Re: Karate

Gary Burkhardt <scouter@OPTONLINE.NET> wrote:
>
> The only authorized martial arts are judo and aikido. (pg 23 of the
> Guide to Safe Scouting 1996 edition). That's why no one is interested.

I would guess that other forms of non-contact martial arts would be permitted
if you lobbied National loudly and long enough. Although Judo and Aikido are
certainly sports that can injure, they are not contact sports. They are
nationally taught and well-know, not the only forms of non-contact martial
art. The other forms of martial art that also are non-contact sports do not
qualify under the letter of the law, but certainly do under the spirit of
same.

I'd ask my DE and SE to help me with this if a non-contact form of martial art
was available and I wanted to get the boys involved.

To simply state that "It has been written so it shall be done" is not a good
enough answer for me. This is also a problem with "hard" rules that don't
explain the purpose of the rule, only the steps that should be followed.

Eg, why is Paintball outlawed and not LaserTag? Is it because one is more
"war-like" than the other or that one hurls high-speed projectiles that bruise
and can maime if not properly protected? The rule doesn't say why, only that
Paintball is not permitted. We can speculate on why, we can make up our own
reasons, and then outlaw capture the flag because it also is warlike... when
it's really firing high-speed objects at one another that is not permitted.

If a rule is written that does not make sense, work to change the rule. In the
meantime, don't violate the letter of the law, but laws are made to be changed
when they are found to be inappropriate or inaccurately written.

YiS,

-Tim

--
Tim Hewitt, Scoutmaster
Troop 350, Old Orchard Beach, Maine
Eagle '74

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