Woof Bobi:
(with an assist on the English)
"but I don't know..... I have plenty of respect for fights like at the
Gatherings. I think now at the moment I have too little guts
for that, but I'm surprised that at the Gatherings serious injuries don't occur more than they seem to-- .... broken arms -for example. or even bigger bones being broken? or bunios (?) to the head? Is the head hard enough to absorb blows like this?
"I know most of the fighters hit not in all situations with full
intention. Surely if they are more advanced (or not? ??!!)"
This is an inherently grey area. You are right-- it IS surprising that we do not have serious injuries more often than we do. This can be due to the skill of the fighters or the lack of skill of the fighters
That said the intention to hit hard and well is there-- until someone cannot defend themselves.
And we do have serious injuries. For example, as I mentioned in my report on the last Gathering, we estimate out of 24 fighters, 6 had concussions. In my opinion this is too many by far and there is a need for certain people to clean up their head defense.
In my opinion, with the newer fencing HELMETS, as versus the older fencing MASKS, some people tend to get reckless with their heads and then pay a price when struck where the helmet does not protect well whereas we of the first wave came up in masks and ALWAYS feared the head shot and hence tended to have good head protection skills.
So what serious injuries have we had?
In addition to broken hands, wrists, stick bruises and the like, we have had the concussions, a perforated ear drum, joint damage from grappling holds, dislocated shoulders, a split knee cap, broken ribs, a split ear, a cracked skull (discussed by its recipient in the opening of one of the DBMA videos) and so forth.
Given the number of fights that we have had over the years, I think our track record in this regard is excellent and a testament to the integrity with which people respect the code of "friends at the end of the day". That said, it is a fight. Stickfighting is dangerous and injuries will happen.
Does this help?
Woof,
Crafty Dog
PS: With your training with Guro Lonely Dog you should be very well prepared should you decide to give it a go.
