The HaganaH Blog

This year’s conference is all locked in….all three groups are locked in and all 75 spots are sold out. As in the past, if you will be unable to come in due to last minute personal reasons, you will be issued a credit for next year’s conference…no swapping spots will be aloud since there are three different specific groups, in other words you can not sell your spot to someone else, and swapping spots will interfere with the training planned for each specific groups.

If you are one of the people who registered and coming this year, you are in for a treat! This is our 7th Annual HaganaH Conference….on an Israeli level the number 7 represents the Shabbat or “Rest” mode. I am a strong believer that the best never rest, so to me personally, while this is in fact the 7th Annual HaganaH Conference….to me, it is the FIRST HaganaH Nucleus Conference!!! With the exception of reaching out to Ed Duplesis to help me with the purchasing of the mats we need for the conference since he just purchased mats for his own new school, I have not consult with anybody with organizing this conference.All I can say is , it will be intense and extremely tactical. I have shot down the airconditioning unit at the school on January 14th….so to all of those of you who are traveling in from the cold, HEAT you will experience , guaranteed!

here is the list of equipment you will need: 1) 16oz Boxing Gloves 2) Mouth Piece 3) Headgear 4) Groin Cup 5) Shinpads 6) Training Gun 7) Training Knife ….and, LOTS of training tshirts it will be hot!!!

to those who are taking the IPTT course with Garret on Monday , you will be emailed separately since the IPTT course is an add-on separate course than the conference.

To the candidates who are on the roster to test , you will receive a testing application this week that you will have to fill out and turn in by the end of this week in order of you to test.

HaganaH Black Belt and NUCLEUS Member Robert Brock Gaston got promoted this last Sunday, January 8th 2012, to the Rank of Colonel at a Ceremony at Fort Dobbins in Georgia.

In addition to his Rank promotion Colonel Brock Gaston has been put in charge of his entire Brigade, so the ceremony was a double ceremony, both the promotion of rank and a Change Of Command Ceremony.

4 FIGHT Instructors , including 1 HaganaH Black Belt , were in attendance at the ceremony.

A VERY warm congratulation goes to Brock from the entire HaganaH family, we are proud of you Sir!!!!

Personally, from one soldier to another, I am honored to be your teacher and friend….any time , any place, if you need me I will be there.

We are officially sold out for this year’s conference….completely sold out!!! there is only a couple “MIA” Black Belts that have yet contact me to attend or have contacted me but have yet to register, but as Black Belts they have a spot secured no matter what

Due to limited space at the school , with every single inch of HQ’s being totally used for those attending the conference as participants, there will be NO room for spectators….either you train, or either don’t show up, NO EXCEPTIONS!!!!!!!!!!! Do not travel all the way here and expect me to not ask you to leave if you are not an actual registered participants….I want to concentrate on teaching, not policing lol

To those traveling in need of hotels here are a few options:

The closest hotel is Holiday Inn Express on Davie Road (954)585-7071 (this is not a fancy hotel)….the next closest is the La Quinta Inns on Peters Road in Plantation (this hotel is a little bit nicer than the Holiday Inn Express)…the next closest is the Renaissance on Pine Island Road in Plantation (this is a Nice hotel)

This conference is going to absolutely ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

to the 6 candidates about to test: Expect Nothing But All Out War, I Am In The Best Shape Of My Life at 210lbs

Good Luck at your new location Brother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Eye Of The Storm” : HaganaH 7th Annual Training Conference

Registration for the 7th Annual HaganaH Conference is officially open.

This year’s conference will take place where I always wanted it to take place : at the National HQ’s! making it available to the first 75 participants to register. In the last two years we hosted it in Vegas and the rental of the training room at Bally’s and Paris hotels and the rental of the Dullimar mats and the traveling expenses for an entire staff dictated that i would need more than 100 participants to make it happen…the luxury of having it in Vegas made it a bigger numbers of participants that it will be this coming year.

I will divide this year’s conference into 3 groups of 25 in each group : 1) The Black Belts 2) The FIGHT Instructors 3) The FIGHT students…..with two or three mats running at all times.
Also those who elect to take the IPTT course on Monday will do the Dry-Shooting portion of their course during the conference so Monday will be ALL at the range with live ammo.

The dates are : February 17th , 18th and 19th for the Conference and the 20th for the add-on IPTT course.

