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 

How to run a fighting practice

I taught two classes at Aedult Swim this year, one was called "Footwork" and the other was called "Structured Drills for Sword and Shield." What they actually were, were classes on how to run classes--not the meet once at Pennsic then go home and practice what you've learned if you can remember it classes, but how to run a weekly fighter practice.

Now, we rarely get to do this. I tried to do it when I was the provincial Knight Marshal, but most people aren't interested. The want to fight. For the most part, we don't teach in the SCA and we don't train in the SCA. Those who do (Duke Paul, Duke Sean, Duke Lucan, Viscount Wulfsagan, Duke Branos, the Trimarans at Duke U) are, even now, fifty years into the SCA, way ahead of everybody else.

Most of the stuff in this blog comes from my teacher, Duke Paul of Bellatrix, and detailed discussion of these ideas can be found at the Bellatrix Fighting School web page.

For most of us, the SCA teaches the way it always has--by the school of (literal) hard knocks. You put on armor, and you practice. Individual trainers may spend some time working with you on this or that shot, but mostly we train ourselves, on the pell, then we jump into the pool and fight. At first, as new fighters, we are trying to survive. Next, as we gain experience, we try to win every fight. Then, one of three things happen. In the first scenario, we go to practice and fight five-ten fights with an opponent. We try hard to win the first two, then we get lazy. We start fighting silly. We start trying stuff we have never practiced before. Or we fight five to ten fights with an opponent and try a new technique we are working on over and over again, as though the person is a moving pell. In the third scenario, we fight five to ten fights with someone, trying a different technique in every fight. The first of these is terrible. It teaches you bad habits. The second of these is better, as you are working on technique, and you can perfect your body mechanics, but that's all. After the first two fights your opponent knows what is coming and always blocks it. This has the additional downside that it's a waste of your opponent's time. Such an approach is usually best left to structured drills. The third approach is better. Work on a variety of techniques in each set and mix them up. It's often a good idea to limit the number of fights you have with each fighter (I usually cap it at either five or three when I'm training for a tourney).

More structured training is available. The SCA Fighter's Handbooke has a long article on how to teach and train, with some good ideas in it. Paul's website is a good source. Even more useful, in some ways, is his article in the Known World Handbook, where he talks about how to organize classes. That's what I was working on, particularly in class number two.

In the footwork class, I taught foot work drills that can be done out of armor and should be part of any class you teach, armored or unarmored. We worked on incressare and decressare (fencing footwork), walked in straight lines with toes on the ground, walked with a pavane step, a grapevine step, and a cha-cha. We worked on direction using a compass star. Then we did distance drills in a straight line. Finally we did distance work in the round, where the agent tries to advance on the patient agent, who tries always to keep his opponent in front of him.

In the armored class, I set out to teach, not the drills themselves, but how to run the class. The class wold normally start with some footwork drills, but we'd done that in the previous class, so I skipped it. We started out with simple sword blocking drills (like the saber parry drill, which looks like Heidelberg fencing), then sword and shield drills.  Next comes slow work. Then comes structured situational drills, where they were given a specific technique, like a blow and footwork combo, and they drilled it slowly with one another. Then I worked with each of them individually on target recognition. Finally we did some free fighting. Every practice should end in free fighting. We lined up, and everybody in line had to fight everybody else once.  There are lots of drills you can incorporate into this training.

The core to this idea is that fighter practice for newer fighters, and perhaps all unbelted fighters, should be run as a class, and that class should have the following components:

• Footwork Drills
• Weapon (and shield) drills
• Slow Work
• Situational drills
• Free Sparing

These techniques should be done with partners. If preferable, they should be of the same height. If there is a left handed fighter, some of the drills are a bit different, but the structure is the same. If there are two left handed fighters, don't have them drill with each other often (one in three classes is probably good) since most of the time they won't be facing another left handed fighter. 

A couple more points. 

• This article is about teaching not training. Training is a broader topic. It is more individual. It has a different purpose. It involves a lot of things that are a part, of but outside of, fighting -- strength, flexibility, aerobics, etc. 
• Advanced fighters need more training, less teaching. In armor, this is mostly done through fighting--in tourneys, free sparring, etc. Once of the reasons SCA fighter practice is usually just a bunch of free sparring is because this is what the advanced fighters need, so that's what they want to do, leaving few people to teach. 
• HOWEVER, advanced fighters need a trainer too. This is best done in small groups or individually. Now you are not learning techniques, you are perfecting them, which takes a lot of individual work. It was said back in the day that the best way to get really good was to learn from Paul for two or three years, then go train with Sagan. Paul would teach you what you needed to know, Sagan would make you good at it.
• Paul's method of teaching new fighters involves a lot of training before getting into armor. Some of the best fighters I've run into were people that worked with Paul just doing slow work and pell work for a year or more before they got into armor for the first time. (I was the first person ever to fight Paul's son Duke Stephen. Me, Njal, and Stephen were on our way home from a West/CAID war and we took a detour to Santa Cruz. We went out to the beach next to the railroad trestle, where they filmed The Lost Boys, and put Stephen into Njal's armor. He was still in high school, and had never fought heavy before--but He'd learned from his dad. He was as good at that moment as I was--at the time fighting in the upper rounds of Coronet, one of the better unbelted fighters in the principality. 
• Dance is the best way to learn footwork. It's also good for aerobics. 
• Most of your work is done without armor on. 

