F

kitchen for, as we like to call ew civilians know or underit, The Attitude Adjustment stand the everyday planTraining Center. This is a ning and coordination involved special place for those really in providing security for a violent patrons we do not large club. If your business wish to see again. owns the parking lot you All in all we run a tight need lot assignments, front ship. The very last thing we door assignments, walkers want is to physically fight inside, and coverage on any anyone, but you have those special rooms or activities. nights when beer muscles Security needs to communiand whiskey brains prevail cate constantly over the din over common sense. When of music. (I remember well that happens, we subdue the my old days of having to individuals involved and ship shout over a rock band, or him or her out. Ill get a call perform hand signals to get on the radio, Joe, I got one backup or attention.) Some coming out, someone calls, establishments have bank and I make the proper runs, cash register protection arrangements at the front and other priorities. Not only door for the ejection of that must team members back Left to right: Mark Skwinski, Mark McCombs, Ron (the Big Dog) Holman, Joe Reyes, Nick Denardis, Agim Zutha, Joe Finkler and Paul ComboThe Team! person. Once my guys escort each other up, but also at them to the door, they go times they must fill in gaps in right back inside and man priority coverage. their respective post. This handoff proI am proud to say that the crew workvides a sound strategy that leaves no room ing with me at The Metro Lounge consists for arguing with the guard. I simply inform of the finest and most professional group of them that I didnt see what happened guys Ive ever had the pleasure. My crew inside. No sense telling me, pal! I say specializes in putting out the fire before it calmly with an air that the event is comstarts. On a packed night we sometimes pletely over, but if you were brought out employ as many as 12 guards. by one of my guys, out is out, and youre My partner in charge is Nick Denardis out. I let them know they can come back (aka) Nickey D. Prior to his work at The another time, but not tonight. Metro, he worked as head of security in I will and always have backed my guys clubs like The Roxy (NYC) Club XS and the up 110 percent. Providing security for a Casablanca on the Jersey Shore. Nickey is large number of people is not an easy task. straightforward and does not take shit from You must keep a cool head, identify the anyone. Every night we assign a post to problem spots and the troublemakers and each guard and, depending on the size and remove them swiftly. When some drunken personality of the crowd, we appoint one or two rovers to work the floor. These Kan Karate and semi-pro boxer. Mark fool injures an innocent bystander, its the assists with searches as patrons enter the worst. rovers are constantly on the move. Our customers need to know that no Our resident full-time rover is Willie club. Mark can smell dope like a German matter how crazy the night gets in there, Covino-an EX Marine hand-to-hand combat Shepard. Agim Zutha usually controls our VIP they are entering a safe, patrolled and coninstructor. Willie started with us on day one section. Agim is skilled in Tae Kwon Do and trolled environment thanks to my team. and handles any situation that comes up. A Thanks guys! rovers job is to be first at the scene of any keeps out all unwanted and disorderly from altercation and to pinpoint the location of this area. Anytime a situation such as a trouble by security radio system (we use fight or any altercation occurs, the spotter Joseph Reyes, Jr. serves as a bodyguard immediately calls in on the radio. No one and security supervisor for one of the largest the titles bar1, bar2, bar3 etc.). Ron (the Big Dog) Holman frequently guard throws anyone out alone. We watch nightclubs in northern New Jersey. A 10-yearassists Willie. Ron is an ex semipro football each others back constantly. Each night veteran bouncer and a veteran martial artist, player and goes for all of about 350 lbs. The depending upon the size of the staff, we only thing bigger than Ron is his heart. assign designated exits to remove disorder- Reyes is an Advanced Instructor in the SFC Another one of our guards is Mark lies, such as the main entrance and emer- System. You may contact him at (973) 694gency side exit. We often reserve the 4348. Skwinski, a 4th degree black belt in Koei

The Bouncer

Team Work Savvy

By Joe Reyes

Not only must

team members back each other up, but also at times they priority coverage.

