DATE: Thursday, May 8, 1997                 TAG: 9705060152

SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS         PAGE: 16   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JAY LIDINGTON, STAFF WRITER 
                                            LENGTH:   68 lines

NEUROLOGIST TO TEACH TECHNIQUE FOR ISRAELI DEFENSIVE MARTIAL ART

What started as conversation around the doctors' lunch table quickly grew into an obsession with Dr. Neil Pugach.

When he heard about Krav Maga, the defensive martial art founded some 40 years ago in Israel, he decided to try it. Now, five years and many class hours later, Pugach is teaching classes in the self-defense method for folks age 12 and up.

Pugach, a neurologist at Chesapeake General Hospital, will be leading weekly classes at the Jewish Community Center of Tidewater beginning Sunday. Though certified only as an assistant instructor, Pugach said the classes have been sanctioned by the Krav Maga Association, the method's governing body.

``A couple of guys had taken a course and it sounded intriguing to me,'' Pugach said. ``Almost from the first day, I was hooked.''

The history of Krav Maga, Hebrew for ``contact combat,'' also interested Pugach. The method was developed by Imi Lichtenfeld, a former circus acrobat and boxer, as a means of hand-to-hand self-defense for Israeli troops.

Lichtenfeld later became Israel's chief instructor of Krav Maga and the method was incorporated into the Israeli Defense Forces. After instructing teachers and the IDF's elite units, Lichtenfeld adapted Krav Maga to provide self-defense to ordinary men, women, children and senior citizens who might face attackers.

``It's a very simple and effective, straight-to-the-point system,'' he said. ``It's very realistic.''

The method shares elements with aikido, karate, judo, boxing and jujitsu but has drawn praise from students for being easy to learn. It has been used by agents of the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard, as well as the Los Angeles Police Department and state police in Connecticut, Illinois, Alabama and Pennsylvania.

Unlike some Asian martial arts, Krav Maga has no ``katas,'' or specific forms, that must be followed. Though a system of belts - yellow, orange, green, blue, brown and black - marks progress in learning the form, there are no competitions.

The method relies on natural body movements - raised hands to fend off a choke hold, grabbing the hand of a gun-wielding attacker to deflect the weapon - and was designed to be taught quickly to people of different ability levels.

Each defensive move is paired with an almost simultaneous attack designed to disable the attacker. A lunging attacker with a knife is to be dodged and his arm grabbed while delivering a punch to the temple.

``We use elbows and knees, which you see in Thai kick boxing,'' Pugach said. ``There's only so many ways you can throw a kick and a punch. You go in and do the job.''

Though Krav Maga classes are hard to find outside New York, California and Massachusetts, Pugach said the form's intuitive qualities will make it more popular.

``Within 5-10 years, it will be an absolute household word in martial arts,'' he said.

Because of the emphasis on ending confrontations quickly, Pugach's course also is accessible to people of different levels of physical fitness, he said.

``It's a pure defensive art,'' Pugach said. ``There's no really heavy spiritual thing to it. It's basically trimming the fat and leaving the pure muscle of the self-defense.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

AT A GLANCE

What: Krav Maga classes for males and females over 12

Where: Jewish Community Center of Tidewater

When: Four Sundays, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., beginning this week,

and one Wednesday night, from 7 to 9:30

Cost: $40 for JCCT members; $50 for non-members.

Information: Call Herb West, at 489-1371.

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