Train every day

I do. I train every day.I do my pell work, push ups, and squats every day. As Crown gets closer I start to run daily (although this time round I've been doing it gingerly, since I injured my knee at Pennsic and it hasn't fully recovered). My squats, at the moment, double as part of my PT. Also, Ibuprofen and ice.

But fighting, that's where training really has to be concentrated. I'm practicing at once a week now, but it's going up to two a week. I've made it either to Nutley or to the local Brooklyn practice, or to hopewell, every week so far.

This week Nutley was wonderfully intense. I didn't fight a lot of fighters, but I got good quality ass whuppins. A Duke told me at Pennsic that, when you're getting ready for crown, you should stick to fighting people who are better than you. That's nice. As I was getting into armor on Wednesday, so was Stephan Von Dresden. He yelled "hey, Val!" So I jumped into the shark-infested deep end of the pool. That was fun. I did not have a thrusting tip on my sword, which makes it all the harder against Stephan. I did not lay stick on him, but with Stephan, sometimes the benchmark is how long it takes him to kill me, but which I did quite well. Then I fought Horic and did extremely well. I won six out of seven bouts. After that I fought Duke Brenan. He said he was impressed. I won several of our bouts. He said that he thought I was doing much better when I got a flow going to my blows than when I fought staccato (interesting, since Staccato was how I'd planned to fight on Wednesday, but I started throwing combinations out of habit. There was a pole-arm fighter visiting from Meridies, an unbelted fighter with Japanese armor. I took my poleax out against him and won three out of four bouts. To finish off, I got a set of great-sword bouts in with Cullyn, probably the top great weapon fighter in the kingdom ATM. He actually had his body armor off, but when he heard I was looking for some great-sword practice he put it back on. We had some good sets. He definitely bested me, but I won three bouts out of (I think) seven). Great stuff.

This Sunday was the Cloisters demo. I was pretty sure I was going to be the only knight there and, since I wanted more pole-arm work, and since I also wanted to handicap myself, but mostly becuase it was a subway ride from south brooklyn to the far north tip of Manhattan, I left my sword and shield at home. Taking just a bastard sword, or just a poleax, is so much easier than hauling around  a shield, which is sort of awkward. I fought in the noon session for about forty minutes. There were five other fighters in armor, including Gawaine, who is tough with anything, and Murdoch, who has good weapons depth. I had some great fights and some great wins, but Murdoch beat me twice with pole-arms and once with great-sword. I think I beat him once with my poleax vs. his glaive. He was a real test. He also won the provincial championship later that day.

But my favorite moment was against Alberecht, a tall lefty from Queens. Because he is left handed I used a left hand lead on my poleax, which I rarely do. I threw my best polearm shot--a feint thrust to the head, and a circle that looks at first like a leg shot, but then continues up into the face. It's my patented "best shot," and I've killed people with it using both glaive and bastard sword, but I don't think I'd even thrown that left handed before. As I saw that it had worked, and my point was getting in behind his shield, I stepped off line to give myself a better angle, and landed a face thrust.

It's 40 days until Crown Tourney. My next time in armor will be Wednesday at Nutley.

This summer was a bust

 Boy, has it really been since June that I’ve written in this blog?  I’ve gotten even worse at  it. 

 A good practice tonight. I fought Beatrix,  Jan, Arne,  Gawaine,  and a newer left-handed fighter who told me his name, but it completely escaped me.   This guy, by the way, had an incredible kit. 14th century helm with a giant nasal and aventail, great coat of plates, but the best thing of all was that he had Kydex plastic arms that you could not tell where Kydex plastic arms, because he had built them on a freaking last!  They had a  Great coke bottle shaped to them, and he had riveted them so it looks like they had splints. 

 Nothing really special to say about my fighting tonight. I avoided the thrust most of the night and worked on the edge. I only managed to kill Arne once, but he told me afterwards that he did not like what I was doing. I had him back on his heels the whole time, which was the idea. I try to fight Arne by channeling Joe Frazier.  Beatrix I did really well against, and I think Jan beat me three out of five.   Not too bad. 

 I had a very decent day at Ducal Challenge couple weeks ago.   Well, I kind of decent day. I barely made it out of my pool.  I was in the pool of death, which also had brick jams, Ionis, Hassan, and Arne.  I ended up in a three-way tie for fourth place, the last slot to advance, with Hassan and Brick, but I killed both of them.  Then I went to quarterfinals and got knocked out by Cullen, who eventually won. So that wasn’t bad. 

 I didn’t  report on Pennsic.  Here is my report: every days fighting was more fun than the day before.  I pulled a calf muscle, twisted my knee, and probably got a small blood clot in my calf, my doctor freaked out a bit, but the ultrasound showed nothing so I was cleared to fight again.  If I did get a blood clot, I’m pretty sure it came from  wrapping my knee too tightly on Friday. I could not fight for a month as a result. So Pennsic wrecked me. 

It’s 52 days until Crown Tourney. My next time in armor will be Tuesday at McCareen Park. 

Mudthaw is coming up

 Sometimes you need to train, and sometimes you just need to fight. 

 I have been training, but not truly fighting. I’ve been doing my daily pell work, Push-ups, squats, lots of walking, occasional running, and tackling that hill, though nowhere near as much as I need to or would like.  I have not been in armor very much at all. In large part, this has to do with logistics that I need to overcome. Translation,  it is no longer as feasible as it once was, or frankly as simple, for me to haul my armor to work with me and then go to practice in New Jersey, and quite frankly, after 25 years, I’m just tired of hauling my arm on the subway. So I’m taking cabs or Zipcars,  and due to the expense I don’t do that very often. 

 I have made it to Nutley, and the Hawthorne, and to the local Brooklyn practice.  Today was the first day at Brooklyn there was someone besides me in armor. But spring has sprung it, and practice is picking up. 

 At Nutley, and Hawthorne, all I want to do is fight. Last time I was at Nutley it was a fairly late night, but I got to fight four knights and an otc,  and it was a great workout. 

 Tonight, was in someway is much better. There was only me and Travis in armor.  He had already been doing some work by the time I got there an armored up, so he was not interested in slow work or warm-up drills.  We did some free sparring for a while. Then we did situational drills. We did duke Paul’s offense/defense drill.   Then we both did some work fighting from our knees. Then more free sparring.  He is super fast and has a pretty tight defense, and he nailed me with an excellent body shot in our first fight, in which we double killed.  In our last sparring session, I did a couple of things that I really enjoyed. And one of our fights, are used to technique that I’m playing with but had not done a lot of recently, essentially Duke Lucan’s  footwork, but with the heater shield. The way I use it I fight in an A-frame and clock my shield over to guard my leading, stored side, foot. It worked perfectly as I passed to my left and hit him in his offside body. 

This is the kind of work that everybody should do more often. You can improve your fighting more efficiently by drilling with one good fighter on a regular basis, then you can just by doing a bashing practice with five good fighters.  This is the kind of work that everybody should do more often. You can improve your fighting more efficiently by drilling with one good fighter on a regular basis, then you can just by doing a bashing practice with five good fighters.  But you definitely need both, and the bashing practice is a lot more fun! 

 My next time in armor will be Saturday at Mudthaw 

Iron Bog and other joys

It takes me a long time to get to the Iron Bog practice in South Jersey, especially if I'm not driving. Sometimes, I rent a car, sometimes I catch a ride with Gui (even though we both live in Brooklyn, we consider the Iron Bog practice to be our "home practice," mostly because it's where most of our friends are). Otherwise, I have to go by train and link up with one of my household members traveling down there from Central Jersey, like William McCrimmon or Jonathan Bayles. So yesterday, it was like this: I left the house at 9:30 AM. I took the subway to 34th Street. I was a bit early (the train runs every hour) so I grabbed a quick breakfast. Then I took the New Jersey Transit train to Newark Penn Station. It seems the Raritan Valley line wasn't running into Newark because of a cancer walk, so they put us on a shuttle bus. That got me to another train station, where I boarded the train and for Somerville. Jonathan met me there (I was really late), and we drove down to practice together. We got there an hour late. We fought. We went and grabbed dinner with some of the other fighter. We drove up to New Brunswick, where he dropped me off. It was a 50 minute wait for the next train to NYC. Exhausted, I took a cab home ($46, counting toll and tip). I got hom at 11:30 PM. Granted, there was a lot fo down time in there, including a long meal. But it's still an exhausting trip.

