A nearly very bad injury happened to a friend yesterday. She struck her head on the corner of a piece of furniture, was briefly stunned, bruised an arm, hurt a shoulder. A simple fall? No! According to her - at this stage I only have her version of events - she was THROWN by an individual who was supposedly giving a demonstration of a martial art, and a volunteer was called upon.
I am told that the demo-giver made some claim to be a practitioner, with perhaps an advanced grade in the sport, but the facts remain to be determined. I'm told, with no reason to doubt the teller, that there were no safety mats in place, and (obvious from the fact itself of injury) there was inadequate space for any "throwing", let alone that my friend is a lady of a certain age and has not confided to me that she has ever had training in safe falling, which is the number one requirement before anybody starts getting thrown around in martial arts practice.
There were many witnesses, since this particular piece of stupidity was performed to a group who meet regularly and who have no connection with the martial arts code which has been mentioned to me. This was meant to be, or should have been, simply a talk to some interested souls about another person's recreational sport. This morning I have made the initial moves which may see yesterday's event further investigated and referred to the national federation which governs the sport mentioned, which may be entirely innocent if the person in question is claiming wrongfully to be associated with it. We shall see.
At the very least, genuine practitioners deserve to be reminded of their code of ethics, their Federation's rules, and warned of possible severe consequences. For now, fact-finding is the name of the game.
I am told that the demo-giver made some claim to be a practitioner, with perhaps an advanced grade in the sport, but the facts remain to be determined. I'm told, with no reason to doubt the teller, that there were no safety mats in place, and (obvious from the fact itself of injury) there was inadequate space for any "throwing", let alone that my friend is a lady of a certain age and has not confided to me that she has ever had training in safe falling, which is the number one requirement before anybody starts getting thrown around in martial arts practice.
There were many witnesses, since this particular piece of stupidity was performed to a group who meet regularly and who have no connection with the martial arts code which has been mentioned to me. This was meant to be, or should have been, simply a talk to some interested souls about another person's recreational sport. This morning I have made the initial moves which may see yesterday's event further investigated and referred to the national federation which governs the sport mentioned, which may be entirely innocent if the person in question is claiming wrongfully to be associated with it. We shall see.
At the very least, genuine practitioners deserve to be reminded of their code of ethics, their Federation's rules, and warned of possible severe consequences. For now, fact-finding is the name of the game.
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