since the human weapon eposode seem to get so much response im going to talk about something thats kinda been bugging me about the sambo epososode. back in 1996....i had a pal who was from the soveit union and was in the ussr navy during the cold war. he was is now an engineer well anyways we used to train together.... he was a good martial artist but...... he said that back under comunist rule traing in martial arts was illegal. and that him and his pals would have to sneak into the forest to train. and he had photos of himand his buddies in the woods training, bare shirted in the snow...tyoical russian hard guy. now when i see the history channel thing it seem they have a real developed system and alomost seems required.... so here is my problem was my buddy pulling my leg....or has the ma scene devoped since 1990....after andre left. or martial arts for some....brutal oppression for others
Most likely the soviets oppressed everybody that wasn't a top-notch fighter that could win against capitalist pigs, and allowed (and possibly funded) extensive training for the really good fighters that would go to compete worldwide to show the soviet might, them and varying degrees of Spetznatz to the army (more elite, more training, etc.). It seems the most reasonable thing for an oppressing dictatorship to do...
sounds about right...btw have you ever thought about being a oppressing dictator...you seem to have a pretty good handle on it
I think this was dependent on the style practiced. There were loads of judo and sambo schools around when I was a kid there, around 86-88, though the emphasis was on sport. The combat sambo was reserved for the military, and then you had other styles for special forces and such. So, yeah, I'm not sure what your friend is talking about, perhaps it was earlier on, or maybe they were training non-sport stuff... who knows..
Your friend most likely wasn't lying to you, I just asked my mother and even though she grew up in communist Armenia she said that if you wanted to do a sport/MA you had to do it professionally so you had to teach or compete. The communist's didn't like people training just for the fun of it, if you were learning and not teaching you almost always had to compete.
thanks...didnt really think he was lieing to me....since he is not prone to that...and he had photos...but i thought i must have had the cat by the tail or something but your explanination sounds about right