I've done a few things since I blogged last. I won the tournament at Coronation, defeating Sir Victor in the finals. I've practiced at Nutley as well as at Iron Bog. Mostly I've been managing pain.

Pain is a constant companion when you're a fighter, and it increases with experience. This training cycle has been tough. I had two very slight injuries at Ducal Challenge that didn't seem like much at the time, but are still bugging me. I missed a shot and torqued my wrist, and, when fighting Duke Hanse, I strained my shoulder. I have shoulder pain fairly often. I've got bursitis that flares up. Amd tennis elbow. Pretty much my whole arm, really. My technique is pretty good, so I don't put a lot of strain on my shoulders, but it still comes in. Plus, I sleep on it wrong a lot. This isn't that. This is a pin-point pain in the front of my shoulder, that only hits when I move in one certain way. Then, I strained my Achilles while running. I rested a coupled of days and ran again, and it got worse.

So, you manage. First of all, you rest. To I haven't run for a couple of weeks. I skipped three practices. Then you rehab. I stretched a bit more. I've got some light Indian clubs I use for rehab, and I started a rehab routine with them. Push ups are good for rehab, so I kept doing those. I stuck to the wiffle ball bat for pell work. Tiger balm. CBD Oil. You get better. Rest is the most important thing.

Here's some video of me fighting Arne at practice two weeks ago.


(in which I twice ask Arne to use my shield as a coffee table).











Truly, in these, my targeting doth suck. My blow angle is way low. Also, I just seem slower than I've been lately. I fought better yesterday, but I'm still not where I was at Pennsic.

I wanted to tighten up my defense and simplify my offense, and I've don't a pretty good job of that. Yesterday I foguht two sets with Ronald, plus sets with Sir Bill, Sir Harold, Sir Jonathan, Sterling and Bran. They were all good, tough sets, and I was pretty sharp, especially my defense. Yesterday I also got my new sword from Bill (he's my sword gaffer). It's heavier but balanced more toward the hilt, witha  stainless steel Bedford basket, instead of the plastic one I've been using. It is what I wanted. It's really fast! But because it doesn't have as much of the mass at the tip, it's hitting lighter and bouncing back. This was to be expected, which is why I needed to get it two weeks ahead of time. Much pell work is called for.
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But it's time now set all the rest of that aside.  Crown Tournament is in 12 days from now. I will try to be in armor one more time this week.

After Roses

 So, it’s been along time since I posted on this blog. That’s mostly because I haven’t been fighting as much as I’d like, but also because I’ve been super super busy with the crowdfunding campaign. (www.igg.me/at/importantearnest)

 I’ve only been an armor four times: twice at Iron Bog practice (including today), once at Nutley practice, and once at the tournament of the Roses. And each one I fought approximately 25 fights (a few more today). That’s not very much, but it was about all I was up to between my foot injury, and my shoulder injury, and everything else. Crown is in two weeks, and I have not been training as much as I would’ve liked. Injury does that. However, I fought very well at roses, and I expect to have fun and do well.

 I’ve added a little yoga my daily workouts. My back really needs it. Still doing 50 push-ups, 50 squats, and 100 strikes on the pill every day.  While I’ve cycled bit, I am unable to run at the moment.

I’d like to talk about roses. We fought for Duchess Brenwyn The Fair. It was a blast. It is a great honor to champion as elegant and noble a lady as her. The format was like this: each lady of the rose entered a team of up to five heavy fighters, five rapier fighters, an archer and an artisan. My part was strictly in the heavy fighting. Whne one rose challenged another, fighter on each team would pair with another. The lowest order of precedence on one team challenged across and then it switched to the other team and back-and-forth. This meant  that, as the royal pier on my team, I never got to challenge anybody. Which was kind of awesome. It meant I never knew what I was going to get.  There were a total of 10 teams, and we only had four fighters so once I doubled up and fought two people on one team.  I only lost one round, and that was to Victor, who totally destroyed me.  The only knight I thought was Wilhelm von Ostenbruck who. I beat two to 1. Oh, did I mention that every round was best two out of three?  This was one of the most awesome  tournaments I’ve bought in since, well, since the William Marshall turning at Pennsic actually. I loved it. My day ended like this: Ten matches, 8 wins, one loss, one draw. I matched weapons, but all that meant was one great sword fight (the draw) and one two sword fight. I won most of my bouts 2-0.

Here’s us VS. Ethel Dreda's team. That's my squire Padraig fighting Ionis. At about 3 Minutes you can see Victor kicking my ass. By the way: I cannot heap enough praise on the three unbelted fighters on our team: Padraig, Dirk, and Ronan. They fought honorably and very well!

Videos are by Cat Woody. Here's some more:

Here’s me in my two sword fight. 

Me and Willie. 

There are 13 days until Crown. My next time in armor will be Tiesday Now htt in Ostgardr.

A lot has been going on

I've been in armor three times since my last post. I've been busy. Last week was finals week, with no time to write. Then I flew out to San Diego for Potrero War. No blogging then. This is the first chance I've gotten to write some stuff. In spite of the fact that I've got a lot of material, this will be a short post and formatted way differently.

VIKING  DAY DEMO
Really, there's nothing much to say. Three SCA heavy fighters showed up, plus four MSR fighters who had  a demo going right across the path. We combined forces. Nothing really to report.  In fact, it was so long ago I don't recall what I did, other than hit some people.

MEMORIAL TOURNEY
This memory is easy: I won.

It's always good to win a tourney, but winning Matt's memorial tourney was special.  The format was double elimination, best two out of three each round. I can't recall how many fighters there were, but not many.  I came out of the winner's list, and I don't think I lost a fight until semi finals. There were two other knights in the tourney, but I never crossed swords with either of them.

I got to fight Jonathan four times, twice as a first round bye, and twice in semi finals. He, not myself, was my pick to win the tourney, and so I'm surprised I was able to beat him. In the bye round, what stands out is that I threw Ron's On-side head/off-side body/on-side head combo and it worked like a charm. In the semifinal what I remember is him winning our first bout, then a double kill, then I picked him apart by taking his leg then his arm then killing him.

I fought Chiba, who was using a katana, and was able to rock him back on his heels just by firing snaps at his head and not letting up. Marc would have eaten me alive.

In the finals I fought Colin. I got him first with a hook-thrust, and then with a simple pump fake.

POTRERO WAR
Ah! Potrero! As I have written elsewhere, my last time on that site was 30 years ago. It was an awesome war then and it's more awesome now. I was out there to support Agrippa and Bridget, but I managed to get some fighting in.

In the battles I fought with a Corvus center-grip oval. The only problem was my wind, and that just in the first two battles. I killed at least one person every battle, mostly as they were trying to break our line.

I was using a shorter, heavier sword than normal. It was slow and really wore me out that first battle, but as the day went on I got some of my heavy-stick style back. It wasn't fast, but any time it landed people were going to take it.

Pickups were really fun. My most important sets were with Agrippa. He pushed me hard. He was trying to dance around and intimidate me, but I was having none of that. When he settled down and just fought he tended to do better. Then we did a training technique--two, actually--wherein his advantage (speed and endurance) was lost. We went literally toe-to-toe, Von Dresden's favorite game, touching the toes of our left feet, and if you moved your foot you lost. The other was standing square at Heidelberg distance (arms length) and going for it. I won most of those fights.

Later I switched to the bunny round and got in fights with a few more guys, including Trigger (who was offered the accolade that night) and Duke Dietrich. By then, everything was working. I got Trigger with two wicked off-side body shots, one using Jade's baiting technique. I also got the butterfly working. My fights with Dietrich were great. I one-shotted him with just a well timed snap. I also got him with Martin the Temperate's leg shot, which was truly awesome. He was really amused when I told him where that shot came from.  He won most of our bouts.

It is 58 days until Pennsic. I'm still on the West Coast, and my next time in armor will likely be Southern Region War Camp on July 10.

This is me last Saturday. See this Gambesson? At Potrero in 1987 it was new!

Iron Bog 3/19

You know, I carry a phone with me everywhere I go. My phone has a camera. It should be easy to get video of my practices, but I never do. I tell myself this all the time, and have been since long before we all carried a camcorder in our pockets. You'd think now it would be automatic. Nope.

All of which is to say that I wish I had video of my last two practices (there is video on FaceBook of me at Aedult Swim. It's humbling).

