Coach appears to headbutt official

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

Well, the referee entered what my karate sensei calls close or elbow and knee range. This is partly because of his own movements and partly because of the coaches'. This is closer than arm's length (punching range).

If you stay more than arm's length, they have to move to punch you (and really move to head butt you) which gives you time to retreat, dodge, or block the attack (I recommend retreat). It's also a distance which is hard to cover on impulse so it should eliminate some "heat of the moment" attacks.

The moral is to stand off from upset people and move away from them when they move towards you. If this referee had started just a few inches further away, he would likely have avoided the attack. His reflexes were good. He just didn't have enough time.

If he'd had karate training, he would have known that.

On the other hand, the coach did have to move to hit him. He moved quite a distance, actually, pretty quickly.