SWAT Team Training at Ligo Dojo

Durham SWAT Team (actually S.E.T. or "Selective Enforcement Team") did tuesday morning trainings at Ligo Dojo every Tuesday in March. Sensei Ligo's brother is a long-standing Durham police officer, and training coordinator for its SWAT team. We are confident this will be an ongoing and mutually beneficial training relationship.

We are currently looking for ways by which this once, or two-times, per week morning class could become an ongoing training opportunity for Ligo Dojo, open to regular students and law enforcement officers alike. Interested parties at Durham PD should contact Aaron Ligo at S.E.T. or Nathan Ligo at 923-6915 (Ligo Dojo).

We hope you enjoy these photos below.

Some basic conditioning to warm up.

This is a very highly motivated group and we were able to bring them to a level where they could practice some contact kumite (fighting) in a remarkable short period of time.

Several Ligo Dojo students participated in these early morning trainings.

SET members are seen here practicing take-down, and disarming techniques. We focused here on defense techniques applicable to "defense against a knife" or "defense against a pistol" situations.

It was interesting to realize half way through our seminar that these guys are accustomed to storming houses with body armor and automatic weapons. Some of them, therefore, were hoping to learn how to knock down and subdue potential combatants WHILE HOLDING AN AUTOMATIC WEAPON. An intriguing new situation for karate students that was a learning experience for all of us!!