TECHNIQUE
Radnor is a disciple of Musashi. He believes in fighting without attitude. Worrying about my stance, guard, wards, etc. is fighting with attitude. At some point you have to stop worrying. Fighting should be the same as walking across the field. So I was trying to fight without attitude, without technique. It was more or less working. The one blow I specifically decided to work on was Ron's off-side leg shot. It's a simple shot off a wavy on-side head fake. I landed it twice.

WORKOUTS
I've been getting to the gym. What I've been doing there is simple: my regular work--50 push-ups, 50 squats, century (in this case I use a heavy stainless steel bar and do 50 1/2 combos with each arm in the mirror)--plus some yoga, and some dumbell work. That's it. No barbells, no weight machines, no heavy lifting. I did get on the treadmill the other day, just to get my steps up.

FIGHTING
Ah! Iron Bog! One of my best days in awhile.

Whether or not to use the A Frame or the high closed guard, or even the high open guard, was incidental. Count Gemini taught that you can use the high open guard when you are out of range, but as you get into range you should close to either an A Frame or a high closed guard, then at close range always be in a high closed guard. But the movement between them is fluid and without attitude, just like your steps. This is how I approached all my fights.

I fought Quintus first, as a warm up. I mostly fought him at medium range and used a high closed guard, looking over the top of my shield, but also an A Frame. I went in without a plan and tried not to care. I took his leg several times and he killed me once.

The reason I'd gone down to Iron Bog was to fight Ron. I fought him next. We only had two fights, fairly long, but I won them both. They were great fights. In the first fight I took his leg (maybe with his leg shot, maybe with an upsilon leg fake, I can't remember) and then, after a time, beat him with an arm and body fake that went left, then right, then struck straight down the middle. I was almost out of range, so I slipped inside his sword block and struck him in the chest. In our second fight he took my leg really easily with his off-side leg shot, but my defense was very good. I threw a wavy rising snap and shifted my weight, hitting him in the face--a shot that was pure Houghton. He was impressed. He said I was nowhere near so predictable as I had been two weeks ago.

Next I fought Gavin (Dave Goldstein). Those were really good fights, but Gavin uses a fairly small center-grip heater shield, which is pretty easy to move around. I just worked on controlling range and moving his shield around with combos, creating openings. We double-killed a couple of times, and he took my arm twice. He also short sticked me REALLY HARD in one of our double kills--hardest blow I've taken in awhile (love my new helmet!). My best strike on him was a hook/thrust to the body.

Next I fought Bill McCrimmon). Our first fight I totally channeled Radnor--High open form, strive for height, wavy the sword around behind my head, fakes from long range, option shots, etc. I took his leg with an upsilon leg strike and then killed him with a butterfly (but Gendy's version, not Radnor's). Our other fights I was a bit closer and tightened my defense up. I beat him 3 to 2 at that point.

I wanted to fight Mord and Harold as well, but they both were beat up and got out of armor, so I fought Harold's squire Matt. He's gone to a center-grip kite and more of a VDK style (good choice for him. I made that work for awhile and only gave it up because the center grip kite was giving me tennis elbow). unfortunately, hes really really wild. His first couple blows are ok, but then he starts to stick his shield too far out in front of him and move around behind it, and all sorts of angles open up.

For the end of the day I got in a polearm fight. I borrowed Harold's light 6 foot glaive, and the guy I fought (I'm sorry, I forget his name) was using a seven footer. Oddly, the thing that usually work best for me--opposed thumbs and swim moves in close--wasn't working and caused the two losses I took. But everything else was working. I wound over the top of his pole and cut him. When he switched to a left hand grip, I faked high to his right and cut his left hip. I shortened my grip and got him with both thrusts and shoulder cuts. I beat his glaive aside and came over the top of it. Then I used my money-shot, the fake face thrust, circle disengage as a leg fake, then real face thrust with a step. That worked too.

My big problem is the same--A-Frame vs high closed form, tight defense with few offensive options vs more open defense with more options, counter punching versus attacking--in other words, everything. Oh yeah, and (possibly due to the soreness I've been having in my back, which flared up in one fight) I've been doing the old-man fighter things of squaring up to rain blows down on my opponent, which cost me my arm twice, my off-side leg at least once, and my ribs a time or two. Really, I think that accounted for all of my losses, come to think of it. But not worrying about any of that stuff--which is always the est place to be mentally--was what worked.

It is 45 days until Crown Tourney. My next time in armor will be this Saturday at Mudthaw.

BIRKA! 2017

WORKOUTS
Still the same. I'm on day 24 of my century: 100 strikes on the pell daily for 100 days. I'm back up to averaging 10,000 steps a day (last week was just over 70,000). Also, I'm still doing 50 push ups and 50 squats every day.

TECHNIQUE
Stay alive and fight fast.

FIGHTING
You've got to be careful at Birka. It can overwhelm you if you're not careful. It's easy to take it too far, lose track of how tired you are, and pass out from exhaustion.

I don't actually try to win Birka.

If you're unfamiliar, the tournament at A Market Day at Birka is a holmgang inspired "bear pit." There are ten "oxhides" -- 10'x10' squares, numbered, laid out in two rows of 5, the inside edges touching. Each fighter has a number taped to the right side of his or her helmet. One fighter starts on each oxhide and they feed fighters in to the oxhides constantly. If you step one foot off the oxhide you lose your leg. If you step both feet off you are dead. If you win, you stay in. Wounds are retained. If you lose you report to the MOL and give them your number and the number of the person who beat you. If there's a double kill both report to the MOL. The MOL and several assistants sit at a table recording losses and wins on laptops. You get one point for each fight, one point for each win (or two points for a win and one for a loss). Each fighter in a double kill gets one point. Once you have reported to the MOL you can get back in the line to fight again. It cycles through very fast. This goes on for three hours. There are a lot of fighters (124 this year). Total number of fights recorded was 3,091 (17 fights per minute). The people who win Birka (usually Sir Douglas Henry) have very short fights and almost never take a break. This year he fought 177 fights in the three hours. A few people had a higher winning percentage than he did, but didn't have as many fights.

I pop my hat every three times I die, sit down, and drink water.

My goal for Birka was simple: have at least one run of ten fights (which means 9 straight victories). In fact, I had the best Birka I've ever had: 10th place, 85 fights, 68 wins, 14 losses, 3 double kills, for an 80% win rate. I had a run of 15 and another of 13. Only once did I walk in and lose my first fight. Only once did I lose my second fight.

I won maybe 5 of my fights by using the space. I realized that I was starting too close to the edge of the matt, while my opponents were rushing in to take over the center. So I started closer to the center. I managed to hold my ground against three polearm fighters and maneuver them into stepping out (without pushing--no bull rushes allowed). Of course, with 68 fights, I can't remember most of them, but I do remember a few things.

I killed one guy with the same technique I'd killed Bill with at Iron Bog last week: Double strike to the leg, then another, then a leg blow followed by a rising snap. Rule of three.

A-Frame kept me alive but was taking too long. I fought a lot of Bellatrix style because, win or lose, I wanted the fights to go quickly.

I kept seeing the same three polearm fighters from Canada over and over and over again.

A fighter from Trimaris threw a hook/thrust at me. I dodged it, but it was the first time I'd ever seen anybody but me use that technique .

Most of my kills were simple snaps from a hanging guard.

People were ignoring my leg shots.

I killed Pelandreas twice (at least), once with a technique similar to the one I taught at Iron Bog last week. I engaged his sword with mine as I closed, squared up and pressed. Then I side-stepped to my right and threw a snap a la Bellatrix. Duke Kenrick looked at me and said "you're really sharp today."

I killed Donnan twice, because he couldn't back up.

I killed Avaldr.

I lost to Doug once, then killed him.

I killed Willy with a hook/wrap.

I killed Arne.

I am pretty sure I killed Zippy.

I killed Herjolf, a big tall lefty knight from Northshield who was Lars' squire (so in our lineage).

My worst loss was to Cullyn. I was just too tired to do what it would have taken.

Here is the best part: I was the last man standing. As it came down to it, after they'd closed off the line and everybody had fed in, they started to consolidate the fields. I had to beat Arne, then Doug, then another fighter, then I was the last one left. I never in my life thought I would be the last man standing at Birka.

The results are located at http://www.northernarmy.org/results/market-day-at-birka/market-day-at-birka-2017 . Be sure to look at "expanded results by fighter."

It's always a good idea to take a week off after Birka. I'm still sore.

There are 93 days until Crown Tournament. My next time in armor will likely be next Thursday.

War of the Roses

OMG IT'S HOT!!

I love War of the Roses. It's a nice, pleasant event. The first good camping event of the year, good fighting, fun tourneys.