The classes at Aedult Swim went really well. While I hope the students got some practical drills out of them, what I really hope is that they got a new way to approach fighter practice. 

Happy New Year

Greetings fellow travelers.

I've never been a big fan of the new year. I don't like retrospectives, and I don't like resolutions. They remind me of the things that I haven't been doing lately, and also make me think I'm old. But, reflection is not a bad thing, nor is being resolute, from which we get resolutions. It's good to take stock, and it's good to make plans.

My squire posted on our household list that he had a lot of goals to accomplish this year, and he expected to get his ass beaten a lot in the process. He is looking forward to the ass beating, the rest of us should name the time and the place for him to show up and that he would come and take his stripes. This is good. He and I had his annual review a couple weeks ago, and we laid out what his goals in fighting were to be for the year. It's a good idea to do this, not just with our students but also with ourselves.

In review, I did well in both Crown tournaments that I fought in. I went to semi-finals in on, quarter finals in the other. I also went to semi finals in Mudthaw and won a couple of other tournaments. I killed a number of high quality fighters, but still lost to Matthew, Randal, Avaldr, and Wilhelm (whom I had been beating). As usual, my biggest asset was perseverance.  I find that I'm fighting very well, I'm focusing well, but I'm pressing too much with the top level fighters.

I have not bee practicing as much as I'd like. I had the usual spate of injuries to deal with.  I did not make it to Birka.

Since I will not be making Birka again this year, I am unable to kick start the season the way I prefer.

Physically, I put on about 5 pounds, which I'm not too happy about, though some of that is muscle. I did not miss a single day of my push ups, squats, or pell work this year.

Goals for the coming year.

Win Crown.

Champions battle at Pennsic.

I will go to more events, but I plan to focus on one event a month this coming season. The events I'm aiming for right now are AEdult Swim in February, Mudthaw in March, Balfar's Chalenge in April, Crown in May, Les Beltaines in June, Pennsic in July and August, Ducal Challenge in Septamber, Roses Tournament in October, and Crown in November. December I'll leave up in the air. There's a slight chance I will be at Double Wars in May and Great Western in October. Counting events, I want to be in armor at least six times a month between February and November (which is a low bar). Ideally, I'd be in armor, at least for light practice, three times a week. I'm going to California for three weeks in January, and will fight in both the West and CAID.

In terms of workouts, I will continue with my daily routine. Once the semester begins, I will start running more. I also need to start taking yoga again.

It's 46 Days until AEdult Swim. My next time in armor will be this weekend in the West.

Iron Bog 12/16

I had not been in armor since Crown, which was a six week layoff. It was mostly for deer season.

There were five fighters at Iron Bog: myself, Sterling, Gui, Bran, and Mike. Good practice--two knights and three OTCs. Ron was there for a while, teaching. He says I'm throwing too many wasted shots.

Gui beat me 3 times out of 4, and really rocked me once. All of his wins on me were his short punch, once while I was on my knees. I was trying only one thing--to kill him with an off side thumb lead scorpion, mostly because it's a shot *he's* trying to learn right now. I've tried it a few times, but can't quite get the angle correct. The only people I know who do it well are Ionis and Duke Anton from Atlantia. I never did land it, though in our last fight I started to throw it, turned it into a for-edge shot, and it worked. My fights with Sterling were rough, as usual, but I won 4 of 5. Once I got him with one of Ron's shots--moving my hand in front of my face, as though to throw an off side, then hitting him in the head. It's more subtle than the way I've thrown it in the past. I felt best against Elglin. I was able to control the fight with snaps to the head and use that to set up everything else.

No video.

I'm not going to Birka at this point, because it's my birthday weekend, and Hanna got us show tickets. My next time in armor will be at Western 12th Night.

Crown Tournament #99

God! I've been doing this a long time!

So on Saturday I fought in my 99th Crown Tournament. This is a lot, I know. My record isn't that good--1 for 98. But I'm fighting as well now as I ever have, I think. I felt good going in, and I did not go in just to fight. I knew I was a contender and I was fighting to win. I only have a few more years where I have a legit chance at this, and I want my strawberry leaves, I want to make Hanna queen, and I always planned to do it three times.

