Not all violence is the same. Some incidents, such as muggings, are planned/premeditated, whilst others are unplanned and happen spontaneously. Because not all violence is the same, we may require different methods and solutions for dealing with separate and distinct incidents – rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Predatory individuals – those who commit planned/premeditated acts – engage in violence for different reasons e.g. some use it to acquire resources, whilst others use it to obtain a thrill, and gain excitement etc. Understanding these different predatory motivations, and the forms of violence that they take, allows us to be more effective in the way(s) we respond to them. It also allows us to make sure that our training solutions are comprehensive, and that we are in fact training to deal with all of the different types of situations we may face. In this article, I want to focus on one type of Premeditated Violence: Recreational Violence.

Some predators are Recreational Predators; violence is a recreational activity that they engage in, in the same way that others may play a sport, go for a run, or spend time on a hobby. Most recreational violence is social, and involves others i.e. you are more likely to be dealing with a group, than an individual. Where I grew up in Glasgow (Scotland), there’s a lot of recreational violence involving teenage gangs. Groups of teenagers would meet up in parks, waste grounds, derelict buildings etc., get drunk, and then go on the prowl, looking for someone to attack. Preferably it would be someone – or a group – from another district/area, but failing that anybody would do. The violence could be personal e.g. a rival gang, or involve a target whose only value to the individual/group, was that they were available and accessible to be assaulted. Weight of numbers, and weapons, were the favored odds, and the level of force was excessive in the extreme; each member wanting to demonstrate that they were more violent than the rest. I have seen kids run down like they were elk, being chased by a pack of wolves, and then stomped and stabbed repeatedly, whilst they were still unconscious. That’s what recreational violence looks like; it doesn’t have any purpose, beyond itself.

There’s often a belief in the US, that the reason the UK has such high rates of knife crime, is because people don’t have access to firearms, however guns aren’t as suited to recreational violence as knives, they are too impersonal – and this is one of the reasons why knife crime has always been prevalent, even before the firearms/handgun ban of 1996. Where recreational violence is concerned, a knife, machete, axe or similar, is a weapon that can be used up close, and personal, and can be used repeatedly, whilst the victim is still conscious. If someone targets you for a knife attack (not a threat, where they show you the knife, but an actual attack), there’s a good chance – unless they have a personal vendetta against you – that you’re involved in an incident of recreational violence, and that there’s more than one assailant.  

If your multiple-attacker training, involves a group where everyone stands back, and gives you room to move, position yourself etc., you will not be adequately training for recreational violence. If you set things up, so that you can be Jason Bourne, picking off members of the group one-by-one, with individuals “holding back” and giving you the time to do so, you are training for a very different scenario. In a real-life incident, such intricate choreography is non-existent. If you want to replicate recreational violence, have everybody charge you down as a group, at the same time, some armed with training knives. In such a scenario, you should be running, in an attempt to thin the group out – understand that it will be the fittest and most committed who will follow you the closest and try to close the gap between you and them (and as they’re the most committed, they’re likely to be the ones carrying a weapon). Thinning them out in this way, is not to give you the chance to stop and pick them off one-by-one (save that for the movies), but to give you a chance, and buy you some time, should one manage to get hold of you. Your goal here is not to engage – you don’t have the time, before the next one will catch up to you – but to break away and keep putting distance between yourself and the group. Maybe, you strike, throw punches to do this, but these are there to facilitate your escape.

Most of this type of recreational violence happens close to home i.e. in the district/areas where these aggressors live. However, there are times when they stray further afield, moving into other parts of town to provoke a fight, or come into a city center looking for potential victims. One of the key warning signs when groups are getting into position is that they usually go silent and start to fan out around you. The silence is palpable. It is a very sudden, and distinct shift from the previous noise and conversation of the group. This is usually your last opportunity to act first, and disengagement is almost always your best option – any type of engagement, however brief, may see you getting slowed down, or grabbed onto and held, as the other move in around you.

There will be many people who will tell you, that you shouldn’t grapple with an assailant armed with a knife, and that you should be moving and punching etc. I understand both perspectives, and each one is correct, within different contexts; different situations require different solutions. However, it is worth noting that often you don’t get to make the choice as to whether you wrestle or strike, and in this type of situation, as you will be grappling against armed assailants; this might be a skill that you want to develop, rather than ignore.

There are individuals who will commit recreational violence on their own. Many predators have a certain superiority complex, and suffer from high self-esteem, yet find this opinion of themselves difficult to marry up with their actual situation; where others don’t seem to recognize their true worth, and they find they’re not being rewarded in a way they feel they deserve etc. These are “losers” with a superiority complex, who can’t shake the feeling that however great they may think they are, they’ll never actually make it, or amount to much – there is a sense of desperation. Such individuals, may engage in violent acts to give themselves back a sense of power and control over their life. This is not something they may consciously recognize, but after a few drinks, feel the compulsion to act violently towards someone in order to restore a sense of balance to their lives. This could see you having to deal with recreational violence on a one-on-one basis. Of course, this same motivation and need could affect individual members of a group, which is on the hunt for a victim(s) as well.

There are no “great” physical solutions to group recreational violence, other than running, and getting away. If you believe multiple assailant situations can be strategized out, and practiced/trained by placing one person here, another person there etc. and then moving one in front of the other and you away, forget that when your dealing with recreational violence, where the group is coming at you as one, at the same time. This is the time to run.