History of Krav Maga (Hebrew : Contact Combat)

Imrich ("Imi") Sde-Or*, founder of Krav-Maga, was born in 1910 in Budapest, which at the time was one of the centers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

He grew up in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, in a home where sports, law, and Central European education were equally respected. Samuel Lichtenfeld, Imi's father, was undoubtedly quite a unique figure. At age 13 he joined a traveling circus, and for the next 20 years engaged in wrestling, weightlifting, and various demonstrations of strength. For him the circus was also a school, where he met people involved in a wide variety of sports, including some quite unusual ones. These people taught Samuel what they knew - including various martial arts.

With his father's encouragement, Imi became active in a wide range of sports. He first excelled in swimming, and subsequently in gymnastics, wrestling, and boxing. In 1928 Imi won the Slovakian Youth Wrestling Championship, and in 1929 the adult champion- ship (in the light and middle weight division). That year he also won the national boxing championship and an international gymnastics championship. During the ensuing decade, Imi's athletic activities focused mainly on wrestling, both as a contestant and a trainer.

In the mid thirties, conditions began to change in Bratislava. Fascist and anti-Semitic groups appeared, determined to upset the public order and harm the city's Jewish community.

Krav Maga Global Today

KMG was set up in 2010 by Eyal Yanilov as a natural progression, in response to the ever growing interest in Krav Maga by countries all over the world. The International Krav Maga Federation (IKMF) managed to hold the initial surge of interest in Krav Maga created by Eyal’s committed, near constant travelling and creating awareness of the system all over the world.  As sports organisation based in Israel, it was very difficult for IKMF to provide the professional and international services required and expected of a worldwide organisation.             To meet these needs and to operate a professional, truly global organisation ‘Krav Maga Global’ was created.  The aim of Krav Maga Global is to provide continuous education of new instructors, government agencies, and special operation teams all over the world.

Assisting Eyal are the ‘Global Team’ (GT) comprising of specially selected, top level instructors with vast experience of teaching Krav Maga all over the world. The team is responsible for training civilian instructors, testing high level and expert grades, as well as teaching Defensive Tactics, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Self-Defence and Fighting Skills - to all sectors of the Military and Law-Enforcement, VIP protection, SWAT and Intervention Teams, Anti-Terrorist Units, Air Marshals and Security Personnel. The GT provide on-going and in-service programs, establishment and control of training systems for the above units and qualification of their in-house instructors.


KRAV MAGA MIDLANDS is part of KRAV MAGA GLOBAL and provides regular KRAV MAGA classes in STRATFORD UPON AVON , LEAMINGTON SPA/WARWICK, BANBURY and COVENTRY