I think everyone should learn some form of self defense, in particular along the lines of hand to hand combat. Now I don’t want to sound all crazy or nothing. In my experience though I believe it helps a person on several levels more then just being able to defend themselves. I believe it helps a person stay fit, improves coordination, improves reflexes, increases your metabolism, toughens you physically, spiritually, mentally, and helps people build confidence in all aspects of their lives. Now to the stick fighting. From what I’ve been able to tell, this form of self defense was developed in Ireland when the Irish weren’t allowed to carry any sort of formal weapon (similar scenarios have happened all across the world many times). So in response to this the Irish developed a self defense style using blackthorn saplings and most noticable the bulb of the root. At the time it was called Irish Whiskey Dancing so that no-one would know that they were learning to fight. Anyways, it looks really great and pretty fun. If anyone is interested they can go to http://www.geocities.com/glendoyle/bata/ and you can find some good examples of it and more links. I know that Mr. Glen Doyle will be putting out an instructional dvd soon. I’m probablly going to get it.
