Yeah. How many serviceable long poles can you spot laying around on those boats and on the nearby docks? A lot!
But nowadays, people have to write into forums like this just to locate one. And, most WC/VT/WT schools won't teach you the long pole techniques until you are quite advanced in the art. Then you are lucky to find anybody to practice with ...a situation hardly likely to support to practical self defense skills. On the other hand if you grew up in an environment like that in the picture above, you'd probably learn to handle a pole as soon as you could lift one, whether to guide a boat or to take whack at your brother or the bully on the next boat. The kinds of skills later taught in WC/VT/WT would build upon this instinctive foundation.
In today's world, application of WC concepts to the kind of objects we find in our current environment is probably more valuable from a self-defense perspective. Kids grow up swinging short sticks, T-ball bats, tennis racquets, and maybe a hammer or, on the longer side things like broom handles or a shovel. Some long pole concepts translate to common shorter objects like a broom or shovel. But others don't. That's where Escrima comes into the picture for me. It's very adaptable and very practical, especially in the modern world.
