Acheron 1/11/14

Ow. 

That's really all you can say when Gui basket hilts you in the face. Actually, it was more like "Ow! F*ck!" And probably a bit more. I'm hazy About The details. Since he hit me in the forehead, and I felt it on the back of my head, and since I was definitely woozy standing up, I took off my armor and quit for the day. I've had what my doctor described as a "mild concussion" and the symptoms were a lot worse than this. But there's no reason to wait for a second hit to make it that bad. So I'm done early.

Which is ok, just as its ok that Gui punched me with is basket hilt. It was unintentional, and accidents happen. One of the most important lessons to be learned in fighting is that you are going to get hurt, and if you can't handle that you should take up another activity. 

The real great fighters, they enjoy the pain. 

WORKOUTS

It's been a long time since I posted. All I can say about workouts is that through running, walking, push-ups every day, and a couple of intense yoga classes, I actually lost two pounds over Xmas. 

TECHNIQUE

I actually have fought twice since 100 Minutes Wad, both times at Acheron. First time I was just trying to play around and get helmet time. It included some great two handed sword fights with Jibril. 

Today I only fought three people: Gui, Samale, and Zack. The only thing I was working on was Lettie technique. Against Zack, I had good success with three techniques: Gui's short punching technique (what he was doing when he basket-hilted  me), the slide steps to the right to take the leg, and a very active boxer style. 

The first technique is just what it sounds like. A punch to the forehead. Ideally it lands  with the first third of the sword. If they're farther away it lands farther out. The trick is simply to be aggressive and throw it multiple times while moving forward. It is one of the more bogus shots, as there is little chance of it being effective in an armored fight, but I'm not convinced a single blow could ever bring someone down in a real sword fight in mail. 

The slide or shuffle step is not unlike Lucky's leg shots where he hid behind his shield and crouched over. You bend down behind the shield, throw the leg, shuffle forward and to the right repeated throwing the shot. Sometimes you very it by throwing a leg wrap, but I rarely do  that. 

The boxer style just had me using a lot of lateral movement to open up angles and a boxer/a frame defense. This is exactly what I was trained not to do against lefties. But it worked against Zack. I think I it was prompting hi to over commit. 

My fights were great over all. Samale is fighting better but was falling for the rising snap. I managed to kill Gui from my knees with a face thrust. Zack has found that aggression that makes Gui so good, and he was tough. 

But I have  a concussion, and that sucks.

I will not be attending Birka this year and they have not announced a date for crown. i will not be fighting for at least ten days.