“A Course in Cramming, The Weapons They Brought West Virginia”, Karate Illustrated January 1984 Vol 15 No 1

Excerpt: 

“The typical day, beginning right after breakfast, called for a lunch break at 12:00 and a dinner break at 6:00. All day long could be heard the sound of clacking sticks from somewhere in the camp. Often, dinner signaled only a pause in the fascination and determination of students. Some worked out in the grass by the light of the moon, while others turned on the lights in the training hall and worked until midnight.

You might have expected that students at the camp would share some attributes. In fact, most campers were male and under 30. Beyond these characteristics there was spectacular variation. There was a plastic surgeon from Virginia, a farmer from Iowa, a very traditional teacher of Japanese karate who didn’t want it known that he’d been there, a tae kwon do student from the East Coast who felt the same, even a modern·day bounty hunter, whose job consisted of investigating, tracking, and recapturing fugitives from a state in the Midwest.

The state officer said he made it a matter of policy to learn as much about every sort of martial arts  weapon as he could. “The reasons for that are two,”  he explained. “One, I’ll be better able to defend myself against some of the shifty characters I’m dealing with. Two, I’ll have a better idea of what sort of things he might try to use against me.”  If for most people attending the camp was a vacation, for this investigator, it was at least an expenses-paid hiatus. He smiled with satisfaction. “The government considers that the more I know about weaponry and such the better I’ll be able to do my job.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KarateIllustrated_January1984Vol15No1-ACourseinCramming,TheWeaponsTheyBroughtWestVA_Scott Mintale