Mr. Matt Larsen Instructor Director of Combatives Department of Physical Education matthew.larsen [at] westpoint.edu About Education Research & Publications Matt Larsen, a career Army Ranger who is best known as a hand-to-hand combat expert and the father of the U.S. Army's Modern Army Combatives Program, served in the U.S. Marine Corps and the 75th Ranger Regiment during the course of a 22-year career in the military. Larsen founded the United States Army Combatives School and served as both its commandant and the Director of the Army Combatives program for more than a decade. Larsen has worked as a private security contractor throughout the Middle East and Africa, including managing a security company in central and southern Africa; designed Combatives systems for the Canadian Special Operations Regiment; and, consulted on the design of Combatives training systems for the US Air Force, the British Royal Marines and the British Infantry, the Polish Diplomatic Security Corps, the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces and Presidential Guard and the Kuwait Police Special Forces. M.A. in Combat Psychology B.S. in Natural Science Research Interests Combat Psychology Current Research Van Dam, D., Furlong, D., & Larsen, M. Cadets' Perceptions of Hand-to-Hand Combat Instruction for Officer Development, United States Military Academy Department of Physical Education, West Point, NY. (Submitted 1 MAR 2024) Selected Publications Cavallaro, G., & Larsen, M. (2010). Sniper: American Single-shot Warriors in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rowman & Littlefield.Larsen, M. (2013). Modern army combatives: battle-proven techniques and training methods. Black Belt Books.Beckner, M.E., Stein, J.A., Lee, M.R., Knapik, J.J., Farina, E.K., Van Dam, D., Barringer, N., Larsen, M., & Lieberman, H.R. (2024). Sex Differences in Mood States and Cortisol Response to Hand-to-Hand Combat Training in US Military Academy Cadets. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 159. DOI: 10.1916/j.psyneuen.2023.106656Stein, J.A., Beckner, M.E., Lee, M.R., Knapik, J.J., Farina, E.K., Van Dam, D., Barringer, N.D., Larsen, M., Lieberman, H.R. (2023). Pre-match salivary cortisol predicts hand-to-hand combat performance: 2759. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 55(9S), 937. [Poster presentation at 2023 American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting]. doi: 10.1249/01.mss.0000988548.92321.b2Lee, M.R., Stein, J.A., Van Dam, D., Beckner, M.E., Barringer, N.D., Farina, E.K., Larsen, M., Knapik, J.J., Lieberman, H.R. (2023). Self-confidence predicts cadet performance in a hand-to-hand combatives course: 2769. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 55(9S), 940-941. [Poster presentation at 2023 American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting]. doi: 10.1249/01.mss.0000988588.09787.24