I really love this.<p>I am a firm believer in everyone studying _some_ martial art (player's choice).<p>For the following reasons:<p>- It teaches an insane amount of respect when two people have to hold themselves back to practice<p>- It teaches self-discipline, mostly in the long-forgotten art of keeping yourself from becoming so angry you cannot function with form.<p>- It gives a crazy amount of confidence to know you are at least a little bit prepared for bad situations<p>- It removes a lot of the panic instinct in all kinds of intimidating situations, from actual fights, to presenting to a review board.<p>- You quickly learn to operate through pain and discomfort and intimidation, even if you are not being actually injured (e.g., not actually sparring).<p>- Everyone should feel that they are legitimately <i>their own</i> first line of defense. Even if that defense is to create space and get away.<p>My sport was boxing. I'm a knowledge worker, still.
I'm just thinking back to my time in scouting and can only imagine what it would be like to teach a bunch of 14-16 y/os the 1920s equivalent of MMA. Probably about 30min of fun until kids just start hitting each other as hard as they can with sticks.<p>Still sounds more fun than the basket weaving merit badge though.
Some merit badges involve strenuous physical challenges, such as hiking (multiple long-distance hikes including a 50-miler). The canoeing MB requires learning how to get back on an overturned canoe while in deep water, which is bloody hard.<p>They still have badges for shooting and archery, too.<p>There are also some badges that were unexpected - plumbing, fixing farm equipment, computer game design.
I am most impressed that the grappling techniques are almost all legitimate and taught today. I tapped people out with two of those techniques (cross collar choke and arm bar) in the last week as a BJJ practitioner. Same with the throws. The scissor takedown is also known as Kani Basami and is stupid dangerous for the person being taken down. Can easily tear knee ligaments and most gyms do not permit its use in most circumstances. It is effective, though.
1925 in Great Britain? So, this was published just a few years after the end of World War I. I presume it was written by people who actually fought in the war. I wonder how much of this reflected the skills they had learned or used as soldiers in that war?
I got the badge for knots, hiking and camping.<p>45 years later I can still mess with some of those knots!<p>Boy Scouts we’re awesome. Pity in the USA they are a little under attack now.
Sparring with quarterstaff is a bad idea, regardless of age. A 7' lever is no joke.<p>Anyone who thinks that's a hot take, infantilization of kids, politically motivated, or whatever else has been going on in this thread should probably watch e.g. <a href="https://youtu.be/3bmcpjBO4a0?t=270" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/3bmcpjBO4a0?t=270</a>
See also:<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canne_de_combat" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canne_de_combat</a><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartitsu" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartitsu</a><p>(related to the first link—it's a martial art Sherlock Holmes is familiar with, in the Doyle stories)<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singlestick" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singlestick</a><p>The photos at the tops of the the second two links are great. All the sailors in the last one, facing off in lines with their stick-swords, and the dudes in boater hats posing with their sticks like they're LARPers who accidentally put on a costume for the wrong setting, at the second link.
Holy smokes! Reading this over, I'll bet there were more than a few injuries among the groups that practiced it.<p>Imagine sending your kid off for a fun weekend and then watching them come home Sunday morning with an acute elbow injury from an arm bar...<p>Scouting was dangerous enough without that stuff. You could get lost and even die in any number of unexpected ways. I watched a friend take a full swing of a wood axe to the top of his head. It didn't make any of us stronger or more interested in the outdoors. Plus everybody told us the Eagle Scout looked amazing on a resume when you become an adult, but they didn't mention that it could have the complete opposite effect depending on where you're applying...<p>Edit: I see the typical pro-danger, pro-learning-through-injury realism-posturing replies, but these quick takes are inappropriate for beginners, which merit-badge-earning scouts definitely are.