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Thread: Martial Arts Deaths

  1. #16
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    Well, I think this settles the age-old debate - Wushu is the world's most deadly martial art.

  2. #17
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    I'm sure anyone that's worked weapons has hit themselves

    And I'm also sure that anyone who has worked a two-person form has delivered and and received injuries too. High-level wushu, even with its ultralight weapons, can be dangerous for sure. The whole point of sparring sets is to come as close as possible, so any slight error can be disastrous. Our copy editor, Lori White, once came with in an inch of losing her eye while practicing a spear vs. 3-section sparring set. However I must disagree with SPJ - safety gear for sparring sets is absurd. If you wear safety gear, you might as well just spar with padded weapons. Now, there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, I think every one who practices weapons seriously should dabble in padded weapons. But it's a totally different beast than weapon sparring forms.

    It sounds like a freak accident. I can't remember hearing of anything quite like this before. I'm monitoring the news for more info, but not anticipating much. Even with the net, Sri Lanka news isn't the most accessible.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  3. #18
    agreed that safe weapon made out of foam or rubber etc would be better.

    1. even with all the protective stuff, people may still get injury in kendo or fencing.

    2. in a sparring set, well if a soldier is wielding a guan dao or broad sword, he would wear some kind of army uniform with protective guards.

    I guess that people are so used to the idea that silk cloths is the only thing to wear in doing wushu both open hand and weapon drills/routine.


  4. #19
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    I think you misunderstood me, SPJ

    I don't advocate making padded weapons or protective gear for two-person weapon forms. Quite the opposite. While I certainly feel that what happened to Weerasinghe is tragic, enforcing safety measures on forms isn't the solution. That emasculates forms practice even more. After all, this is martial arts. If it was totally safe, it wouldn't be genuine. User assumes all risks.

    I think Weerasinghe's death was a freak accident. If you enacted safety standards for every freak accident, we wouldn't be able to do anything.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  5. #20
    Dave
    Eagle Belt - look out!!!!


    I attempted to do a Tao Bo movement with a 3 Sectional Staff without proper insturction. Well I was found unconcious by my sifu with blood dripping down my head.

    Scared to death for almost a month but then took the old addage and got back on the horse. Today I'm the only one who does this movement regularly as part of the set.

    Worse pain ever until I started Arnismy fingers till ache.

  6. #21

  7. #22
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    i was once playing with a broadsword and crescent knife, i undercompensated brushing the knee with the knife in hand, cut thru my sash, cargo pants, sweat pants, and kneecap... stitched it back together myself with a pair of pliers, a sewing needle, thread, a beer cap(thimble), and a six pack...

  8. #23
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    Death at grading

    I didn't enter the Wushu Death here. That struck me as such an anomaly that it deserved it's own thread.

    This one below strikes me as a freak accident that could have happened anywhere.
    Teacher dies at karate grading
    The Press | Tuesday, 09 December 2008

    A Rangiora school teacher and long-time martial arts instructor collapsed and died during a karate grading at the weekend.

    Rangiora Karate Club sensei Rob Stewart, 53, was in the Waikuku Community Hall on Sunday morning when he started having trouble breathing, senior black belt Graham Russell said.

    The grading involved more than 30 people, mostly children, from five Canterbury clubs.

    CPR was performed on Stewart "within seconds" by several people, and resuscitation attempts continued until emergency services arrived, he said.

    Police confirmed a man died at the scene and the matter had been referred to the coroner.

    Stewart was a fourth-dan black belt in the Okinawan Goju-Ryu karate style, who trained for more than 25 years in Hamilton, Rotorua, Oxford and Rangiora.

    He had been a teacher at Rangiora Borough School since 1995, and had taught many of his karate students.

    "He's dedicated his life over the last 30 years or so to karate," Russell said. Stewart's wife, Diana, and their four children were still coming to grips with the death, he said.

    Rangiora Borough School principal Alan Sutton said Stewart was a highly regarded teacher and colleague.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  9. #24
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    We have Soldiers die from heart failure at least a couple times a year. Usually it's either the new recruits unable to adapt to the rigors of basic, or it is an older reservist who was activated and was attempting to work out while deployed, without properly acclimating.
    The weakest of all weak things is a virtue that has not been tested in the fire.
    ~ Mark Twain

    Everyone has a plan until they’ve been hit.
    ~ Joe Lewis

    A warrior may choose pacifism; others are condemned to it.
    ~ Author unknown

    "You don't feel lonely.Because you have a lively monkey"

    "Ninja can HURT the Spartan, but the Spartan can KILL the Ninja"

  10. #25
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    Both the deaths here almsot certainly have nothing to do with MA, just a question of timing. The first was probably due to a cardiac sudden death syndrome which may even have been undetectable without specific specialist tests. The second was probably due to ischaemic heart disease ( a leading cause of death in 50something males).
    "The man who stands for nothing is likely to fall for anything"
    www.swindonkungfu.co.uk

  11. #26
    Just remind me of regular heart exam whether you are active in physical activity or not.