This year, Hot.

I had planned to play around, work with my man at arms Patrick, and maybe fight in the Tournament of Roses on Sunday. Plans didn't work out due to a shot I took to the back of the head.

TECHNIQUE
I was using my light sword without a thrusting tip. The big draw on Saturday was the great-weapon's tournament. I really only have two primary techniques with a  great weapon--thumbs aligned and thumbs opposed. I can play the oarsman style, but I don't think it works that often.

WORKOUTS
I've been getting between 70,000 and 85,000 steps every week, and 50 push ups a day. Nothing has changed.

FIGHTING
I only fought in two of the battles because, in one of them, I took a pole arm to the back of the head. That was fun. I was engaged with Mathias and then BAM! I didn't even see who threw the shot. It hurt my neck and might have given me a concussion. I say "might have" because I didn't feel any of the symptoms I felt when I had what my doctor called a "mild concussion" three years ago--no nausea, no dizziness, I had had a slight headache before I fought, but that was probably a combination of the heat and the bus trip up to Albany. I was slightly stunned for a moment, and felt odd. Just odd enough to say "in 95 degree muggy heat I don't want to fight anymore."  I marshaled and hung out the rest of the day. I stayed off site and did not return on Sunday because it was even hotter.

My few sword and shield fights were fun, but nothing to really write about. They were warm up / pick up fights, and I was just getting my joints moving.

I did have lots of good pole arm fun. I fought three authorization bouts, then in the tournament. The auth bouts convinced me that I should fight thumbs aligned, which is what I usually do against other pole arms. My reactions were at least good, which is all you can test in against new fighters. I won my first bout against a great sword fighter. He took my leg with a thrust, then I took his arm and killed him. My second fight was against a shorter fighter who just nailed me with a thrust from below after a brief exchange. It was a great shot.

Nothing else to report, really.

There are 57 days until Pennsic. My next time in armor will be Sunday at Sir Gui's Greatsword Dance Party.  

Ostgardr Heavy and Rapier Practice Tourney

Small tourneys, what do you do?

I am a big fan of practice tourneys. At BART practice, back in the early 80s, use them to help cure tourney choke. The Argent Angels host of the Crapaud, a monthly tourney. This week's will be the 242nd (and they've never missed a month). In Ostgardr we held a tournament called the Beau Geste tournament. We stopped doing them regularly a while ago, but we still try to hold them now and then. 

If the turn out is small--3-7--you need to find a way to increase the number of fights. 7-12 a round robin is fine, by the time you hit 16 you should run a double elimination.  

I hosted a practice tourney for both heavy and rapier on Sunday at Sword Class NYC, the combination Kendo dojo and HEMA school in Harlem. We had 5 heavy fighters and 3 rapier fighters (two of us were doing double duty). We held a sort of round robin for both lists. Everybody had to fight everybody three times, and we tallied total number of victories.

WORKOUTS

Just 50 push ups and 10,000 steps a day. I've done some odd workouts of squats and Dumbbells I'm designing a new workout program for the summer (4 days a week for a month I will have access to one of the best gyms in the city, plus I will have a 32 mile round trip bicycle commute. I will do one or the other. 

TECHNIQUE

I fought all but one sword and shield fight in a high closed form, with my sword slightly forward of my shield, a la Prince Brian. I used the light sword without a thrusting tip. I need to be wary of exposing my arm in that form.  I was concentrating on fast counter punches and double strikes. 

FIGHTING

As the only knight, I fought but not for the prize. In three of my rounds I used sword and shield and in the fourth I fought single sword. The other fighters were Sable, Ervald, Samale, and Ronan. 

The winner of the rapier prize was Ronan, and of the heavy prize, Ervald.

The prize for each was a jelly donut. 

It is 64 days until Pennsic. My next time in armor will be Saturday at War of the Roses.   

Crown Tournament #94, East Kingdom Spring Crown, Quebec

So this crown was not a success fighting wise, but I learned a lot about myself. It reinforced some things that I already knew, and it was a lot of fun.

First the negative: I was way under prepared. Due primarily to injuries I had not fought nearly enough between Birka and Crown. This is part of being 52 instead of 22, and you just have to manage it. Coming into this crown I felt unfinished--that's the only way I can describe it--like Edward Scissor Hands. That seems odd after 37 years of fighting, but I have been trying to put some things together in my style, and I've not quite done so. Alfred says that I'm making incremental changes and I need to start making wholesale changes (he's talking about taking a more zen approach). Maybe, but I really just need to do a few things right.

I tried a lot of other prep to get mentally ready. I worked out with weights and Indian clubs. I repaired all my armor, getting t those things (my shoulders, for instance) that I'd been putting off. I repaired my shield, made a new sword, and put the basket hilt on my old (slightly shorter and lighter) one. The drive up to Quebec flew by. I felt good. None of that helps with a lack of helmet time.

In my first loss (my third fight) my chin strap blew out. We were in pool play and had been admonished not to slow the pools down. I rushed around like a decapitated chicken trying to get it fixed. I couldn't get it riveted so gave that up after three tries and fixed it with p-cord (what Flieg calls "soft rivets").  I lost my first fight back in the pool and was out of sorts the rest of the day.

All day long I was tentative. I was trying not to lose. I had too much fear. I was not aggressive--except in my fight with Ryo (more on that later). I was told that there were two face thrusts that looked good on me in two different fights. Neither had felt like they had any positive force (my definition of that is that, while I'm not rocked by it, it has to push my helmet back into my gorget), and my opponents insisted they were satisfied with them. The one face thrust I did die to, in pool play, was just what I am looking for--stiff enough to bottom my helmet out, not "hard". I did start worrying, however, about whether or not my chin strap repair made thrusts somehow feel different. Regardless, after I was told that, I lost my next two fights and was out of the lists.

Randal and I had a long talk after the lists and he crystallized into words what I was feeling. My plan recently, not just for this list, but for my fighting in general, has been to simplify everything. Don't throw a lot of fakes or molinees, don't go for as much fancy foot work. Use that stuff when an opening presents itself, but concentrate on counter punching with snaps and off-side heads, and working the angles with wraps, off sides, and body shots. React more than you act. In the words of Duke Radnor, "let your opponent tell you how he wants to die." That is NOT what I was doing this crown. In this crown I was fighting like it was practice. I was trying everything. This is also why I lost to Arne at Mudthaw. I had something that I knew was going to work, but decided to try something else then go back to that. As Randy put it, I was cycling through techniques--"ok--that didn't work, lets try this; this almost worked, so come back to it." Randy said he heard me say at one point (and I did) "No, if I do that you'll just take my arm," meaning I was keeping up a running dialogue with myself about what I was doing, instead of just doing it. He saw that, saw a hole in one of my techniques, and simply waited for me to cycle back around to it, then took my leg. I was predictable--and my strength is usually that I am NEVER predictable. I need to do what I had planned to do all along--just stick to a couple of techniques until they work, and only add to them if an opening presents itself.

I was not fighting like myself.

One last thing. Readers of this blog will know that I have been struggling with the advantages and disadvantages of three wards--the High closed form, and the High open form and the A frame.The High Open Form is the classic Bellatrix style. It's how I was trained, and fought for 25 years, and won my crown and coronet. It is allows for the strongest and most creative offense, though slightly slower. The High closed form brings the sword forward to guard the head. It presents the fastest counter punches, but it's susceptible to wraps.  The A frame is a variation on the high closed form, and it's how I've been winning fights lately--it's very defensive. Instead of looking over the top of the shield you look past the front edge of my shield and use my sword to guard my right side--but it has almost no offense, and ti doesn't allow me to do the thing I want to do most right now--a counter punch snap or off-side body, and it's off-side head is just a touch slow. Most of the fights I've lost recently have been because I was either transitioning from one ward to the other, or because I was in the A frame and had drifted out of position, or because I was using the High open form. To be specific, nearly all my losses come on the right-side edge of my shield. I lost to off-side head shots in pool play. Ivan and Brion took my sword arm. So did Arne at Mudthaw. Tiberus knocked me out with a molinee saber cut. Randal took my *right leg with a back hand. I lost one fight to a fast inside thrust. At crown last fall, Simon beat me with thrusts to the inside of my shield (and almost got me with one on Saturday). The crown before that I was beaten by Ivan (leftie, right side of my shield) and Dimitri took my right leg when I did the foot stomp fake. Conclusion: I am squaring up way too much, exposing my right leg, drifting my shield to the left,  and not using my sword for defense as much as I need to be in the A Frame. Part of this is a natural resutl of using an A frame--the left side is cut off completely, but I'm obviously doing it wrong. Really, most of all, it's squaring up--one of the biggest sins in fighting. That cold just be me being sloppy, or it could be compensating for something physical like a bad back. Regardless, I need to work that out. Knowing that, and knowing how I felt mentally, and knowing what I was doing with technique, and that I was fighting like it was practice--all of which I figured out after the lists--actually makes me feel good about this Crown. And so does the fact that the winner--though certainly I'm no Duke Brion (only two or three were ever as good as he is)--is older than I am.

