Author Topic: Full Contact Stickfighting on Christmas!  (Read 12561 times)

Mick C.

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Full Contact Stickfighting on Christmas!
« on: December 20, 2010, 11:02:12 AM »
Reading through Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to his Children, I came across a letter describing Christmas in the White House in 1902.  TR had a lot more energy than I do, as after opening all the kid's presents and having breakfast, TR went for a 3-hour horesback ride with General Leonard Wood (with whom he served in the Spanish-American War, and whom the Army base in Missouri is named after) and another Rough-Rider, then came back for lunch.  TR then did some single-stick fighting:

Late in the afternoon I played at single stick with General Wood and Mr. Ferguson. I am going to get your father to come on and try it soon. We have to try to hit as light as possible, but sometimes we hit hard, and to-day I have a bump over one eye and a swollen wrist. Then all our family and kinsfolk and Senator and Mrs. Lodge's family and kinsfolk had our Christmas dinner at the White House, and afterwards danced in the East Room, closing up with the Virginia Reel.

I'm usually exhausted by noon on Christmas Day...

Aside from stick-fighting, boxing, wrestling, weight-training, and (obviously) shooting, TR trained in Jiu-Jitsu / Judo (or Jiudo, as it was spelled then), built a training hall in the White House, and even set up a MMA fight in the white house, sort of the first UFC.  Here are some of the letters on that:

http://www.bartleby.com/53/47.html

http://www.bartleby.com/53/59.html



« Last Edit: December 20, 2010, 11:04:30 AM by Mick C. »

Stickgrappler

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Re: Full Contact Stickfighting on Christmas!
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2010, 08:56:18 PM »
Woof Mick,

Awesome reads. Thank you!

~sg
"A good stickgrappler has good stick skills, good grappling, and good stickgrappling and can keep track of all three simultaneously. This is a good trick and can be quite effective." - Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny

pappydog

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Re: Full Contact Stickfighting on Christmas!
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2010, 10:24:43 AM »
I think it was basically La Canne. Sort of Sabre sword-fighting with a stick. Our forefathers were way more Rough and Tumble

Pappy Dog

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Re: Full Contact Stickfighting on Christmas!
« Reply #3 on: December 23, 2010, 06:20:16 PM »
Agreed Pappy. The fact that Roosevelt was shot in the chest during a failed assassination and still gave his speech while bleeding is impressive. Most of those guys were tough SOB's.

Nowadays people think a split lip from b-ball is a newsworthy story...

G M

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Re: Full Contact Stickfighting on Christmas!
« Reply #4 on: December 23, 2010, 06:46:30 PM »
Our society is poorer from the lack of masculine standards once commonly expected.

Crafty_Dog

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