by Al Peasland Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:21 pm
Hi Marc,
Clive is a great friend of mine, and a big inspiration and teacher when I worked the doors.
We had lots of great times and a few tough ones, but we always seemed to get through them.
When I say Clive hasn't had any real "combatives" training, I mean any martial arts training. He's actually had alot of real life fighting experience which is probably worth alot more than anything you can do in the gym or dojo anyway.
His biggest asset, and what gave him the edge over most, was that he simply would not back down to anyone. Massive courage, massive will, and almost a callous disregard for the person facing him.
Whilst this may come across as a little niaive when you are facing an opponent who may be better than you - it does help you to step in and go for it anyway.
To say he has no fear would be a lie - I'm sure he was frightened many times.
The way he dealt with his fears was the real key - which was basically to ignore them and do it anyway, regardless of the outcome
I don't think you can buy that kind of grit - and it was always great to have him stood by me.
He was also incredibly street savvy - knew all the language in terms of both vocal and physical body language of people likely to give us grief. He could read situations well ahead of time which meant he always had the upper hand.
And he would use his determined attitude as a front which would deter most.
You can train all your life but nothing can replace just having bags of bottle, courage and determination when it comes to kicking off.
