Attitudes have changed in our society over the last 30 years, and the way martial arts instruction is taught and performed has had to change.

The way I was taught would not go down very well today, for example, in demonstrating techniques.

My instructor, Martin, had no reservations when demonstrating techniques, just grabbing a ‘victim’ and showing the method, but sometimes the level of force was slightly excessive. I suffered bruised ribs once from a knee-to-ribs demonstration, and I have seen others being winded or sitting out for a minute or so to recover. As instructor experiences are handed down, I wonder if it was because of his instructors – he once described his instructor at Bristol as a ‘complete madman’.

I sometimes have to stop myself from grabbing the nearest person and instead go for another instructor or a black belt. These days, there is also the issue of having a stranger use them to demonstrate techniques, which, due to the nature of martial arts, can invade personal space and involve physical contact.

There have been cases where the level of physical contact has been questioned as they didn’t think there was going to be that much – maybe they thought it was just line techniques and Katas?

Safety has improved, and overall, there is less contact. We no longer ‘pad up’ and wear groin guards for sparring. People have livelihoods and don’t want to take time off for minor sprains and strains, especially for those who use their hands professionally, such as musicians.

There are also some restrictions placed by the insurance companies. For the level of cover in use at the Romsey club, we are not allowed to do techniques that have the possibility of neck trauma, so rolling breakfalls are not allowed any more.