Close the Gap!

While fighting with rapier and dagger on Tuesday, I was reminded (repeatedly) how a secondary weapon can create more openings in my defenses, than without.

(Stab) "you have a gap!"

(Stab) "you still have a gap!"

(Stab) "OK, let's go over a few things" :)

This has been gone over in the past, but as I've been figuring out techniques and a fighting system, it has set some things back as I adapt.

Fortunately, I fence with some really great people, both in skill and attitude, and I got some great help. The gap got smaller and even closed at times.

After our bouts, I got some lessons in guards from Fabris and Cappo Ferra and to illustrate them better. Th help illustrate the points to me, I was asked to take an unarmed fighting stance  (referencing my Asian Martial Arts training) and, lo and behold! No gap!

Thank you, Bruce and Juliean!

I do love this path that I'm on and the new bonds that are forming.

A Sword! A Sword!

A sword! A sword! Ah, give me a sword!
       For the world is all to win.
Though the way be hard and the door be barred,
      The strong man enters in.
If Chance and Fate still hold the gate,
       Give me the iron key,
And turret high my plume shall fly,
       Or you may weep for me!

 A horse! A horse! Ah, give me a horse!
       To bear me out afar,
Where blackest need and grimmest deed
       And sweetest perils are.
Hold though my ways from glutted days
       Where poisoned leisure lies,
And point the path of tears and wrath
       Which mounts to high enterprise!

A heart! A heart! Ah, give me a heart
       To rise to circumstance!
Serene and high and bold to try
       The hazard of the chance,
With strength to wait, but fixed as fate
       To plan and dare and do,
The peer of all, and only thrall,
       Sweet lady mine, to you!

                       -Arthur Conan Doyle, "Sir Nigel"

Happy Thanksgiving!

My thanks to the first Master, and the first student.

Thank you for your courage, your passion and strength that grew your knowledge, and passed it down through the centuries.

Thank you, because I cannot imagine myself not being a Martial Artist.

Trading Steel

Our Glen Gardner practice was packed last night!  We had visitors come down to bring some nice variety to an already varied spectrum of skill.

I fought single rapier, and rapier and dagger.  My guards are definitely tighter and the angles of attack and defense are getting smoother.

There was a lot of fast and hard fighting, and we all left sweaty, tired and happy.

I had a lesson in the use of cloak, after the Bolognese Tradition.  Instead of a waist cloak or caplette, this is a full length cloak, wrapped around the forearm.  It's pretty versatile, being able to conceal and confuse an opponent by masking footwork and blade position. It's also use to redirect and deflect and attack, and to even ensnare.

I'm going to be working with this on a more regular basis, and have been pulling up some period references.

100 Minutes

This  passed Saturday was an SCA event calle The 100 Minutes War.  It's primarily a heavy weapons event, where two armies are assembled and they fight for 100 minutes.  It's a serious endurance test and a whole lot of fun.

Fencers are making their own stake in it and we were given some really fun scenarios to fight through.  We fought in a "maze", a set of natural patches through a patch of woods, while different conditions of conflict were chosen, some were a basic search and destroy with single "deaths", others had more tactical goals, such as capture the flag where, if  " killed" you go back to base and "resurrect".

Aside from having to rely on tactics and team fighting,  we had to adapt to fighting on uneven terrain, and clashing with numbers that could become uneven very fast.

I decided to fight rapier and buckler for the entire day.  It lent itself to the situations quite well, and fighting off multiple opponents made my shield hand to remain mobile and "live" and working in ending fights fast, as getting tied up men's getting taken out.

It was a good day, with strong comraderie and skilled fencers.

Tricks, Treats and Tarot Cards!

Glen Gardner practice was a lot of fun this passed Tuesday.

Master Orlando devised a Tournment of Arms in honor of Halloween; he produced a tarot deck and drew four suits from the Minor Arcana.  Each suit representing an off hand weapon:
Coins = Bucklers
Staves =  Canes, Batons and Flintlock Pistols
Cups = Capes/Cloaks (That whole flowing thing)
Magician = Wild Card.  Master Orlando gets to pick your weapon choice and number of passes.

