As I jammed two fingers into a fellow student’s throat, I couldn’t help but cringe at his pain. Of course, I laughed it off as I heard shouts of, “Yeah, give it to him!”

I was digging so deep I was worried I would damage his vocal cords and was relieved afterward when he smiled and said, “good job”.

When I first walked into Combat Martial Arts in Normal, I came upon a group of people laughing and smiling at each other as they warmed up for an hour of tactical hapkido. It was clear that everyone was having a great time.

I was thankful that I even made it there. A half hour earlier I had called Senior Master Josh Dingler, who has been involved with Combat Martial Arts since 1996, to tell him that my car battery was dead and I couldn’t come to class that night like I had planned.

It was surprising to hear, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll send one of my black belts to pick you up. We would do the same for any of our students,” was his response.

When I did finally make it to the studio, the first thing I saw was a large white board with the phrase, “Before the boogeyman goes to sleep, he checks under his bed for Grandmaster Silvey” written across it.

That made me nervous.

Soon, I had the honor of meeting the allegedly terrifying Grandmaster Steve Silvey. Within the first five minutes of knowing him, I would have used the words hilarious, kind, warm and welcoming to describe him, but terrifying was far from my mind.

That was before I found out just how skilled he is.

“I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I actually used to teach martial arts to students at ISU,” Silvey said.

When he isn’t terrorizing the boogeyman, Grandmaster Silvey is also the chief of police in Ellsworth, Ill.

Silvey talked about how beneficial practicing martial arts can be.

 “I think the benefits are all independent. For myself, I get a peace of mind. I get a oneness with my whole body. I know how it works, I know how it feels, I know what’s wrong.

For some people it’s a matter of mental stability; they have a desire for mental control. For some it’s courage,” he added.

“One of our favorite quotes is, ‘It takes courage to enter the dojo,’ as you are entering a world where we beat each other up, but as you enter it you realize it’s the safest place for you to be, and then it takes courage to step out into the real world because you realize that’s where there’s no control over what happens,” Senior Master Dingler said.

“For me, it’s second to breathing. It’s the only thing I know. I’ve been doing martial arts for 25 years,” he added.

With the rise of leagues such as UFC and Strikeforce, mixed martial arts have become popular amongst all age groups.

Combat Martial Arts teaches its’ students a variety of techniques from different disciplines including tae kwon do, kung fu, hapkido and hosinsul.

Grandmaster Silvey explained, “Hosinsul is the program that I developed specifically for ISU students when I was teaching on campus. The hapkido is an art that takes a long time and commitment to learn.

“The hosinsul is easy to understand, easy to learn, easy to apply and easy to retain. Hapkido is specific techniques and finite motor ability.

“It’s all about helping people defend themselves and discover how to blend the mind, body and spirit. It’s for the young and for the old. Anybody can do it,” he added.

Part of what makes the class so interesting are the real life scenarios that the instructors uses right before demonstrating where it would be most effective to hit someone; “Imagine you’re at a party, and someone comes up and starts pulling you away,” or, “So you’re walking across the quad at night…”

Combat Martial Arts creates the perfect environment to learn in. Everyone in class treats each other with respect. Every question is answered with an enthusiastic “Yes, sir!” or “No, sir!”.

From the minute I walked in until the minute I left, I never stopped learning.

I now know that when someone grabs your arm, you always pull through the person’s thumb, because it’s the weakest part of the grasp. I learned to not be afraid to yell when getting attacked because not only will it draw attention, but it will also force the air out of your lungs so the attacker doesn’t have a chance to knock the wind out of you, and to never underestimate the power of a slap.

Combat Martial Arts is located at 706 E. Oglesby St. Suite 101.The first two weeks of classes are free. To find out more, visit www.combatmartialarts.org.