And the good: I beat two knights, Rhys and Simon, one of whom--Simon--was the only person I lost to in the round of sixteen last crown. I lost to Ivan, Brion, and Randal. Those, and my final loss to Tiberius, were all great fights. I was actually fighting very well. I had a lot of fun and I liked the outcome of the lists.

Oh, the site was at an incredible medieval village in Quebec. One of the best sites I've ever seen.

Here is some video from a French news crew showing me against Reynaud in pool play. 

Long live Prince Brion and Princess Anna!

It is 87 days until Pennsic. My next time in armor will probably be this Thursday at Wantagh practice.

Training and teaching

Crown tournament is just over a week away, both my main and a back up transportation options have fallen apart. Thankfully, next week is spring break, and I know I can get up to Canada if I have a week to get there. I am also not at all where I want to be. My ribs have not fully healed from Mudthaw, The inflammation in my wrist has flared up, and I have about 6 pounds heavier than I would like to be. I feel very broken. Worst of all, I have not fought as much as I wanted to at this point. After MudThaw I took two weeks off to rest my ribs, fought in a great practice in Hawthorne, but my rib pain flared up, so I have not fought this week, and unless I fight at daffodils on Sunday, I won't have fought this week. But nothing I do at this point can make me any better. Training for crown has to happen eight weeks out, not one week out.

I did walk 88,000 steps last week and fight, and I've walked 75,000 steps so far this week, and lifted, and done yoga, and some kata with the Indian clubs, so I havenot been a complete slug.

Plus, Monday night was our first outdoor practice of the season. I ran the practice with two new fighters and one experienced fighter. It was a really good practice. 

Nobody was going to get a lot out of just fighting. And, as is well known, I like to train with slow work and drills and out of armor as much as I do fighting. So, that's what we did. 

Start with some fighting, because everybody wants to fight.

Three minutes of slow work for each pairing. Rest.

Several minutes of blocking and striking drills. Tripple taps blocked with the shield, combinations blocking shield side with shield and sword side with sword. 

Specific work on an A-frame Defense. 

More open fighting. 

Work out of armor on things that need to be corrected (in this case hip mechanics and footwork). 

That's how to run a practice. 

It's nine days (barely) to Crown. My next time in armor will be there. 

Hawthorne 4/14

Hawthorne 4/14

OW!!!!! 

That's really all I have to say. I've bee resting since Mudthaw and healing my ribs. Probably should have rested more. 

I did shave down the handle of MYS sword, which helped A LOT! My knuckle still hurt from Mudthaw. However, I'm still having power generation problems with this light stick, to legs but also to off-side face shots. Must drive those home.

My ribs are still injured. It's inhibiting my movement, especially shield work, and it's tiring me out. Didn't think it would still be this bad. 

WORKOUT

I did a good dumbbell and clubs workout last week, but the ribs really hurt, so it's just been push ups and walking. 

TECHNIQUE

Honestly, I just want to work on my defense and saber cuts, but that's easier said than done. 

FIGHTING

Arne: 

He's fighting goofy foot and it's working for him.  Still blocking deep with the leg. He won three and took my arm. I won three. I got him with a classic hook snap, a hook thrust on our knees. And a simple sabre cut when I go position on him. The big thing was, in my a frame, he was taking my arm. Knuckles up! 

Temple

Worked slow on him. Got him all but one time. Everything working. 

Guy Le Strange

Destroyed me! I knew what I was getting, a Bellatrix two-sword style but left handed. He killed me with left handed wraps every time. I did get his leg once. My ribs are really giving me trouble. I may need to stop. 

Sir Tash from Atlantia

He was using an 18" buckler. Great style--weak side forward, sabre cuts, nice fake. I won 5 of 6. My leg shots were on. Got him once with a thrust and the rat with cuts. My best moment was our last fight when I went all Horic on him: took his leg, threw a shot to engage his sword, jumped (actually slid) in and flurried, both front edge and back edge. Got him in the ribs. 

Ryo

He won our first with a thunderous wrap. His right hand thrust is incredible and got me at least twice. I got him at range twice, but I did best when closed hard and started throwing wraps. He can't fight in that well. 

Brenan

He was fighting with Tanaka's center grip. As usual, if I squared he'd take my leg. Great fights! I got him with a hook thrust, wraps, and a butterfly. (!!) best of all I got him with the push button technique. I took his leg, through and off side head that I pulled through instead of rebounding, then with the leading corner of my shield, I punched the lower leading edge of his shield, a point near the end of a diagonal line drawn from the back corner of his shield through the boss. (It works on strapped shields too). Then I thrust on side yo his face. 

It is 15 days until crown. With these ribs, I may not be in armor until then. 

AEdult Swim Fighter Practice 2-20-16

AEdult  Swim Fighter Practice

Days don’t get much more awesome.

When Tim announced the AEdult Swim fight practice it was supposed to be a nice regional get together. The Aethelmarc fighters, a few Easterners and Atlantians—no big deal. But then Dukes from Ansteora and Artemesia got involved, and it just snowballed. It was one of the best weekends of fighting I’ve ever experienced. There was no war, no prize, nothing but the stick mattered.  It was the Pennsic pickup field with no other distractions. That’s hard to beat.

Until last week I wasn’t sure I’d be able to attend. I had a deadline coming up, but I got my manuscript in early and was able to go. I rode out with Darrek and Cat from Midland Vale, and I rode back with Ulfr from An Tir. Both trips were a joy.

Years ago I used to journal my fights. I’d take a marbled notebook to practice with me and write down what I’d done in each set of bouts. That came to be replaced with this blog, but I don’t always write this blog right away, and I’d write different things. Journaling had been lost. At Birka I dictated a journal into my phone each time I took a break, and for this practice I bought a marbled notebook, and journaled each set once again.  A good thing, too.

The overview is like this: in an old shoe factor in Milton PA, there were 269 authorized fighters, about 220 of whom were heavies. The second day was smaller, but another 20 showed up who weren’t there on Saturday. Some people got there at 8 AM and put armor on, and fighting went till 5:00. I spent seven hours in armor on Saturday and 4.5 or 5 on Sunday. I fought 20 people on Saturday, 10 on Sunday, plus Auzer (who was going for a number and was short so I gave him a bout—I had planned not to fight any Easterners, but he was an exception). I think I fought 7 Dukes, but I was relying on others sometimes to identify them, so I might have been wrong (I thought a couple guys were there who weren’t).  I had pulled out an old, light stick that had been abandoned with the thrusting tip broke off. I gave it a new tip and used it till it was a broom. Here is how my weekend went according to my journal:

1.) I warmed up with an unknown Aethelmarc unbelted with a Scutum. I took his leg a lot. He got me twice (I think). I killed him several times. I feel loose.

2.) Byron, Crown Prince of Aethlemarc:  I fought him really well. He’s fast. Opens with a straight thrust from an A-frame.  Likes a vertical cut as well. Squares up too often and moves his shield WAY too much. Fights I won were with a top-edge hook (once combined with a wavy rising snap).

3.) I fought an unbelted fighter named Guilbert from the Midrealm. He uses the classic Midrealm center grip tear drop. He’s short. He got me with an off-side head once, and a slot once. I killed him with stutter-wraps (double pump fake to freeze them then wrap), and with butterflies (rising snap that turns into an off side body shot), both standing and when he was on his knees. I might be squaring up too much.

4.) Duke Sean, Artemesia.  OMG!!! Sean was one of the main reasons I wanted to come out. I’ve known him since AS 20, when he was about 14 or 15. He’s one of the best fighters I know, and he fights very much like I do, or at least like I used to, with small misdirection fakes and molinees to freeze his opponent. He was top of my dance card, and I paid in pain! Our first three fights he kicked my ass like I was a newbie. I was tense and wound up, and I was biting on what Ron calls “the puppet show,” the way he moves his hand to distract you. It’s something I do myself, and I was waiting for it, and then when he did it I lasered in on it—like he wants me to—and he plowed my leg, then threw one of the slickest off-side body shots EVER. He either turned it down a gear or I got focused, because after our first three fights I won the next three. With us both legged I used a hidden snap (hiding my hand behind the forward corner of my shield and throwing a snap); once when he was legged I used a hook-thrust; then I killed him with a hidden snap while we were both standing.

