Combat in Clackamas

Krav Maga training facility has backers, including local law enforcement

By Ellen Spitaleri

The Clackamas Review, Oct 9, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (28 Reader comments)

Patrick Sherman / Clackamas County Sheriff's Office

Sgt. Lynn Schoenfeld, left, from the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Department, uses a Krav Maga technique to foil a simulated attack by his brother Frank, a sergeant in the Canby Police Department.

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“If you build it, they will come.”

Lynn Schoenfeld and Mark Blake certainly hope this is true, as they have just built a brand new Krav Maga training facility on International Way. The business’s grand opening is this Saturday, Oct. 13, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

And, by the way, they also want to raise money for Stop Cancer, an organization that funds cancer research.

Krav Maga, pronounced Krav Ma-GA, is the official hand-to-hand combat system of the Israeli Defense forces and many U. S. law enforcement agencies, including the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.

Schoenfeld and Blake noted that the techniques “were designed for men and women, large or small, young or old. The tactics are proven to quickly eliminate threats and keep you out of harm’s way. The moves are simple to perform because they were designed to work powerfully with your body’s natural instincts.” [For a complete history of Krav Maga, visit www.kravmagapdx.com

Schoenfeld, who is a sergeant in the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, said that he’s “passionate” about this new self-defense system, which he began learning in 2005.

“I’ve been a police officer for over 16 years, and Krav Maga fills in a lot of blanks that I hadn’t learned from the police academy, or from being on the street,” he said.

In addition, he had sustained some injuries, and had some stress, balance, weight and cholesterol issues before taking up the technique.

Advantages to Krav Maga training

Two years ago, Schoenfeld said, “I found Mark’s [Krav Maga] Web site, took classes and totally fell in love. I started working at it to get back in shape, both mentally and physically.

“Within a month of Krav Maga, I was working with Mark on strength training; within eight months, my weight and cholesterol were down,” he noted.

But more importantly, he added, “I had a sense of awareness when I was on patrol — that far outshines what it’s done for me [physically]. I developed that fighting spirit and that made workouts fun again.”

And then, Schoenfeld said, “I had an incredible epiphany — everyone in law enforcement should be doing this training.”

He shared his idea with Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts, who “instantly saw the benefits.”

He added, “When I gave a talk [to fellow department members], they totally accepted that Krav Maga was what we should be training.”

Now, Schoenfeld said, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office is the “first large agency to adopt Krav Maga training in Oregon.”

Krav Maga Force classes

He will soon begin teaching Krav Maga Force classes, and he noted that members of the Canby, Portland, Lake Oswego and Newburg Police Departments will be participating, and the Oregon State Department of Corrections is considering the training as well.

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