Each number not only signified who could challenge who (high cards challenge low cards), but the two cards combined equaled the number of passes fought.

I began with rapier and dagger, then drew Staves.  I decided to try something new and grabbed one of the replica flintlock pistols.  Holding it by the barrel, it became my offhand parry.  It was interesting and I took some good wins.  Gripping the barrel created a hook of sorts and I found that I was able to catch the blade between it and the trigger guard.

It was also a night of firsts for me; I fought case rapier (two sword) for the first time.  The unbalanced pair was a bit off putting and I didn't show as well as I would have liked, definitely more practice there.

When I drew the Magician, Orlando asked what I never fight with.  "Cloak", I answered and with a grin he pinted to a couple.  This was really fun, and I do believe it is what I want to qualify in next.  Using it as a flexible shied and a way to hamper and ensnare the opposing weapon, while not tripping myself up was a challenge, but I was getting a feel for it, taking a few wins.

A real run night!

Loosen Up!

"Stab some people for me!"

"You got it, love!"

Yep, it's a normal conversation for us, and my wife's way of wishing me a good practice and encouraging me to work hard.

Since I began fencing, I noticed, and it was mentioned to me, on a few occasions, that I always seems to start my matches a bit stiff and a bit too cerebral (see past post "Out of the Head, Into the Hands").

I headed down to practice, listening to Disturbed and just not giving the upcoming practice a lot of thought outside of stabbing a few people for my wife.

As I faced my first opponent and just before saluting, I bounced up and down a bit (something from my fighter days), then saluted and settled in.

I felt myself much more fluid than usual, it led to some successes!  I worked on keeping my weight to the balls of my feet more, making my attacks, counters, and blocks flow with one another more.
There were some encouraging results.

I'm still telegraphing here and there but, hopefully, I can keep the cinder blocks off my feet from the beginning.

Now, to continue researching footwork drills!

Roses and Bear Pits

In the SCA, when a Queen's time on the throne is done, she is known as a Lady of the Rose.  Each year, these Ladies have formed teams of rattan fighters, fencers and archers to compete against each other.

This year, I had the honor of fencing for Duchess Kienna; she's a great leader and an even better friend.

Great fights, I got to cross swords with people I had only seen fence before.  Well worth the wait!

It began to rain, so it was an interesting exercise modifying footwork on the fly so as not to slide and such.

Last week, at our Glen Gardner practice, we ran bear pits.  This is when two enter, the winner stays to fight the next challenger.

Depending on the setting, limits can be put in how many wins a fighter can hold the pit for.  For expediency, we made the limit three.  By doing so, it does not give a lot of time for the body to cool down.

This was a real contest of endurance as well as prowess and a lot of fun; we should definitely do more of them!

Home Turf

I finally was able to make it back to my home practice in Glen Gardner!  It's a great group of people, with a whole spectrum of talent and skill.  Just as important, it just has a good emery to it.

I decided to work on single sword most of the night, I almost forgot how much fun it it.  I'm working on maintaining my guard position through movement.

I ended the night using rapier and dagger against an arming sword (a wider, heavier blade) and buckler, my opponent using techniques from I:33 (a fascinating fight manual). They were tough fights, but a blast.

Tournament Saturday, looking to get some work done.

Catching Up

I know, it's been another stretch since my last posting.  Nothing too major has been happening and I'm still in love with fencing.

Over the last few weeks, I've been getting help with making my body mechanics more streamlined and smooth on top of making my sword work more instinctual.

Schedules have clashed, keeping me away from my home practice in Glen Gardner, but the Bhakail practice is really awesome and fast paced.  I'm looking forward to getting back "home" tomorrow night, though.