5.) Duke Lachlin, Ansteora: Opposite of Sean, in that he didn’t force me into anything. His technique is what I use against newbies—from an A-Frame or High Closed guard throw quick snaps or off-side headshots as soon as their sword is engaged. He likes to tap your sword before anything else, like Sebastian van Baden’s old “bug feelers” technique, so he knows where it is and can control it. It was embarrassing! I killed him with a hook/thrust and a hook wrap (the best discovery of the day may have been finding my hook wrap, which I probably haven’t thrown for 20 years or more but was really effective this weekend). He uses a big-ass scutum and I never took his leg. He hits light but clean, and I took what he was throwing. He can plow you when he wants to.

6.) Next I fought Meg, a new fighter from Aethelmarc. She was super enthusiastic and bouncy. She uses a center grip shield and is a sucker for an off-side head. She took my arm and then, for some unknown reason,  I fell into Brian Taragon’s stance, where the sword is held almost verticle in front of the shield. It worked on here very well. Got me tattooed later in the day.

7.)  I fought three fights against an unbelted fighter from Aethelmarc named UlrichI was lousy! Getting tired. Arm got hit hard that last set, and it’s a bit tight. I was lazy and I missed him, torqueing my wrist all to hell.  Probably killed him once out of the three.

8.) Duke Vik from An Tir, now Avacal. He’s a tall big Viking with a scutum. Favors a weak-high-closed from. (sword foot forward, sword forward, high guard). I took his leg and then killed him with a Gendy butterfly (step deep and fake the wrap then, like the butter fly, bring the tip over and around, hitting him in front center body or face). Our second fight he took my leg and killed me. Our third fight we double killed after he took my leg.

9.) Duke Cuan, Atlantia  These were great fights!! He has a very relaxed style with a lot of out-front sword work, like Brian. He was cheating a weak closed stance to increase his range, but I was hitting his leg fairly regularly, usually with a high fake, low cut. What I learned is RELAX!! When I was fighting a targeting game from range, like he was, relaxed and precise, I was winning: when I tried to press him I lost. As with all my fights I was alternating guards: A Frame, High closed form, high open Bellatrix style. High closed form was the best against him.

10.) Lothar, and unbelted from Aethelmarc. I’m getting tired and lazy again. Cuan took a lot out of me. I’m looking too much for those counter punch off-side timing shots like Cuan and Lachlin throw, but my technique is bad. Hand below the edge of my opponent’s shield. Bad. That’s the fatigue.

LUNCH BREAK!

Already my arms are lead…. I’m really tired….. I should have shucked my vambraces for my break, as I did my leg harness… It’s nice outside… warm… my goal is ten more fighters, six of them knights.

11.) Sir Steiner, Ealdomere. I’m tired. I’m sloppy.  He landed a thrust that had no positive force on it because I was throwing my head back. We talked about it. Everything is cool (NOBODY has had calibration problems today with anybody as far as I can tell: it’s great when it’s all for fun! ) He uses a small center grip scutum and ducks a lot. He creamed my arm, the unarmored upper forearm, inside the elbow cop. I killed him once, I think (?). My neck is stiffening up.

12.) Duke Aaron, Ealdomere. I’ve fought him before, beat him once in a tourney at Pennsic He’s a lefty with a small center grip. He beat me good! He’s a counterpuncher, great movement, all over me forcing me to move where he wanted me to go. I could take him when I got his leg.  He hit my wrist and it’s really hurting now.

13.) Signey, unbelted fighter from Atlantia. She is so small there is almost no target. Gets underneath your defense and chews on your legs. She has a great body thrust. I tied myself up a few times trying to find her.  Once I found the off-side head I could hit it. 

14.) Sir Amos—Atlantia (the Monk). I’ve long admired his kit and the way he approaches fighting. I’ve seen him at Pennsic but never crossed swords with him before. They were great fights. He’s got a wicked off-side that took my arm a few times. His cross hilted sword has great balance and impact even with short cuts. I tried to duplicate his off side and couldn’t’. Don’t fight a high open style against him, he will eat up your off side body and head. 

15.) Tearnach (sp) a leftie squire from Aethelmarc. I’m tired and sloppy. My reactions are a beat slow. He is tough but venerable. There’s nothing fancy—an off side head and leg shot. Tempo changes worked well against him—he couldn’t keep up. He comes in too hard and is vulnerable to deep wraps. My arm aches. 

16.) Sir Magnus, Drachenvald. He uses a sword and ax, trying to set up the body thrust and the face punch, both of which he got. The off-side body shot worked when he closed. Using a Bellatrix style worked against him. My last fight I looked like a FOOL! He spun on me and I took his ax-arm. Then I stopped and looked at him. He looked at me, then he back handed me in the face. It was beautiful. Ulfr laughed. 

17.) Duke Ulfr, An Tir. I always like fighting Ulfr. It’s a real challenge. I won our first fight, then he had me probably two wins for every one I got. He spun on me and plowed my arm. Ow. I killed him with a Gendy butter fly as well (good An Tir technique that). I took his arm a couple of times with off side shots. They were great fights. 

18.) Sir Ian from Aethelmarc: He’s tall with a  center grip heater. He’s got a strong first thrust but ties himself up with it. I took his leg twice and killed him both times. I’m so tired I’m reverting to high open form a la Jade or BoB, weight forward. It looks swell. It’s not planned—it’s just where I feel most comfortable when I’m tired. I go back to my roots. 

19.) Sir Wynfriend (sp) from the Midrealm. He uses a small center grip and he’s about my height. Stands with a high A-frame but has a quick rotation leg block.  Worked out of an A-frame for most of our sets. I got him coming forward once, we were probably even overall. 

20.) Bryce. Great way to end the day, a HARD hitting Atlantian! He is so good! Our first fight he threw his bread and butter—step and a vertical off side. I was out of position and it hit me right on my gorget, the lobster tail part over my cervical vertebra, so hard I felt it in my finger tips. I’ve been hit like that before. My entire fighting career my gorget (not my helm or my cup or my gauntlets) has been the piece of armor I most care about. My biggest fear is a broken neck. I’m glad I cared, because that was a shot! I hate to think about taking it without good armor. We probably traded even. I certainly wans’t up on hi. High thrusts worked best—once off a pump fake. I also taught him the hook-thrust. A great way to end my day!!

DAY TWO

A much smaller field, but everybody is also really tired. My arm ached and my wrist, which got hit yesterday, felt a bit inflamed. I threw away the sword I had been using and taped up a stick I’d gotten from William McCrimmon a few months ago. It’s planed and extremely light, and because it was designed for a shorter basket hilt, had a very short blade once I taped it to my Baldur hilt. That’s ok because (a) It gave me a really fast counter-punch snap, a technique I’m trying to build upon and (b) I’m not sure I could have thrown a good snap with anything heavier.

On that straight quick snap, which is also called a molinee snap by some people (it's the saber cut to 5), I had a good conversation with Roger Stockton about the difference between people who learn lots and lots of techniques and those who have just two or three blows. Roger was squired to Duke Andreas die Eisfalke, putting him (like me) in Alfrik’s line. Ice really has two shots—a quick nap and an off-side leg. He reminds me a lot of Duke Christian du Glaive. I come from the Western tradition of learning lots and lots and lots of different techniques, fakes, hooks, timing blows, combinations, etc. None of that served me well when I moved to the east, because the style of fighting we do here is based on a tight defense using a big shield—one that doesn’t get moved around by all those fakes and combinations. Hooks were still ok. My fighting over the last few years has been built on narrowing my techniques (though you couldn’t tell by the way I was fighting this weekend), and trying to fight more like Christian and Andreas. I’ve never beena  counter-puncher, I never worked a lot with Sagan, who was the teacher of that style in the West, so it’s a big transition for me. It is also what I was trying to do on Sunday. 

