About Me
About Nigel
My journey began in my early teens where I started with Tae Kwon Do, Kick Boxing, Kung Fu and Aikido. Guided by my father, I started to explore boxing and wrestling in the early nineties. It was during this time, living in Elsies River, that my fascination with the gang methods of knife caught on and I researched the unique way the knife was being used on the Cape Flats. During this period I started training in a hybrid form of Silat, which I learned from my father, which he called Ronin Silat. It was during my training in Silat that I made the connection to the gang knife method and found a link between the early Cape Malays and Nguni tribes, that had migrated to the Western Cape centuries ago. My research on the Cape Criminal knife method led me to create the Piper Knife System, 8 September 1997. The Piper System or Piper, as it's commonly known, became the first ever official South African martial art, comprising various ethnic and endemic influences from within the country.
This became official, 28 February 2007, when the late Kodokwan Ju Jitsu grandmaster, Joe Grant Grierson, 10th Dan, inducted Piper and Nigel February into the South African Martial Arts Hall of Fame, making Nigel the youngest inductee and the final alumni for the class or 2004, which Joe Grant Grierson was the very first Hall of Fame inductee.
Besides his research and creation of the first ever Criminal Knife simulator, Nigel holds ranks in the following systems....
5th Dan black belt in Kodokwan Ju Jitsu under Joe Grant Grierson, 10th Dan
7th Dan black belt under Kyoshi Japie Cilliers, founder of StreetWise Fighting Systems
Instructor rank in Capoeira, via ABADA Capoeira in Rio, Brazil.
Founder of Ronin Silat, a blend of Indonesian and Polynesian martial arts.
Hall of Fame inductee for the Class of 2004, in South African Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
Founder of HACS ( Hostile Awareness Control Systems)
His research into the Criminal predatory mindset has made him a sought after international instructor, who's methods have been taught to the 512 Airborne Rescue Squadron, in New Mexico, USA, The Ghurka Sniper unit in Singapore, various police agencies both local and overseas as well as to local NGO's and Corporate entities, via his HACS program.
His influence within this unique realm of research can be seen within the Combatives communities worldwide as it relates to edged weapon use and Criminal assaults.