Martial arts and situational awareness complement each other perfectly. Situational awareness or situation awareness, commonly abbreviated as SA, is a requisite skill in all kinds of human endeavor. Situational awareness is needed in aviation, maritime, army, healthcare, emergency management, space, law enforcement, martial arts, sports, education, in day-to-day activities, and in every kind of human activity.
What is situational awareness?
Situational awareness is having an awareness of the situation. A situation comprises of an environment or the surrounding (context) and the elements (content) in that surrounding. Therefore, situational awareness is being aware of the context and the content of a situation, and how these change with respect to time, place, person, and other factors.
FOCUSED Project video “Situation Awareness”:
SilverShield video “Situational Awareness”:
VoicesOnCall – VOCtv video “How Aware Are You? – Situational Awareness Test – #1”:
VoicesOnCall – VOCtv video “Whodunnit? – How Aware Are You? – Situational Awareness Test – #4”:
The origin of situation awareness began since life began on earth. Scientific knowledge is lacking on exactly when or how did life begin on earth, but it is generally accepted that due to situation awareness, the cells of plants harnessed the energy from the rays of the sun via photosynthesis, thereby creating oxygen and food, which made it possible for life to survive and thrive on earth.
BBC video “How did life begin on Earth? Professor Brian Cox explains everything! ☀️🌱 BBC”:
Situation awareness enables a life-form to survive and thus, it is practiced by every life-form on earth. In all life-forms, situation awareness is embedded as survival instincts, which allow it to survive a potential or an actual dangerous situation.
@TacticalHyve video “Even dogs practice situational awareness!”:
Situation Awareness Decision-making models
Sometimes, the situation is complex, and only instincts are not enough to decide any particular course of action. At such times, decisions based on situation awareness have to be carefully thought out. To help arriving at such decisions, theorists have suggested many decision-making models. Additionally, many military experts have also suggested different models, for example, Clint Emerson, a retired Navy SEAL officer, considers “Total awareness = Personal awareness + Cultural awareness + Third-party awareness + Situational awareness”. Another retired Navy SEAL officer, Dr. Chris Sajnog, suggests a S.E.A.L loop model comprising of “Sense/See, Evaluate, Act, Learn”.
However, the most common models are as follows:
—Endsley model
—OODA loop
—Cooper color codes
Endsley model
Dr. Mica Endsley, an American engineer and a former Chief Scientist of the United States Air Force, formulated an Endsley model of situation awareness. Her theory of situation awareness posits that when a person meets a dangerous situation, then that person needs to arrive at a decision and has to take action. To arrive at a decision, a precise decision-making process is required, which includes situation awareness in three ascending levels as follows:
Level 1. Perception of the elements in the environment (what)
Level 2. Comprehension of the elements leading to an understanding of the situation (so what)
Level 3. Projection of the future status of the situation (now what)
CernerEng video “Situation Awareness, Mica Endsley”:
OODA Loop
The OODA loop is a decision-making model developed by United States Air Force Colonel John Boyd. According to Col. Boyd, decision-making occurs in an iterative cycle of “Observe, Orient, Decide, Act”. An entity, an individual or an organization, who can process this cycle quickly, observing and reacting to unfolding events more rapidly and/or more effectively than an opponent, can thereby get inside the opponent’s decision cycle and gain an advantage.
Usually Hapless video “What is the OODA Loop?”:
Cooper color codes
Lieutenant Colonel John Dean “Jeff” Cooper was a United States Marine officer. In his book, “Principles of Personal Defense” he argued that the most important means of surviving a lethal confrontation is neither the weapon nor the martial skills, but a combat mindset. He came up with a color code, consisting of four colors namely, white, yellow, orange, and red, which showed the combat mindset.
—In White, a person is unprepared and unready to take lethal action. If the person is attacked in White, then that person will probably die unless the adversary is totally inept.
—In Yellow, a person brings oneself to the understanding that one’s life may be in danger and that one may have to do something about it.
—In Orange, a person is determined upon a specific adversary and is prepared to take action which may result in the death of the adversary, but one is not in a lethal mode.
—In Red, a person is in a lethal mode and will shoot if circumstances warrant.
Panos Lolos video “Col. Jeff Cooper: Mental condition, Color codes”:
A recent addition to the color codes is the color black. “Condition Black” means “combat in progress”, or “overwhelmed by fear”, or “immobilized by panic”.