Cost : Early Bird Special Expires 12/1/2011:

Black Belts and Instructors : $350 for all FIGHT Instructors, if you are a NUCLEUS member please apply a $100 credit as I promised earlier this year, making your conference Only $250.00 this year

Students : $400 for all traveling FIGHT students

Early Bird expires 12/1/2011 thereafter all FIGHT Instructors will be $400 and all FIGHT students will be $500.

If you are taking the IPTT course on Monday there is an additional $300 charge and you will need your own ammo…..we will run two levels courses, both handguns : Level-1 and Level-2 . If you have taken Level-1 already , then you should take Level-2

This Conference will SELL OUT QUICKLY, since I made it more affordable and since its limited to Only 75 participants based on “first come, first served’ basis. Don’t delay to register and take advantage of the early bird!

To register email me at : mikelee1967@yahoo.com that you want to register, I will then issue you a number of participant to secure your spot

On the weekend of November 11th/12th and 13th the First Israeli Trench Fighting Certification was a great Kick Off for our new added curriculum to the FIGHT rotation curriculum here at the National HaganaH HQ’s

While the FIGHT Curriculum is our base Self-Defense curriculum, the Israeli Trench Fighting curriculum is the complete opposite of it in nature, it is an Offensive curriculum , not defensive. A lot of the material is directly from when I was a young soldier in the Golani Brigade and is taught verbatim per IDF doctrines and guidelines.

on Friday night training covered all that is related to the M-4′s Assault Riffle in the curriculum. 1) the M-4 as a CQB impact weapon 2) Defenses against 1-under stab , 2-defense against straight stab , 3-defense against ice pick 3) defenses against front threat with and without the command “turn around” and defenses against back threat with and without the command “walk”

***a Special Thanks goes to Bernie “The Mexican” from Israel for validating a couple weeks before the Certification that the techniques I was about to teach were still current in Israel , even-though I learn this related materials in Israel over 20 years ago in Zaoora.

On Saturday it was ALL about knifes!!! Both defenses against attacks: Under Stab, Straight Stab and Ice Pick …and , knife fighting in the trench

Finally Sunday it was All the gun disarms including both assault riffles and handgun. Also was covert “Bayonet” attack!

I was very selective of who attended this Certification since it was the first of its kind and the one who would set the standard from this point on. 14 participants were allowed to participate : 6 of my Black Belts, 4 FIGHT Instructors, 1 FIGHT student and one Military background individual with Combat experience and one VIP Security Specialist. I wanted to see how each one of those different geographic background individuals absorbs the training so I would have a diversity of intel regarding how to run future Trench Certifications.

Overall this Certification was amazing, ALL walked away better HaganaH Practitioners and Instructors. Both the Military guy and Security guy loved the training and materials. All participants were surprised how much the environment of a tight trench changes the energy of the techniques executed in the trench as opposed to in an open space…. Godzila said : “Wow, it gets Real aggressive in the trench, everything happens much faster!”

From now on this Certification will be limited to 12 participants only….even-though we had 14 participants this time , both me and Ryan (last year’s chairman) , agreed that 12 would be a much better number with future groups. So from now on 12 it is. The next Israeli Trench Fighting Certification is set for May of 2012, location TBA.

On the 7th through the 10th of November 2011 Mike Lee Kanarek taught the 648th MEB Specialty Movement Team at the Dobbins Air Force Base in Georgia. This training provided was designed to prepare the team for a mission specific in their upcoming deployment in Afghanistan.

The four days of hard training featured advanced Hand-To-Hand Combat CQB techniques designed for crowds and riots environments, the use of the M-4 assault riffle for counter kidnapping and trench fighting environments, counter insurgency suicide knife attack defenses and advance combat scenarios long gun and semi automatic gun disarms. Israeli Knife Fighting was also covered. Each day began with a Combat Fitness workout and proceeded into the scheduled material for the day.

The soldiers pushed strong through the demanding training regiment and walked away well prepared. “I was Very pleased with this group, they were eager to learn and absorbed the materials very well” said Mike Lee Kanarek. Misha Novitzki, an HaganaH Black Belt , based in Atlanta was there the entire time of the training helping the soldiers with the training. ” They looked so much better on the last day than the first day, its actually amazing what a difference only in four days” said Misha Novitzki. (Two other individuals attended the training : one Green Beret Special Forces operator and one Captain from an un identified unit….)

A special review session of all the knife defenses and knife fighting techniques is scheduled to take place at Misha’s school “HaganaH Atlanta” in downtown Atlanta for all the soldiers that attended the training….

here is what the team leader had to say about the training:

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Dear Mr. Kanarek

I wish to give you my thanks and appreciation on taking the time and effort to train me and my soldiers of the 648th MEB Movement Team on 7th through 10th of November 2011 at Clay National Guard Gymnasium, Marietta Georgia.