  12. #27
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    This isn't quite what I had in mind for this thread...

    ...but I couldn't think of where else to post it.
    Arrests bring little solace in killing of Orlando martial-arts teacher
    Slain granddad had just reunited with family
    By Mary Tindall | Sentinel Staff Writer
    10:55 PM EDT, March 8, 2009

    Ruphine Powell was slain Feb. 11 on Mercy Drive. He had recently reunited with his daughters.

    Ruphine Powell was slain Feb. 11 on Mercy Drive. He had recently reunited with his daughters. (Powell family / March 8, 2009)

    Katrina Ervin knew why the detective was knocking at her door Feb. 12. Her father, who always called on his way home in the evening, hadn't come home -- and it was 6 a.m.

    "I was just hoping they'd say he was hurt instead of dead," Ervin, 25, said.

    Her father, Ruphine Powell, had been shot to death on Mercy Drive, the victim of an apparent robbery attempt, Orlando police said. He had been shot inside his beloved blue 1990 Ford Mustang, driven a short distance before crashing into a wooded area.

    Saturday evening, Terrence Leath, 17, and Jonathan Loyd, 18, were arrested on charges of armed robbery with a firearm and first-degree murder in connection with Powell's death. The two men were taken to Orange County Jail, and additional arrests were "imminent," said Sgt. Barbara Jones of the Orlando Police Department.

    For Ervin, the arrests were a mercifully quick break in the case of her father's slaying -- a killing that cut short a long-awaited family reunion.

    For months, Powell, 52, had worked two jobs to save money to help his daughters move to Orlando from Connecticut. On Jan. 23, Ervin and her sister, Tammy Jordan, arrived in Orlando.

    Ervin brought her two children, ages 4 and 5, with her. For the first time, Powell met his grandchildren. There was an immediate bond.

    "My dad's not the young, exuberant guy he was years ago, but he rode around on this floor, and picked up these kids, and ran around with them like it was nothing," Ervin said from her Orlando home. "Really, I feel like he wanted to make up for lost time."

    Ervin is one of several people who remembered Powell as a calm, athletic man who loved teaching kung fu and working on his Mustang.

    But he didn't have much time for those hobbies, working days and nights as a tool-and-die machinist for two local companies.

    At his night job, Powell was a hard worker who never lost his temper, said Gene Augustin, who employed him for seven years.

    On the night Powell was shot, he left the factory between 9 and 9:30 p.m., according to security-camera footage. His body was discovered near Mercy Drive and West New Hampshire Street about 11:35 p.m. He was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

    Augustin said he thought Powell, who was found in the driver's seat, was trying to make it back to the company's factory after being shot. "He missed the street [the turn to reach the factory] by about 50 feet," swerving into nearby woods instead, Augustin said.

    Powell's death came as a shock to his employers, family and friends. They said he had no enemies, no criminal background.

    He joined the Marines at age 17 and served for seven or eight years, Ervin said.

    Powell brought the discipline he learned in the military to his role as a teacher of kung fu at a local studio, World Ving Tsun Athletic Association in Orlando. From 2003 to 2007, he volunteered several nights a week, mentoring students in the art of ving tsun, a type of kung fu popularized by Bruce Lee. Powell was a first-degree black sash and left the studio only because of health reasons, studio owner Darrell Jordan said.

    "He gave of himself wholeheartedly," Jordan said of Powell's efforts. "He pulled himself up by his bootstraps."

    Scott Haynes, one of Powell's former students, said he inspired him to hone his skills. They soon became close friends.

    "If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have trained as hard," said Haynes, 37, at the studio.

    Originally from Connecticut, Powell moved to Orlando about 20 years ago, then attended technical school and began working as a machinist.

    By the time of his death, he had achieved one of his major goals: being reunited with his family. He had left Ervin's mother when Ervin was just 3 or 4 years old, moving in and out of their lives over the years.

    His daughters' move to Orlando seemed to mark a new chapter in their lives.

    "That's what upset me the most," Ervin said. "He just met my kids. I didn't get enough time."

    The arrests have soothed some of her grief, Ervin said.

    "I didn't want my father's death to go unsolved," she said. "I just want to know [what happened], and I'm hoping they are convicted."
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  13. #28
    I remember when they use to have tough man/women contest. Those were deaths waiting to happen.

  14. #29
    While doing tai chi sword forms, the classmate behind me in line almost amputated my finger. He sent me flowers the next day.

    The moment they ask us to choose between two different paths, the implicit message is that we can only follow one. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path

  15. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by Taryn P. View Post
    While doing tai chi sword forms, the classmate behind me in line almost amputated my finger. He sent me flowers the next day.
    lol!
    I never heard about that!
    Since when did you guys use live blades in form practice?!
    What do you call someone who practices Dim Mak on themselves?
    Dum Fuk!

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