Tom Grieve video “LEARN THIS! Real World DIFFERENCE MAKER to SURVIVE! Jeff Cooper’s Color Codes”:
Situational awareness versus Situational understanding
Sometimes, situational awareness is confused with situational understanding, since the terms “awareness” and “understanding” are somewhat synonymous. Nonetheless, situational awareness comprises of all the three levels of the Endsley model, whereas, situational understanding is the Endsley model level two (comprehension, so what), where the data is integrated with each other and the desired goals, to help arrive at a decision.
EU CRIMARIO video “IORIS: moving from situational awareness to situational understanding and action (2024)”:
Situational awareness versus Situational assessment
Situational awareness represents a “state of knowledge”, while situational assessment represents “the processes” used to understand that state of knowledge. These processes vary among different contexts and different individuals; however, the aim is to understand the risks and benefits of a situation by assessing the elements as presented by situational awareness.
@educatedwarrior-academy video “The Briefing: Situational Awareness in a minute and a half: Situational Awareness: Situational Assessment”:
Situational awareness versus Sensemaking
Sensemaking is making sense of what happened. Situational awareness is effortless and instantaneous, while sensemaking is effortful and delayed. Situational awareness is forward focused and predicts what may likely happen, while sensemaking is backward focused and attempts to form reasonings for past events.
The Business Professor video “Sensemaking Theory”:
Few applications of Situational Awareness
Situational awareness has found applications in almost all areas of human activity. Few are given below.
Aviation
CASABriefing video “Human factors for pilots – Situational awareness”:
Maritime
COMCAM Bahrain video “Maritime Advanced Situational Awareness Training (MASAT)”:
Army
MCoE Fort Moore video “Advanced Situational Awareness Training (ASAT) Full”:
Space
Sheilaaliens video “AMS: The NASA Real Time Mission Monitor – Situational Awareness For Field Experiments”:
Business
iluli by Mike Lamb video “What Is Wardley Mapping?”:
Healthcare
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health video “Situation Awareness for Everyone – University College London Hospitals”:
Emergency management
D4H video “Why real-time situational awareness is key for emergency management”:
Training
abcdolphinacademy video “🐬 Situational awareness 🐬”:
Safety at Work
Continuing Care Safety Association (CCSA) video “Personal Safety and Security at Work – Situational Awareness”:
Oil and Gas
IOGP – International Association of Oil and Gas Producers video “02 Situational Awareness”:
Sports
@gntacc.sports video “#10 shows great situational awareness with the self-pass & vision with the through-ball right after.”:
Security
ACTCert video “How A Professional Bodyguard Learns Situational Awareness”:
Law Enforcement
Oxnard Police video “Situational Awareness”:
Situational awareness in martial arts
Martial arts were created and practiced by soldiers who employed them in actual warfare, where the situation kept on changing constantly and thus, situational awareness was a vital and a necessary skill that enabled the soldier to remain alive. For soldiers, situational awareness is exemplified in military martial arts.
Military martial arts
Boxoffice Movie Scenes video “Intense War Scene | Hacksaw Ridge | CLIP”:
AP Archive video “US Navy vs Japan’s Kamikaze”:
Hasard Lee video “The Most Realistic Dogfight Footage Ever Recorded”:
Best Movie Trailer video “Greyhound Finale battle. Pure action #TomHanks #Bestmovietrailer #BestClipsAndTrailers”:
Legendary Movie Scenes video “Dunkirk Opening First Beginning Scene – Shooting, We Surround you – Dunkirk (2017) – Movie Clip HD”:
War Archives video “Incredible Footage of the Battle of Dunkirk (1940) | War Archives”:
Civilian martial arts
Martial arts are also practiced for other reasons besides fighting in a battle. Some of these reasons for practicing martial arts are physical fitness, as a sport, and for self-defense. However, improving situational awareness is also a reason and a benefit for practicing martial arts, apart from the physical, mental, emotional, and the numerous other benefits that martial arts provide. Situational awareness as practiced in martial arts, in a civilian societal context, presents itself in various ways, of which the following are most common.
—Situational awareness in training
—Situational awareness in sparring
—Situational awareness in competitions
—Situational awareness in self-defense
Situational awareness in training
Situational awareness is cultivated in training by improving the peripheral vision as well as the focused vision. In martial arts, focused vision can be dynamic or static. Peripheral vision is always dynamic, since in a martial scenario, the periphery is never static as it goes on changing constantly.
Static focused vision can be improved if the training partner remains static. For example, a training partner can hold focus pads or mitts at any fixed place, and the mitts or pads can be punched or kicked.