The training you have provided to me and my soldiers was both mentally and physically demanding and well worth it. With ALL my years of training I have received from both in the military and law enforcement , this by far has taken the levels of survival to a higher level. The soldiers confidence in hand to hand combat with and without a knife, pistol, and riffle has boosted their confidence level even higher. Your training has given my soldiers an edge on survival and a hunger to receive more of your training.

Your instruction on how each movement flows to the next movement were broken down to a simple level. Your explanations on how each move, block, and reaction has a purpose were very detailed. The hands on training, gave the soldiers more of a visual understanding on how to respond naturally. This training showed us why HaganaH is the elite art of combative over all others. On behalf of the 648th Movement Team and myself, I want to thank you for sharing your profession and passion in developing elite warriors for this Nation.

Sincerely

Angel Nunez
Master Sergent, US Army
648 MEB Movement Team NCOIC

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as the training concluded on November 10th in the late afternoon….Mike Lee Kanarek drove back 12 hours straight to teach the Israeli Trench Fighting Certification the following day at the HaganaH HQ’s in Davie Florida.

The Best Never Rest!!!

Yesterday 2 of my HaganaH Black Belts , Chris Kisslan aka Donnut Boy and Dr Joe Bogart, and one of the Black Belt testing candidates , Luis Rosario, help me teach and Certify the Knife Defenses FIGHT portion to Bernie here at the National HQ’s. Now that Bernie is a Certified in the Knife Defenses portion of the FIGHT curriculum he can bring the knife defenses back to Israel to teach his Tsevet Lohamim. Bernie is schedule to train and get Certified in the Gun Disarms portion of the FIGHT curriculum later on this week as well here at the National HQ’s before he departs back to Israel the following week.

To those who don’t know who Bernie is , he is the Israeli Special Forces Operator that ran the Aggression Training Session last year at the HaganaH National HQs. Bernie is a Certified Muay Thai Instructor in Israel by the Wingate Institute in Netanya and has extensive Military Krav Maga training . Those who took that session CLEARLY remember him lol

Bernie , to no surprise to me, did exceptionally good yesterday on the mat. Only a few minutes into the training , while learning the Angle-1 knife defense technique, Donnut Boy turned and said to me: “wow, he got it on his first try, just like when you learn a new technique Sir!”. Out of all the Operators that Garret brought around to help assist in the IPTT courses this past year, Daniel/Jacob/Bernie and Shahar (and All of them are good operators!)…..Bernie is the closest to me in mentality, he is very physical and loooooves Hand-To-Hand Combat. In fact before I ever met Bernie , Garret said : “You going to love the guy I am bringing in for the Aggression session, he is a lot like you”.

Yesterday was a great day here at the National HQ’s , first our Saturday morning Combat Fitness class/workout and then training all day with Bernie knife defenses. Bernie also went over Assault Riffle CQB with us , both attacking and defending so I could compare how I was taught it back in the day in the Golani Brigade at the Zaoora Urban Warfare camp in the Golan Heights to how they teach it in Israel today in the Special Forces. This came in PERFECT timing since its almost time for the “TRENCH FIGHTING” Certification!

Then , like the day wasn’t good enough ……Coop showed up to surprise me

How was you Saturday MOFUCKER???????????????????????????????

Happy New Year To The Entire HaganaH Family

On my way to HQ’s for a great Rosh Hashana Combat Fitness workout, the best never rest…….hope every one has a great up-coming year!

Stu Bryant tested for his Black Belt in HaganaH in January of 2009, at the Annual HaganaH Conference.

On September 17th of 2011 I personally promoted Stu to 2nd Degree Black Belt while I was at his school. I also taught a couple Israeli Trench Fighting techniques out of my upcoming curriculum I will be deploying in November at the National HaganaH HQ’s during the Israeli Trench Fighting Certification. Black Belt testing is done in HaganaH only once, we call it “Going Through The Fire” so to speak, further promotion to higher degree Black Belts are due to dedication of teaching our system and representing our system at a high standard!

Also, while I am working diligently to have the HaganaH NUCLEUS website ready for launch on October 1st , I am using this post to make a Special Announcement.

Stu’s school is the Only school nationwide, other than the National HaganaH HQ’s in Davie, to be a Platinum NUCLEUS School!

Congrats Stu….honors well deserved!!!

P.S. they are four levels of NUCLEUS schools: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The new website will explain this school ranking system in detail….