepping up the game and gradually got more skilled. As I often was helping out my fellow students, I started earning remarks and feedback from students telling me I would make a good instructor. Always waving those comments away I ignored the feedback up to the point my Instructor officially nominated me to follow the G.I.C. which stands for General Instructor Course. This involved 180 hours of training, divided into three blocks in which to master all the levels up to Graduate level One. The first block consisted of 10 days non-stop training, the second block again 10 days and the last block 5 days, the total equaling one-hundred-eighty hours. I very well remember a few days prior to the start of the General Instructor Course I was up for my Graduate Level 3 test which was held in The Haque at my own gym the 14th of November 2012. My Instructors told me that there was not really a need for me to take the test, as the General Instructor Course would provide me the same G3 level test at the end. But I insisted to take my test the natural way and end up starting the GIC as level G3.
The after picture of the G level students and instructors 2012.
At the right the G3 level Diploma taken days prior the GIC 2012
The after picture with my The Haque students and instructors.
During that level test, it must have been around halfway passed, we were tested for our 3rd party protection curriculum. Our examiner showed us our positions in which we should start the testing of the 3rd party protection. Suddenly without notifying me, must have been testing-anxiety I guess, my testing partner Juan pulled me from behind while keeping the leveridge in my knee pocket, pulling me down on the ground for the test. I wasn't ready at all and my knee got hurt seriously, whick caused me to finish the second half of the level test with a great deal of pain, making me limp a bit. This wasn't fun at all, but in the end I made it to the finish and was able to pass my test as G3! At some point injuries or pain don't bother you anymore as you are just full of adrenaline determined to reach your goals. Having passed my Graduate level 3 test made me even more ready for my Instructor Course than I already was.