1.) Sir Pelandreas from Tir Mara: I was avoiding Easterners, but I never see the Canadians so I broke my “no Easterners” rule. He fights with a  medium-sized round shield and a low-closed form (holding his shield low and his sword vertical above it). I killed him with a hook-wrap. Having trouble getting my shots to count with the light stick. A longer sword would open him up to a leg shot. My wrist hurts enough that I’m not sure I can throw a snap. Using Bellatrix style tired me out. Pace yourself.  

2.) Duke Tim: Ow! My bruised leg! Ow! My tender wrist! Tim and I had a great set. I killed him with a stutter wrap and with a hook-thrust. My high-closed form worked best. The whippy stick robbed me of two kills. Best win for me: he legged me and I got him with Houghton’s “sit down!” shot. 

3.) James, unbelted from Atlantia: Tall, experienced, but tired. Hook wrap and stutter wrap killed him. Use hook-wraps more. Work on targeting. On butterfly, drive the shot forward instead of pulling it down. Missed twice on high thrusts because the stick was short. Took his leg with both a double tap and an upsilon (a rising snap that turns into a short leg cut). 

4.) Sir Cunwyn (sp) Aethelmarc. She hits light on some shots but has a good off side. Wraps are useful against her. The upsilon leg shot and Martin the Temperate leg shot (A hidden shot that starts with the elbow straight out and sword on the shoulder, knuckles down) worked against her. Killed her with a Gendy butterfly. 

5.) Count Roger Stockton: I did very well against him. Landed three blows that were light—drive the skinny stick more. Got him with Darius tap-thrust (tap the top of the shield then thrust to the face). He is floating his defense forward as he moves, opening up both the wrap and the off-side head/face shot. Took his leg twice. We were about even. He had a good observation: I’m switching from offense to defense, so when I am defending I lock up and am no threat, and when I’m on offense my defense floats out, creating openings. 

6.) Sir Finn, Aethelmarc: His main attack is an off-side molinee, but he often directs it to an off-side head: tricksy. When I went into a high open Bellatrix form late in our set it worked, otherwise I was tight. Best attack is timing the off-side head to his snap or double tap the off-side head. Got his arm through the scoop in his hoplite shield, a planned technique I was very proud of. 

7.) Oswin from Atlantia: Great lesson in patience and counter-punching. Fights in a high-weak A-frame. Every time he throws a leg he’s open to an on-side snap, and every time he throws an off-side he’s open to an off-side head shot, so the high-closed form worked best. I did that “tank” thing that Duke Christian used to do. Just slowly walk forward in a high closed form an throw a snap whenever he moved. That worked. 

8.) Duke Cygnus from Aethelmarc: Took me apart! Very physical fight. Pretty big scutum but lots of movement. As with Oswin, walking up in high-closed form won the day. He goes wide—big leg shot, deep off-side, deep wrap, pretty square. Better movement backward might break his defense. Took my arm twice. Ulfr has a good observation. He opens appears open, but he moves that scutum through his defensive zones then moves behind it, making him much harder to kill than you think he will be. 

9.) Edward (Nug) from Aethelmarc. Fights in a kettle hat. Big guy. Throws the best bull shit shot I’ve seen in years—a face thrust that runs behind his head, using the brim of his kettle hat as a guide. He’s a sucker for a hook-wrap. 

10.) Sir Ragnar from Atlantia: He won our first bout and our last, I won the rest. His strong hand is his left. Throws a classic head/leg combo very well. Beat me with that our first fight. The second bout I took his leg by jamming his swords, then I wrapped him. Our third bout I got him with a face thrust as he dodged right. Our fourth bout got him with a molinee cut to the face as he took my arm. Our fifth bout I took his leg and thrust to the body. Our sixth bout I got him with a  slot. Our 7^th bout I threw a floating thrust, one that comes from the hip and accompanies a circling step. He dodged it and threw a leg/head that I walked right into. Hit me so hard I handed him my lunch money.    

Reading this, it sounds like I lost a lot more than I did, because I’m mostly concentrating on what I did wrong. I beat all the unbelted fighters and most of the knights I faced. I traded even with some of the Dukes and was only really outclassed by Lachlin and maybe Sean. I’m sure I was plus 15 or 20% for the day.

The best things I found were my hook-thrust and my counter-punch molinee/snap (the saber cut). The best thing I practiced was patience. This was a very good practice for that.

Here’ some video that Cat Woody took of me fighting Duke Vik:

Over all, the great thing about this was that it really speaks well for the SCA and its future. Seriously: here were almost three hundred fighters, most of the heavies, meeting together just for the love of fighting—no war points, no prizes, no crowns, just stick. It is the kind of thing we need a lot more of: not that that other stuff isn’t fun, but fighting for the love of fighting is what will keep this game going.

It is 66 days until Crown. My next time in armor will be at the Viceroy’s birthday tourney this Sunday.   

Training new fighters

 Ah I am so stiff and sore!

A constant theme of this blog is how best to train your fighters. I'm a student of Paul of Bellatrix, As are, in a way, we all, but he was not my first trainer. Paul's training method, which of course emphasizes his style, involves a lot of slow work and pell work and a bit of kata. Paul maintains that fighters should practice unarmored for a year before putting armor on. This is not the way and we normally train, and it's really hard to get people to commit to that. People are here because they want to fight, not because they want to do slow work. I was put into armor at my first fighter practice and thrown to the wolves (literally: my second opponent was Elrik Scapvarger--my first was Eichling von Arum, which, I contend, is why I was able to win a crown eventually). The other unbleted fighters at that first practice were Rolf the Relentless and my eventual knight, Alfrik. So it kind of worked. However, the proof was in the putting: everyone who actually trained with Paul and his training method was good the day they strapped on armor. Very good: after one year of slow work they were always equal to or better than fighters who had been in armor for three years. In other words, they packed three years of training into one by not putting on armor.

This week I got to work with several new fighters at two fighter practices. I also got helmet time, which was great. I did not get to fight against any knights, which sucks for me, but was good for the people around me.

WORKOUTS
After Birka I decided that it was time to get back into my routine of doing push-ups every day. I intellectually knew what it would be like to take six weeks off of everything, but I could not really know until I experienced it. It sucked! Now, part of my problem is that fighting in Birka is the closest thing we do to running a marathon, and I probably needed a lot more recovery time that I gave myself. When I started doing 50 push-ups a day two years ago, I just started doing 50 push-ups a day. It was a bit of a struggle but I worked into it quickly. On 1 February, deciding that the first was a good time to start a workout routine, I started doing 50 push-ups a day. I was weak. Really weak. The second day I tried this I ended up not being able to complete my last set of 10. I had to stop and start over again. In every way I am tighter, weaker, and more winded than I was before my surgery. Not doing anything for six weeks is awful. I don't recommend it. After a week I took a day off, and then dropped down to 20 to 30 push-ups most days, although I did do 50 this morning, and on on Saturday. I did not do any yesterday. I'm building up to March 1, when I can start doing 50 push-ups a day again.

Nonetheless this is been a pretty good week for workouts. I'm getting back into it. I've been doing push-ups and squats. I never did stop walking. At the gym Saturday I did treadmill, push-ups, some warm-up weights, and some straight up full body work taking a bar from the floor to a military press and back in sets of 10. Monday I did yoga, Indian clubs, some shadow work with the clubs, and my polearm kata. Sunday and Tuesday I fought.

TECHNIQUE
I was training people this week, and getting helmett time, not working on my own technique. The one thing I was truly concentrating on was edge work. I did not have a thrusting tip on the sword I used for most of my fights.

FIGHTING
ACHERON.

Counting myself, there were five people in armor. One of them, Raven  was brand-new.  I fought my usual style, sword and heater, mostly in A-frame, but also using the high open and high closed guards a bit. I had great fights with Auzer and Sam, I got to use interesting techniques, and I got helmet time.

Raven is a small thin girl who was in armor for the first time. I think she might have done a little bit of pell work in the past. I worked with her for about half an hour. I started out teaching her defense and doing slow work. I drilled her on several blocks. I taught her a proper stance.  I taught her three blows: onside head, off side head, and leg shot, and told her to limit herself to those. Then she went out and did slow work with another fighter as I watched. I would pause the fight and critique both of them as it went on. Then I let them fight two fights, just to get her used to swinging full speed and getting hit a bit. Her defense was very good for someone their first time in armor. after a rest break, I had them do Paul's offense /defense drill, where one fighter attacks, and one fighter defends, the defending fighter gets three blows only, and the fight is over once the third blow has been thrown. Gui worked with her on defending against left-handed fighters, and then after a rest break she did some light sparring with Sam.