The old tendinitis is still barking now and then, and I started working with KT Tape (Kinesiology Theraputic Tape).  It's been making a difference , though I might explore the stronger, synthetic line as opposed to the cotton version that I'm currently using.

Out of the Head, Into the Hands.

Tuesday was my first time back at practice since coming back from Pennsic.  I did ok, though my elbow is still twinging.

I've begun working with eight directional stepping.  Achilles Morrozzo refers to it as the Compass and it's very similar to the foot work I learned in my Gung Fu training.

I got some good lessons from Orlando and Owen on creating and managing what lines my opponent can see and how I'm exposing my arm during certain guards.

Tonight, I got together with Mike for long sword and messer practice.  It's been a while for both and it was a good practice.

Things are progressing well, but techniques and tactics are still in my head, having to be thought out, as opposed to being in my hands, where they are more instinctive.

Return to War

It's been a while since I last posted.  The tendonitis in my elbow flared a bit, so I decided to take it easy before my return to Pennsic.

It's been two years and a change in camps since my wife and I were there last. There were a few changes, but for the good.

We had insane heat indexes, turning an 84 degree day into a 102 degree mess.

First day of fighting was pretty good, myself and others held a ridge for the better part of two hours, stopping our opponents from flanking us and rolling into our backfield.

There were many delays and holds making all of this happen much later in the day and going on for much longer than it should have.

Towards the final half hour a combination of blood sugar crash and overheating took me off the field fro the day.  It was disappointing, but a lot of good work got done, our side winning the day.

Tuesday, I came back, feeling better and better supplied. Some fast fighting on the fly and another victory for us.

Good times.

Those were my only two days on the field.  My elbow was seriously over worked and we still had a camp to break down at the end of the week.

Since coming back, I'm resolved to work on better technique, better cardio and strength building.

There is a lot to strive for over the coming year and a lot of really capable fencers to push and test me along the way.

Early Birthday Present

I was waiting for this particular practice since last week.  Driving down to site with Aerosmith playing, I was feeling both nervous and jazzed.

I will be turning 48 on Thursday and I decided to set a goal for myself; a fight for each year.  Yep, 48 fights in two hours.

I went in and made my intentions known to everyone, no backing out now!

So it began.  Good fights, hard fights.  There were well earned wins and losses that were lessons learned.

In the end, I did not do 48 fights.

I finished at 50.

I'm exhausted and sore, and this is the best I've felt in a long time.

Happy birthday to me!

Tuesday Night

Lots of brand new faces tonight!  It was great seeing loaner gear and rapiers go into people's hands for the first time.

I had some good fights tonight, I decided to focus on my mobility and footwork.  Much of my Gung Fu stepping is starting to come back.  It is very similar to some of the European schools.

Worked up a good sweat, did a few melee passes.  Shower and crash time now.

Tuesday Night

Lots of brand new faces tonight!  It was great seeing loaner gear and rapiers go into people's hands for the first time.

I had some good fights tonight, I decided to focus on my mobility and footwork.  Much of my Gung Fu stepping is starting to come back.  It is very similar to some of the European schools.

Worked up a good sweat, did a few melee passes.  Shower and crash time now.

An Old Poem

I figured that I would open my new blog with a poem I wrote some years ago.

My Reflection or My Soul?

Earth and Air and Fire and Water, These birthed you.
Hundreds and hundreds of hammer blows, These shaped you.
Gliding ‘cross the oiled stone You first shared your voice.
The life giving killing edge, My sword is given life.
In my hands we learn One another’s language.
Cut and Thrust and Parry!
Hands blister, shoulders burn.
Advance, Retreat and Circle!
Legs ache, learning to walk.
Cut and Thrust and Parry!
Hands calloused, body stronger.
Advance, Retreat and Circle!
Bold steps, getting faster.
My reflection or my soul,
Which do I see in your sheen?
My reflection or my soul?
Stand for Justice, protect what I love!
My reflection, or my soul?
For Life, for Honor!
My reflection, or my soul?
Yes....

 Thomas V. Berger 2012