Instructing Children in the Martial Arts – Part V

An instructor/friend used to hold annual summer camps at a major national park. All of his camps were heavily attended by his students, who looked forward all year to the events. Buses were hired to transport everyone several hundred miles to the park, and not just young students, but entire families as well. At the park, everyone lived in a large block of the park’s permanent tents, which my friend had arranged months in advance. He spent the entire preceding year planning the calendar for each camp, making sure each day’s events would be both fun and educational. It was a great venue and he did a great job.

One night (as best as I remember the details), a teenage girl bragged to a friend that she had just had sex with a man at the camp. Word reached the girl’s mother and the girl was questioned. She affirmed the incident and identified the man as the young husband of one of the camp’s assistant instructors and father of one of the campers.

The police were called. The man was arrested, tried, and convicted. He spent time in prison and lost his family and his job. In the process, he also, unfortunately, put an end to the camps.

I mention this because it is a possibility we all need to take into consideration when planning our events. I always try to implement a comprehensive system of chaperones to make sure young students, and especially teenagers, can never be alone with those of the opposite gender.

There was an unusual wrinkle to this incident. The man claimed the girl had “come on” to him. When he ignored her advances, she reportedly told him that if he didn’t have sex with her, she would tell people that he had and get him into trouble. So, according to him, he relented. The girl never denied his claim (to my knowledge), nor did it matter legally. The police medically verified the act had taken place between an adult and an underage girl and he was imprisoned.

Those of us who knew the girl suspected that she was capable of doing what he claimed. This was certainly no excuse for what he did. That was clearly defenseless. Plus most of us would have handled such a threat in the exact opposite manner. We would have immediately reported her to her mother and those in charge. So, in my estimation, he was either lying or stupid.

But in this age of an over-emphasis on sex at younger and younger ages, it is yet another of the many things instructors need to be on guard against – both from the standpoint of themselves and from that of those who attend their events or teach for them.

Thank you for reading. I’ll soon be adding another couple of posts on this and related subjects before moving on to more positive matters.