This is not the way I would like to teach. I'd like to have a few days out of armor, doing slow work and drills, so someone can then work on it home for a few weeks, before putting someone in armor. But people crave the contact. They want to fight. So do I.

MIDDLETOWN
Gui and I have been wanting to get to the Middletown practice for a couple of years now to work with the unbelted fighters up there. We try to get around and do some training, especially where knights don't get to a lot. That practice is better than others, because at least one knight, Tanaka, who is one of the best trainers we have, gets up there on a regular basis.

That practice was excellent. It restored my faith in the future of fighting, and in the SCA.

There were 10 people in armor, and I am sorry but I don't remember most of their names. Two of them were brand-new, two of them were new at last hundred minutes war. There were two really good unbelted fighters, and Tanaka showed up. There was an equipment issue, in that for one group of three fighters they only had two helmets and two shields.

I worked with one of the brand-new fighters for quite a while. He had never done anything at all, not even pell work. He was using a Lucan style kite, so I taught him the Lucan stance and basic technique. Partially because that is such a strong defensive stance, he was pretty good right away. His biggest problem was starting blows too far forward and throwing low leg shots. Those are both easy to correct.

I began by teaching him the proper way to hold that shield. For those unfamiliar with it, it is a peaked kite, and you hold it with the peak guarding the left side of your helmet while looking past the front edge of the shield. This means you're using an A-frame. We discussed both the strong and of the weak stances – that is, shield foot forward and sword foot forward – and I explained to him why the weak stance is favored by most fighters who use that shield. As with Raven, I only discussed three blows with him. I showed him how to throw them and did some slow work with him. When he got into actual fighting, he was beginning to put those blows together in combinations. He was very good for a first-time fighter.

After some basic fun fighting (they are enamored of bear pits up there), I went back to training some of the newer fighters again. I discussed with them how to make and use pells (they all have back yards!) and pointed them to some videos they can use for pell work drills. Then I showed them my block/strike drills, which are a lot like those used in the Asgard school out of Trimaris.  After some more pick-up fights, we talked about footwork and I showed them my interpretation of the compass Rose. That discussion requires a lot more time, and video.

I did one thing that was probably not wise. For myself I mean. In order to teach people how to use the shields that they were using, I picked them up and used them myself. I don't know when the last time I used a Lucan kite was, maybe never: but I was totally slaying with it last night. Then, just for fun, I took Tanaka's small center grip heater into a fight against Hassan, the best unbelted fighter up there. I won all but one of our bouts. I was totally rocking it old-school: high open form, fakes and molinees, fancy footwork, long range sniping: total Bellatrix/Radnor stuff. That kind of fighting is the most fun I know. But I promised Jade and Lucan that I would stick with one shield type till I won another crown.

There was a lot of video shot of this practice, and Gui used a video coaching program that allows for frame by frame analysis. Some of that will be posted in the future.

It is 73 days until crown tournament. My next time in armor will be Saturday at Duke Timothy's adult swim fighter practice.

Birka!!!!

You know how you occasionally find a great stick of rattan? One that sticks really well and lasts a long time? Like vorpal rattan. I just retired one. I used the same sword nearly all last year. It took me through two tough Crowns and Pennsic. Yes, I was injured part of last year, but I was amazed at how many people were taking all of my shots from a year old sword. It's a bit frayed, and after the tourney I reverently cut the basket hilt off of it, and then threw it out. Thanks Death Tongue (all my swords are named Death Tongue). 

Birka, in case you don't know, is a three hour, ten field "holmgang" bear pit. You get a number and stand in line. You fight until you are killed or step out of the list. One poin for each fight, one for each win (or two for a win one for a loss). About 150 fighters compete, and they fight more than 3,000 fights. It's the toughest tourney in the Knowne World. Great place to kind of ease into things just coming off of surgery, because I csn drop out or drop back in at any time. I usually try to rest after five times through. 

So this year I kept a running journal. Every time I rested I dictated a bit on my fighting. Not quite live blogging, because I waited till now to post it. I hoped I'd remember more of my fights. No such luck. I had planned to just do some technique work, limit my self to one shot for a fee fights, that sort of thing. Ha! That went out the window as soon as I walk in (which was about ten minutes late because they laid on before court was over). 

FIGHTING

First rest break. My first six fights were Arn, Breeder, Thorson, Brian, Frithiker, and Doug. Not ego building. I beat Arn and Thorson, lost to Doug and Breeder, also Lost to Brian and Frithiker. On the one hand I'm not doing well. I haven't put together any runs. On the other hand, that's one hell of a tough list right there. My fight with Brian was particularly good, because I started out wounded in the hip, he went to his knees, but of course he could rise up. We fought good and long in my defense was good and it was a good flight.

Second rest break. I don't know how many times I went to the line this time, maybe three. However, I just put together my longest run. Nine victories. Including Sterling. But no knights. I don't think. A blur. Two of them I killed with wavy rising snaps. At least two I killed the top edge hooks, the same thing I killed Thorson with. That's the first time today I won more than one fight. 

Third rest break. I really can't remember who I've been fighting in this round. I think I went to the line four times, maybe it was five. I had a medium length run. it was kind of fun because I lost my trusting tip during the first fight. I haven't put it back on and don't intend to. I'm fighting fine without it. The added tip speed is helping right now. I taped it back on so often it was really weighing the sword down. I had a medium length run, and a very long run, longer then the one I had last round. I lost count. Once again old-school stuff like top edge hooks, figure eights, and hesitation wraps are what I'm winning with. Fatigue is what killed me this time around. I lost to a madu fighter I should've taken apart. But I just couldn't put anything together. Good round all in all.

Later, after a long rest. Legs are heavy. Arms are heavy. Sat down for a long time. Not dizzy just really fatigued. That kind of "I'm not sure I can walk anymore" fatigued. Feeling better now, but still moving like I'm trapped in quicksand. Now's the time to suck it up and put the hat back on.

Fourth rest break. Oh my God I'm tired. I just did four multifight runs, the last of two which were very long. I lost count. During that last run I managed to work my way entirely through the line, fighting the same person twice in the same run. That's one of the big goals for Birka. I wasn't tired for a long time. I was putting on a clinic on old-school sword work for a while. I got somebody with Ed's butterfly, stutter wraps, top edge hooks, but also just really quick double taps and rib wraps. Then I got a fight against a polearm guy that lasted forever. I won, but I could barely stand after that. Killed two more people, then I died. Don't ask me who killed me. I know that Ryo killed me one of my earlier runs but not this one. Great round, really tired!

OK, last time out. I'm done. I dropped out with 15 minutes to go. I was starting to put my helmet back on, and then I realized that I didn't want to be hit in the head anymore. I don't think I have a concussion, but Evaldr one shorted  me and it was kind of hard. My last loss was to a polearm fighter, I had been on my knees for a long run, which is a good accomplishment, I'm very proud of it. Anyway I took his leg and we wrestled a lot till he gave me a double tap in the face with his butt spike. It felt like my neck jammed a little bit. I took off my helm and, got some water, rested, I was still really really really fatigued, they called 15 minutes, and I started to put my hat back on and I said "wait a minute, I promised not to push myself. This is it. I'm done." 

So that was it. I managed to kill breeder during that last run. earlier I had killed Willy. He killed me in another round. I probably had one or two more victories over knights, but the only ones I can recall are Breeder, Thorson, and Willie, once each. Some other odd stuff: without the thrusting tip, I fought really oddly in the A-frame. That's weird, because a lot of people without thrusting tips use an a frame defense. But for me that thrust out of the a frame seems to set up a lot more than I realized. The high closed form is still not so good against the chivalry. That's how Evaldr was able to one shot me. Another knight one shot of me earlier in the day, but that was because my shield was in an A-frame position and my sword was in a high open position. My shoulder felt great all day, but now it's freaking killing me. This was a very good Birka for me. It was helmet time, it gave me a lot to think about, and boy did I do some good sword work. 

So I just checked my results. 19. At first I thought that was the points they were giving me, which seemed low, but it was my rank. I had 105 points, 60 fights, I won 45 and lost 15. I am shocked. I am shocked because I didn't think I fought that many fights, and I'm shocked because I placed 19th even though I was at court when they started, I dropped out 15 minutes before the end, and I was coming off surgery six weeks ago. An even 3 to 1 win to loss ratio seems fantastic to me. 

The winner was Doug, then Arn, then Breeder, which is how I started my day. 

Crown has not been scheduled. My next time in armor will probably be next Sunday.