Practice was pretty dead again this weekend. There seems to be a serious motivation sink somewhere, and after two years of increased attendance we've hit a drop off. Oscad was worn out from the long drive home from A&S, Gui is hurt, Nik is hurt, Alexander is hurt, Richard is poor, Gil moved, Rav is at boot camp, Dugal has family, I don't know what's up with Timur and Jarrod except that they have lives. That's pretty much the core of BAT right there. It left me, Bill and Avran in armor on Sunday, and frankly while I like those guys and teaching is fun it's not what I need right now. I need dukes.
Nutley practice this week might happen. It depends on Oscad (yes, that's part of the problem, relying on others for transportation, but when you live in NYC a car is a luxury, not a necessity. I don't like hauling my armor on the train to Jersey and I do enjoy being able to store it at BAT).
Anyway, Saturday I did Yoga and Indian clubs as a workout. Sunday I warmed up with the Indian clubs before practice and then fought. I did have some fun great sword fights with Avran. I have been training him in the Bellatrix style of greatsword for a few years now--which gets both him and me roundly ridiculed among southern Region knights, but he has certainly made progress. I never could get it to work well for me, but then I only play with greatsword on occasion. TO use Paul's great sword style you have to practice it constantly (Paul is so very Japanese in his approach) and since great sword is all Avran fights, he is learning to make it work. Unfortunately he needs new armor. The hanging guard, sometimes called the "king's guard" and "queen's guard" (wrists crossed), and which Paul calls the "tip down guard" is a foundational technique in Paul's style, and Avran's shoulder harness prevents him from crossing his arms properly. Since I trained with Paul and I was using Avran's very nice nodachi, I got all Japanese on him. My first kill was my best, when I did a double strike and passing shot and hit him in the head with a nice loud "kiai!" After that he tightened up and we were fighting mostly to a stand still. Then I fought him using sword and shield, which was fun. Then I fought Bill, who was fighting left handed (he switches back and fourth, fighting leftie at BAT and rightie at Nutley). He is very strong (right handed he usually hits harder than Darius, though that is partially because Darius doesn't try to hit as hard as he can), and he usually tries to simply bull me over. He's started being more precise and patient, waiting for me to attack and then attcking into whatever I do. It is allowing me to play my game a bit more, but it is also allowing him to launch much better attacks. It should improve his fighting greatly.
I did have fun, but I wish more people were coming out to BAT these days. Maybe after Mudthaw it will pick up. I hope so!
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