Pacific International Taekwondo video “Pacific International Taekwondo – Adults class”:
Dynamic focused vision can be improved if the training partner is dynamic, meaning that the training partner is in continuous motion. Due to the continuous motion, one does not know where the focus mitts or pads will be held next by the training partner; consequently, the ability to focus immediately in order to punch or kick without any delay, improves the dynamic focused vision. Generally, dynamic focused vision is suitable for practicing different combinations of punches, or kicks, or both.
BOXING LIFE video “Best Fighters Mitts Workout”:
One of the ways of improving peripheral vision is by training with multiple training partners.
Sala d’Arme Achille Marozzo Friuli Venezia Giulia video “Could you survive against two opponents? – HEMA simulation exercise”:
scholagladiatoria video “Fighting multiple opponents with swords or other weapons”:
TKDTube video “DPRK Self-Defence Routine wins🏅 at the 2023 ITF World Championship in Kazakhstan”:
Martial Arts Journey with Rokas video “Why You Wouldn’t Beat Multiple Opponents”:
Situational awareness is different while training indoors and while training outdoors. If one is training outdoors, then the ground may be rocky, uneven, or slippery, due to which the balance can be lost very easily. Even if the ground is flat or grassy, still there might be small undulations or pebbles, which can unbalance the feet and might lead to an injury like an ankle sprain. Loss of balance is caused if the center of gravity of the body is pushed or pulled. Therefore, dedicated martial artists practice maintaining the center of gravity in all movements of stances, blocks, punches, and kicks, so that the feet always land, either lightly or firmly, on any surface, without any loss of balance, irrespective of whether the surface is even or uneven, dry or wet, barren or vegetated, stationary or moving.
Pacific International Taekwondo video “Slowmo Instructors practising”:
Situational awareness can be learnt very easily by simply following the instructions given by an instructor. A very important benefit of training in a martial arts school is the presence of an instructor, who plays an invaluable role. Any and all instructions that are provided by the instructor are always embedded with an awareness of the situation. Therefore, similar to a sponge absorbing water, one should absorb each and every instruction that the instructor provides and thereby, automatically improve one’s situational awareness while improving the techniques that are taught in a martial arts school.
Pacific International Taekwondo video “GM Dicks correcting Eui Am pattern”:
Situational awareness in sparring
In sparring, the situation changes constantly and accordingly, the attacking or defensive movements are executed. At all times one should remember that sparring is a learning session, and therefore one must prevent oneself from getting injured or injuring the sparring partner. While grappling, one has to be aware of the situation when the sparring partner taps in any submission move, so that accidents are avoided.
Siam Boxing video “Jonathan Haggerty Muay Thai Sparring & Clinching | Siam Boxing”:
Peripheral vision plays a crucial role in sparring and therefore, one should practice cultivating it. While sparring with multiple partners, one should avoid going berserk by punching and kicking in all directions, since situational awareness can open up different ranges and directions, which can be exploited by better and more suitable attacking and defensive techniques. The aim of sparring with one or multiple partners is to learn and not to win or lose.
Unleash Self Defence video “Defending Against Multiple Attackers – Fighting / Sparring Multiple Opponents – Defence Lab Training”:
Situational awareness in competitions
Competitions are full contact sporting activities, and the aim is to score more points than the opponent. With situational awareness, one can exploit opportunities in a fraction of a second and score points advantageously. Different martial artists train in different martial arts, and they exploit opportunities in different ways. Observing and learning different ways of attacking and defending from the performances of different martial artists, always helps any martial artist to perfect the skill of situational awareness.
LEAK លក្ខណ៍ video “Team Sparring Man(16-17 )Final (🔵Russia vs Hellas🔴) ITF TAEKWON-DO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS.ASTANA 2023”:
World Karate Federation video “Best Bouts of Paris 2024 | L. Maresca – S. Oubaya | WORLD KARATE FEDERATION”:
Full 15 Sumo video “Yokozuna Terunofuji Yusho May 2023, 14-1, All Bouts”:
Judo Royal 柔道 video “Tajima GOKI vs Majdov NEMANJA I Final -90KG I Abu Dhabi World Championships 2024”:
FloGrappling video “Mica Galvão vs Andy Murasaki | 2024 IBJJF Worlds Final”:
WORLD CAPOEIRA FEDERATION video “Campeonato De capoeira”:
FIGHT GURU video “🇺🇦 🇺🇿 DAVYDENKO – KHASANBOEV FINAL 88KG WORLD SAMBO CUP 2024 ARMENIA”:
ONE Championship video “Rodtang vs. Superlek – Full Fight Replay | Biggest Fight in Muay Thai”:
That’s why MMA! video “Mike Tyson (USA) vs Evander Holyfield (USA) | KNOCKOUT, BOXING fight, HD”:
Situational awareness in self-defense
Irrespective of whether a person trains in martial arts or not, every person needs situational awareness in order to defend oneself. Awareness of the situation is paramount in self-defense. In a martial arts school, many different situations are presented, and self-defense techniques are taught for overcoming those situations.
