Accelerate 2025: A Deep Dive into A Girl And A Gun's National ConferencE
Every November, we schedule time to make a twelve-month calendar for the upcoming year's activities. This calendar assists us with planning Core Concept Coaching and Martial Way Legacy's exams, graduations, Black Belt ceremonies, and events, guaranteeing we won't miss one of our favorite premier training events of the year, A Girl and A Gun's National Conference!
Every year, we receive an email from this top-notch organization inviting us to return and share our knowledge and programs. Our response is always the same: "Of course, why are you even asking?"
In over 35 years of teaching, it's one of the most well-run events we’ve ever participated in. From the schedule, instructors, and team onsite, they lay out the event with clear expectations that perfectly paint the organization's vision for all participants. Accelerate 2025, this year's National Conference, has to be the best we've attended in the last eight years. Most people will ask what was different this year that made it so fantastic. Upon reflection, it wasn't the instructors or organizers; it was the students! We've always felt blessed to share with some great students, but this year felt different; with every student attending hungry to grow and become healthier, stronger, and more educated in their self-protection. This level of enthusiasm is precisely what every instructor loves, because it supercharges us across the three training days. During the 2025 conference, we shared our Improvised and Flexible Weapons, Urban Ambush Response, and Disarms and Retention Programs.
Improvised and Flexible Weapons is one of the most eye-opening courses anyone can take. It explores the creativity of utilizing everyday home and office items as self-defense when needed. Our aim with this program is to help others unlock their potential and see how anything held in their hands is an extension of themselves. The course takes students down a rabbit hole of tools, including straws, pens, credit cards, magazines, and more, which can inflict significant damage on an attacker. The course also includes our favorite Flexible Weapons section, which teaches how to use any object that forms a loop as a weapon to counter, control, and remove an attacker, allowing you to escape and survive an attack.
Urban Ambush Response debuted at last year's conference and was an instant hit! This curriculum focuses on when someone tries to grab your garment, hair, purse, backpack, or any gear connected to your body. Students work from three different ranges, including At Distance, before grabbed, In The Grasp, or once caught, and finally The Floor, essentially what to do if they are thrown or pulled off balance and end up on the ground. All techniques work from frontal, side, and rear attack scenarios, helping the students build confidence in all areas if attacked, and someone uses their clothing or gear against them.
We were extremely excited to release our newest Specialty Training Program, Disarms and Retention! We developed this program by combining elements from our Knife Disarms Level One Program and our Retention Program. It has become one of our new favorites because it enables both practitioners to improve as they train through various scenarios and variables. Initially, we focus on disarming an edged weapon with classical, fine motor skills to enhance the understanding of leverage and how to remove a weapon from an attacker's grip safely. As the situation evolves, we respond to each different scenario in a timely manner, building our contingency plans step by step. Once the student understands these placements, we aim (no pun intended) to teach the counter to every disarm opportunity, enhancing their understanding of retaining their weapon. As practitioners grow with this curriculum, they can challenge each other on either side of the situation, developing a symbiotic relationship as they drill each section. Best of all, the material transfers directly from edged weapons to firearms quickly and builds every student's confidence, no matter which side they are on in the situation.
Overall, the weekend was a blast, and every student was exceptional. We were blessed to get extra time before and after classes, helping students with questions and building new relationships that will last a lifetime. We enjoyed seeing students from over the past eight years, engaging in conversations about life and their goals. We even spent two lunch breaks beating sticks with our Elite Training Program Zoom student, Marie. We typically spend an hour every week training together virtually, so every chance we get to meet up is an excellent opportunity to train more. Best of all, we capped the whole experience with private lessons on Monday morning, focusing on more Disarms and Retention, and our Self-Defense Program, proving the point that the hunger was real!
Thanks to this wonderful organization for having us back every year. If you are a female wanting to educate yourself on your safety, understand more about firearms, and most importantly, link arms with like-minded ladies, then look no further and check out A Girl and A Gun's website on how to find a chapter near you. If you didn't make the Accelerate 2025 Conference this year, we encourage you to start your calendar planning now and prioritize it on your schedule for next year. It's one of our favorite events year-round that we plan out because it is such a wonderful experience. We hope to see you there. For our "Repeat Offenders," we'll continue to challenge ourselves at Core Concept Coaching and Martial Way Legacy to create more Specialty Training Programs, so we can all stay hungry, mentally, physically, and spiritually.
#ComingForYou2025
#YearOfTheSnake
#FightTheGoodFight
#StayHungry
#StayLethal
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Guro Larry, Sonja, Lauren & Tori St. Clair
Martial Way Legacy
"A Compass to the Preservation of Bruce Lee’s Philosophy and Legacy"
http://www.martialwaylegacy.com
512-821-3637