The piercing scream, like a sound from a horror film, triggered taekwondo instructor Simon An to draw on his years of martial arts training.
Around 4 p.m. Tuesday, shortly after the doors of his family-owned and -operated studio in Texas opened for evening classes, An and his father, his mother, his older sister and his younger brother heard shrieks coming from a neighboring business.
The family of five, each with a fourth-degree black belt, run the Yong-in Taekwondo studio in Katy, outside Houston. They initially ignored the sounds, assuming they came from employees playing around in their break room. But then a piercing “final scream” prompted the family into action, A said.
His family ran to the store and opened a door. There they found a man on top of a young woman with his hands “in [in]appropriate places” as she attempted to fend him off, A said.
An’s father, Hong, yanked the attacker away by his shirt and pinned him to the ground. An’s sister, Hannah, grabbed the girl and rushed her out of the room while An and his brother helped subdue the attacker.
Yeah, my higher belt tests had us fighting two or three people at a time. It’s only for two minutes at a time, but holy fuck you feel like you ran a marathon afterwards because it’s exponentially harder than fighting just one; You can’t let yourself get pinned down or cornered, and have to constantly stay moving. You only throw the occasional punch or kick when you can find time to fit them in between all the dodging and running. The goal isn’t even to win the fight; It’s simply to avoid losing too badly. I can’t even imagine fighting five at once and coming out anywhere near the top.
Real fights aren’t like a video game where enemies circle around and attack one or two at a time. They all rush you at the same time, and if you get grabbed you’re done.
And to your earlier point, if you grab or focus too much on one of them you’re just as fucked as if they had gotten ahold of you themselves.