You cannot eliminate the flinch no matter how well trained you may be. You can always flinch in a new, unexpected situation.
agree with this. The trick is to make it work for you. Personally I still flinch even when my young boys do silly things. The first trick is to get used to contact to the head I think... this IMO does not require being beaten constantly in the face but to get used to the feel of being touched on the face (who apart from your mother and lover touches your face outside of training)
Part of using the flinch is conditioning a certain type of response.
2 examples: About 3 years ago I was working in a house with some clients that where reasonably difficult. This house was in a pretty rough area. Anyway one night while I was walking to work one of my co-workers decided to hide in the bushes afew houses up from the workplace. He jumped out to grab me, I flinched at that but was on him a fraction of a second later. I don't recall what happened in those instants but He said to me later that i kicked/kneed him in the nuts and was about to smash his face when I realised what was going on..... needless to say he never tried that again..... instead he started leaving partypopper booby traps around the house, which was very humorous, open a cupboard and bang streamers to the face, but I digress.
The second example is a client who often threatewns to kick nuts. One day he tried this on me and my response was to move straight in after the flinch.
We try to use a maxim of if yin then yang so you don't take 2 backwards steps in a row.... i.e: If you flinch your very next movement should be offensive in nature. That works well for me.It needs too in my work there are often clients trying to take advantage through sneaky little moves....
"I've done 19 years of Tae Kwon Do.... I'm a blackbelt third dan.... I don't think I should start with your beginners..." ....phone enquiry I recieved....