must fill in gaps in

December 2000 / January 2001 39

Fight Clubs

...continued from page 13

something, the youngest maybe 19 years old. The first fight starts will little fan-fare. An official of some type stands between two men as they square off in the corner of the room, both wear T-shirts and jeans and big black boots, which I didnt expect. I didnt know what they would wear on their feet, but I didnt expect boots. No boxing gloves. They circle each other in a serious silence as the onlookers, and myself watch completely mesmerized.An energy of waiting electrifies the room. One of the men pretends to dodge in, making the other flinch, then stops. Then the flincher circles closer, then closer, and hits the dodger square in the face with a fist. It happens like lightening, and the victim seems to lose all intelligence behind his open eyes. He doesnt have long to stumble before the puncher hits him again in the jaw, with a whip like motion. The recipient falls hard on his ass as the observers part ways, and his shoulder hits the wall. Eyes o p e n h e s out. Someone makes a spastic attempt at getting him up, but he has no idea where up and down are. The official yells, okay, hes out! and several bystanders prop the loser up in a chair and hand him some ice in a beach towel. The whole round takes only 8 seconds. Are they always this quick? I asked one of my new friends. Sometimes, he answers. You never know what will be the ace. If a dudell move in for the kill, it could be very fast. If they like to jab and play and wrestle, it could take a long time. Two others start up their match. They dive into each other, and a very boring wrestling match begins. They roll around like lobsters trying to get the best of each other, purposely not poking fingers into eyes, or even punching. After about 5 minutes, I wander over to the first loser and kneel beside him. Hes still stunned. Someone pampers him and makes sure he
40 Close Quarter Combat Magazine

swallows a pile of aspirin. He mumbles lucky punch. I get the idea he doesnt even know a second punch hit him. Back inside the ring I suddenly hear a yelp, and one of the fighters surrenders. They stand, red-

eared and flushed with exhaustion. This no-rules fight is fought with wrestling rules and lasts almost 10 minutes. Then Drix and Big Will strut out from the locker room with game faces, beside three other guys. Drix wears a gray sweatshirt and sweat pants with a towel thrown over his shoulder. He and Will step into the center of the floor. Drix shoves a mouthpiece into his mouth. A guy from the locker room, wearing a black T-shirt with a dozen martial arts symbols in gold walks in also. The refe r e e s ays to begin. Like the last two fighters they circle each other first. The man in the black Tshirt rests both his fists on his face, which I think looks peculiar. Drixs hands are down at his sides. They play tag, swinging their hands in the air and after each swing; the man puts his fists back up by his face. Drix swings at the face then kicks the man in the kneecap. Hard. Real hard. It looks real bad, and the man yelps and falls back on the floor. The crowd parts. Drix makes a move to jump on him, but the guy looks like a car has hit him. Drix stops. The man gets back up with the stumble of a rookie skier. He cant put any weight on the knee. He tries to concentrate on the fight, but puts his foot down and tests his balance with a grimace. Drix stands still and watches, then walks up and asks if hes okay. Others approach

and a group discussion begins about the knee as if hes a construction worker whos been wounded on the job. They all decide to take the injured man to the hospital. Whose got a car? someone asks, but in a world of subways and buses, no one answers. I do, I call out from the back of the room. Drix said, Can you take him to the hospital? This looks real bad. With each arm around a shoulder of his friends, the wounded guy hobbles out to my car, and they all crawl in for the ride to the emergency room. There we wait for about 3 hours. What do you guys train in? I asked one of the friends in a fit of boredom. Boxing. Shoot wrestling. Filipino martial arts. He answers and runs a string of names like Bruce Lee and some others I never heard of, and the number of years in each. After all those years I say shaking my head, and one good kick to the knee and its over? I say it more to myself than to him. Shit happens man, he says in a mumble. While we sit, a man comes in who has hurt his back falling off a ladder while painting. A traffic accident sends two more people our way with bleeding heads. Old people come in afraid and ill. One has the flu. X-rays and several consultations later, our guys knee turns out to be severely hyper-extended and needs an emergency visit to the bone doctor the next day. I take them all home, and then I drive passed the school and down the avenue where the evenings adventure began. Its dark. The butcher paper is gone. No more fights, at least for a few weeks. Fight Clubs! What a bizarre, strange night of courteous, caring, detached hyperviolence. I drive home with a strange sense of the term reality fighting. A loser limps home, with knee surgery scheduled for the following day. One-kick Drix already home too with his new tough guy rep, the hot talk of some obscure chat line, his heroism based on the opinions of some 26 onlookers in a city of millions. Bizarre.
B.B. Nashley works as a freelance writer in New York City.