International Taekwon-Do Defence Force video “ITF DPR Korean Self Defence Demonstration”:
Sheepdog Response video “Be Prepared, Not a Target: Elevate Your Situational Awareness”:
WIRED video “Retired Navy SEAL Explains How to Prepare for Dangerous Situations | Tradecraft | WIRED”:
Budo Brothers video “How To Prevent Violent Crime: Condo/Apartment Situational Awareness”:
Personal Security Network video “Fundamentals of Situational Awareness | Staying Safe in Public Spaces”:
Art of One Dojo video “Situational Awareness in Self Defense | ART OF ONE DOJO”:
KMWKravMaga video “Situational Awareness with Bas Rutten and Amir Perets!”:
Self-defense measures
Situational awareness helps to undertake the following self-defense measures:
—Analyzing the situation
—Overcoming fear
—De-escalating the situation and Avoiding conflict
—Running away or Fighting
—Seeking help
Analyzing the situation
A situation may have the potential of harmful intent, which needs to be analyzed quickly. Situations may be pre-meditated or may occur spontaneously.
In this stage, a person is in the level 1 (perception, what) and level 2 (comprehension, so what) of the Endsley model; observe-orient stages of the OODA loop model; and the color yellow (understanding that one’s life may be in danger and that one may have to do something about it) of the color codes model.
Nick Drossos Defensive Tactics video “Knife Attack in a Restaurant | Fight Analysis for Self defense”:
Overcoming fear
Fear is a natural reaction to threat and how one responds, largely depends on the situation. Fear is a stressful condition for the body, and under stress the body responds in various ways like shouting, screaming, throwing objects, breaking things, pleading, begging, crying and more; however, the common responses are freezing, or fawning, or fleeing, or fighting. In this freeze-fawn-flight-fight response, situational awareness helps in determining which would be the best response in that particular situation. Sometimes doing nothing and simply freezing by hiding somewhere and making no noise might be a good response. While at other times, fawning by a servile display of exaggerated flattery or praising the attacker, in the hope that the attacker’s ego would be pampered enough to allow one to go away safely, might be a good response. In some situations, either fleeing or fighting may be good responses. The response depends upon the situation, and to what extent a person is aware of that situation.
Kati Morton video “Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn: Understanding Your Stress Responses”:
CNBC Make It video “Jocko Willink: How To Overcome Fear”:
Mel Robbins video “The Life-Changing Secret to Defeating Fear in 5 Seconds | Mel Robbins”:
Tyler Waye video “Fear: Go Towards it. Best Motivational Video”:
De-escalating the situation and Avoiding conflict
De-escalating techniques include staying calm, using a low voice, a low tone and talking slowly. Trying to talk down the aggressor without justifying what or who is right or wrong, and offering an amicable solution, if possible, might also de-escalate the situation. Sometimes, just remaining silent and listening to the angry person, so that the angry person may verbally vent out the anger, may help to de-escalate the situation.
In this stage, a person is in the level 2 (comprehension, so what) and level 3 (projection, now what) of the Endsley model; decide-act stages of the OODA loop model; and the color orange (determined upon a specific adversary and is prepared to take action which may result in the death of the adversary, but one is not in a lethal mode) of the color codes model.
Gentle Response LLC video “Gentle Response De-escalation Training – Scenario Examples”:
Dartmouth Trauma Interventions Research Center video “Calming & De-escalation Strategies”:
Justin Powall video “Visual example of the 5 different Conflict Resolutions Styles”:
CBS Chicago video “De-Escalation Techniques”:
NJ Spotlight News video “Police officers take course teaching de-escalation techniques”:
NCH video “Agitated Patient Scenario – Simulation Center | NCH Healthcare System”:
Running away or Fighting
Sometimes, situational awareness leads to taking a decision to run away from a potential or real threat. At other times, one may decide to stay and fight the threat. No two situations are the same, no two fights are the same, and similarly no two decisions are the same. A decision that worked in one situation, might not work in another situation.