This was a lovely crown up in Ellsworth, Maine. We flew. Gracia's family owns a very small island up there, off of Winter Harbor, which her grandparents bought in the 50s. I'd never seen it before, except in pictures, so we drove out to look at it. If we'd been earlier, we might have been able to go out to it. As it was it was fun climbing on the rocks, just a couple hundred yards away. We had a nice lobster dinner that night in Bar Harbor.

The crown was at a Boy Scout camp halfway between Ellsworth and Bangor. Thankfully, they had a barn with a concrete floor we could fight in, because the rain was fierce. It was great to be there with Harold, William, and Murdoch from our household. The three knights fought, while Murdoch fought pickups and squired for us. 

TRAINING
I trained pretty hard for this crown, but injuries got in my way. I hurt my Achilles tendon running, about three weeks out, and haven't run since. I've walked a lot, and hit the elliptical a couple of times, but that isn't really the same. I also had tennis elbow for awhile, which I had to rest, and my back is always a problem. The result was that I did not fight as often as I'd planned to in the weeks leading up to the tournament. As referenced earlier, I did fight in three tourneys as prep--the practice tourney in Rusted Woodlands, Falling Leaves, and the tourney at Coronation, which I won. I've not missed my daily workout--50 push ups, 50 squats, and 100 pell strikes.
But not this time. Not quite.

FIGHTING
So, I fought awfully my first fight, great my last, and got better each time. I never got gassed. The format was double tree double elimination. From the round of sixteen onward, it would be best two out of three each round. Deaths would be forgiven in semi-finals (a big change), and finals would be three out of five with matched weapons.

I think my fights were Embla Knutrsdotir, Harold, Thomas de Winterwarde, Duke Randal, Bill, Sir Rory, and Sir Matthew. That took me to the round of six. I lost to Randal, who went to semi finals, and Matthew, who went to finals. All I have really are impressions of the day.

I beat Harold with a body thrust. He opened up too much.

I beat Bill first with a downward counter to the off-side head, and second with a molinee-face cut (that was pretty).

Rory started out super aggressive, but I was able to block his stuff. Once he settled in I killed him the way I did last time, with two hook/thrusts (I actually threw 5).

I died to two shots--one from Matthew, one from Randal, that were pretty light, but both were in the face. Matthew's was a thrust, very pretty, first one he'd thrown. I almost got him at that same moment with a thrust to his armpit: Randal's was a backhand.  Matthew also killed me with a counter off-side, and Randal with a body thrust as I took his leg. I did beat Randal in our first fight. I did not beat Matthew at all.

I was definitely fighting well. I was a contender. I wish I'd fought Ozur, because I fight him better than most. He was a beast all day.

Afterward the household went to Texas Road House for rib-eyes. All three of us--me, Bill, Harold-- had reached the round of sixteen, and each of us had fought the other two.

Gracia had a really great time.

I've seen no video of my fights.

I didn't get tired, I didn't get hurt, and I didn't beat myself. I was in contention. Pretty good day. If I keep fighting like this I can definitely win. 

It's 78 days until Birka (on my birthday). I don't know when my next time in armor will be. 

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.

Ducal Challenge and Roses

I've had a lot of good fighting recently, but I feel I've taken a step back. I'm not as crisp as I've felt recently. My endurance is ok, but I feel a bit sluggish.

Ducal Challenge was wonderful, mostly because Hanse flew out from the West to fight. He won, but that wasn't the issue. The issue was he was in my pool. I double killed with him, a really nice face thrust after taking his leg, but he got me with a nasty shot to my left nipple at the same time (ouch!). Later I fought him some pickups and killed him at least twice, both times with thrusts (the best was with the foot-stomp thrust I used in Crown). In my pool I won all my fights but Ionis and Hanse. That included beating Ryo. I lost knock out rounds to Lou and Douglas. Not bad, but not as good as I should have done.

Hanse also got me clobbered at Roses. I LOVE the Roses tourney. Teams of 5 match up. You fight three fights against one opponent (unless your team is short, in which case you can fight extras), then record them. Points are given for wins, losses, and double kills. By my count I fought 21 fights total. I lost two and won one against the prince, with bucklers. I was even--win, loss, double kill--with Kettle (this was when I got clobbered. I set up in Hanse's high/weak/open guard and Kettle counterpunched me hard, when I was wide open). I beat Sir Willem 2-1, which is pretty good, as he is a really tough lefty with a big kite shield. I also beat Baron Joseph, Euric, Durkin, and... and.... never got that last guys name. My off side body shot was really on. I got a killer ass bruise.

It's 44 days until Crown. My next time in armor will be Sunday in Iron Bog.

Bonus: me fighting Bill at practice: