Published: October 01, 2008 01:48 am            

RANSOMVILLE: Self-defense program gives people a fighting chance

RANSOMVILLE — When faced with a threat, most people don’t know what to do. Steve Cliffe is aiming to change that.

Cliffe runs Imminent Threat Defense Systems on Braley Road in Ransomville, a proactive self-defense system that teaches a person what to do when faced with a dangerous threat. The key, Cliffe said, is pre-emptive action that destroys an attacker’s ability to continue their assault. He said Imminent Threat teaches the response in a way where it’ll come easily when needed.

“We make it simple and basic,” Cliffe said. “And they learn how to apply it. It gives people the ability to go into the world and live their life.”

Cliffe teaches different moves and tactics that eliminate the threat. One in particular is when a person is taught to step “through” their attacker and grab the jaw. They force their thumbs into the attacker’s eyes. This causes the attacker to move their head back, which is an involuntary move known as a “spinal reaction.” It opens the attacker’s knees or groin to the person, who can then take the attacker down with a different move. While the attacker is on the ground, the person can use their knees to drop straight down on the attacker’s throat, causing asphyxiation.

Also part of the training, people are shown a PowerPoint presentations as a visual aid to what they are learning. Breaking through the mindset that they can’t do this is an important part of the learning, Cliffe said. Imminent Threat also offers seminars at a number of locations. People are also responsible for when they use self-defense, as any misuse will result in the person going to jail.

“The attacker is heading either to the hospital or the morgue,” Cliffe said.

There are three things people learn at Imminent Threat. The first is to displace through the center of the attacker; the second is to induce the spinal reaction; and the third is to terminate the threat by reducing the attacker’s ability to hurt by inflicting trauma.

A wide range of students participate in the programs Imminent Threat offers. Law enforcement officers, executives, security guards and women are just some of those who have come to Cliffe to learn how to protect themselves.

“It’s a complete mix,” Cliffe said.

Cliffe knew a college student who did well in school and was active in a number of extracurricular activities. When she went away to school, she was sexual assaulted and didn’t want to return to school. The incident affected Cliffe, who also has a daughter. Rape prevention is taught as part of Project Athena, a self-defense program for women.

Other programs at Imminent Threat include Counter Point, a program that focuses on weapons; Street Edge,” which focuses on criminal acts of violence; and Teach Safe, a program that instructs educators in how to defend their classroom in the event of an emergency.

Sam Giambattista, fitness and aquatics director at the Niagara Falls YMCA, has been training with Cliffe for about 15 months. Holding level 1 instructor status, Giambattista said Imminent Threat Defense Systems has enhanced his own skills. Giambattista met Cliffe while he was working part time at Niagara University and Cliffe was giving a rape prevention class. Prior to training at Imminent Threat, Giambattista had been involved with boxing and danzan-ryu jujitsu. With the interest already there, Imminent Threat offered Giambattista an addition to his training.

“It’s easy to learn and fairly simple,” Giambattista said of the Imminent Threat training. “There’s a lot of drills that I don’t normally do. It’s fairly simple but can get more complex.”

Cliffe said he has had members of the armed forces participate and say they don’t receive the kind of training they do at Imminent Threat.

Cliffe is a New York state licensed teacher who taught in Utica before moving to Ransomville. His prior background in private security work started with protecting VIPs in a Toronto bar. Cliffe also grew up in a military family.

“I was doing it formally, now I’m doing it informally,” he said.

Imminent Threat also has a location in Utica.

Contact reporter Joe Olenick at 439-9222, ext. 6241.

        

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