Normally, one tries to avoid and get out of the situation by running away. If running away is not an option, then verbal techniques to de-escalate the situation might be used. If these de-escalation techniques do not work, then some attacking strikes may need to be employed, not to start a fight, but to simply find an opportunity to run away. If the attacker is armed with some projectile weapon, like a gun, knife, stones, etc., then instead of running in a straight line, running in a zig-zag manner generally helps in surviving.
However, if one is not physically fit or does not have daily running practice, then running away may not be an option, as one would soon be out of breath and the attacker would catch up, while one is wheezing and panting for breath. Again, there may be other reasons also when running away may not be practical. In such cases, using self-defense skills and fighting may be necessary.
Active Self Protection video “Running Away Isn’t Always an Option | Active Self Protection”:
GABAY MEDICAL library video “Handling Aggressive Behaviors p3 of 3”:
Sometimes, neither running away nor fighting may be an option. Generally, every mugger carries some sort of a weapon, and if faced with muggers, then simply handing over whatever monetary valuables they want, might be a good decision, so that one does not get seriously injured. Life is certainly more precious than monetary valuables.
@FightingCentre video “Mike Tyson On Street Fighting 👑”:
TODAY video “Secrets To Avoid Getting Mugged: A Veteran Thief Reveals All | TODAY”:
However, sometimes fighting may be a good decision, especially if one is a trained martial artist.
Good Morning America video “Robber Stopped, Knocked Out by State Boxing Champ”:
FOX 32 Chicago video “Chicago black belt takes down man who allegedly punched 7-Eleven clerk”:
FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth video “Mansfield Marine and firefighter takes down armed robber”:
Inside Edition video “Cop Couple Out to Eat Stop Man from Robbing Restaurant”:
Seeking help
Situational awareness may prompt one to seek help. The human voice can also function as a weapon to temporarily shock and stun the opponent, while simultaneously helping one to overcome fear and increase one’s level of confidence to face the situation. Due to this, yelling is practiced in most martial arts. Even if one is not a martial artist, yet, simply by screaming, yelling, and shouting as high as possible, the attention of others can be attracted towards the situation, and when others become attentive to the situation then they might come to help. While screaming the lungs out, one should also try to get away from the situation at the earliest, by running to safety or to some crowded place, so that help from others can be sought immediately.
Inside Edition video “How These Kids in Scary Situations Got Help”:
FOX 13 News Utah video “Video Shows 10-Year-Old Run for Safety After Men Attempt to Lure Him Into Car with Candy”:
The School of Life video “How to Ask for Help When You Need It Most”:
Improving Situational Awareness
Situational awareness is a skill that is learnt and gets better with practice.
ARMED and Feminine – Gun Channel video “How To Improve Situational Awareness”:
Big Think video “4 Steps for Optimizing Situational Awareness and Visual Intelligence | Amy Herman | Big Think”:
Chris Sajnog video “10 Ways to Improve Your Situational Awareness with Navy SEAL Chris Sajnog”:
Conclusion
The Endsley model, OODA loop, Cooper color codes, and other decision-making models of situational awareness do help to arrive at effective decisions, particularly if the situation is complex. Situational awareness helps a martial artist to successfully adapt to the changing situations. However, situational awareness is not limited only to martial arts, rather it boldly expresses itself in all human activities, subtly reveals itself in all human relationships, and affirmingly exhibits itself in all facets of human life.
Binge Society video “The Pursuit Of Happyness: Job interview”:
Filmmekker video “Short film “The Elevator””:
Ideaman video “Alternative Math | Short Film”:
View 35 Films video “UNSPOKEN – Award Winning Short Film. Written, Created & Uploaded all in 48 Hours.”:
The British Short Film Awards video “REAPPEAR | Award Winning British Short Film | Romantic Adventure”:
NITVShorts video “Love at First Sight | Sir John Hurt stars in this Oscar® short-listed short film about true love”:
Need high-quality martial arts gear at reasonable prices?
Pacific Sports (a subsidiary of Pacific International Taekwondo) offers a range of high-quality, functional and affordable Taekwondo, Karate, Jiu Jitsu uniforms, as well as Martial Art and Kickboxing equipment, Kick Boxing Shorts, MMA Rash Guards, MMA Gloves, TKD paddles, Shin Guards, Kick Shield, Instep Pad Guards, Focus Pads, Focus Mitts, TKD shoes and Gel Hand Wraps.
Avail the benefits of discounts, free shipping and clearance sales.
PACIFIC SPORTS
Phone:
+61 415383635
Email:
info@pacific-sports.com
Website:
https://pacific-sports.com
