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A.I.I.P and S.A.O S.A.O: Operative Self-protection System The Operative Self-protection System was developed between 2004 and 2006 by several police, military and martial arts instructors who searched a quick and effective system for to resolve confrontations in real, present situations.
It is neither a “new combat art” nor anything similar, as everything has already been invented by now. It is simply the result of abandoning archaic and obsolete techniques, which are not effective in real situations, leaving only simple and effective techniques, which can be performed under stress.
Since 2009 and due to its high degree of effectiveness and realism, the A.I.I.P adopted the SAO as a basis of its self-defence training programs. And it adapts perfectly to the association’s motto: Facta, non verba.(Facts, not words)
The SAO consists of techniques from several martial arts, combat arts and fight sports. The common factor that these techniques share is EFFECTIVENESS in the real world where there are no referees, tatamis or rings. The SAO is divided in different fields: civil, military and police; and these, in different levels: basic, medium, advanced, expert and instructor. In the SAO, the emphasis is on a person’s SURVIVAL above all, working in the extreme on thinking and tactical vision of confrontations, training with bare hands as well as with weapons, these latter can be out of circumstance or legitimate. Action plans and tactics are constantly revised and updated, any technique that does not offer a remarkable, demonstrated reliability is withdrawn from the program. Thus we avoid the inflexibility of other systems which have remained unalterable during the years, and even if they offer outstanding aesthetics and tradition, they became obsolete against the aggressions and confrontations taking place in our days.
The SAO can be practiced by people of all ages and conditions; it is a system that adapts to the person, not the other way round.
In advanced training, students exercise realistic attack simulations, so they work in a controlled environment what they have learned, but with an extra dose of stress.
The aim is to improve the operators’ security, making them feel that they can face threats without under-estimating themselves, but at the same time being aware that nothing is infallible and neither overestimate their knowledge nor underestimate any attacker or situation.
Tactical Thinking The development of tactical thinking is most important in the SAO, prevention of confrontation is one of the topics which form part of the civil SAO. So does the expeditious resolution of incidents, the basic pillar of the system. In the police and military fields we put special emphasis on the respect of human rights, confrontation rules and international agreements. As well as on how to discern what power scale to use in each kind of conflict, teaching techniques of binomial working, control and arrest techniques, restrainment and at last, extreme techniques for situations where the operator’s life is seriously threatened.
In the civil field there are several specific courses set for particular groups: Feminine SAO, Vio.GEN SAO (victims of gender violence), Hospital SAO and Restrainment SAO, among others.
The course Hospital SAO and Restrainment of aggressive patients has been taught to
more than 500 members of the hospital sector, and based on those training courses we designed specific action protocols in several hospitals as well as we are organising new courses and refreshing workshops regularly. In the civil field we usually organise seminaries for any kind of body or small groups (squads), the same as for neighbours’ associations, private groups, control staff of access to leisure centres, workers in areas with risk of aggression, victims of gender violence, schools, etc.
The SAO is a self-defence system created for the century XXI.