I took a break from posting. It happens, I'm not apologetic about it; things get busy, something has to give.
Our practice lost it's site at the end of December, and we've been working out of a high school in that general area. Because it's a public school, it was unavailable to us for the month of January.
It was inconvinient, but it made many of us seek out other practices and some decided to get a small practice more lovely.
It worked, I got to teach a bit, and prep for the Birka fencing tournament. The Market Place at Birka is a major SCA event that has three hour bear pit style tournament. The lists are 10' x 10' and a real ready for close quartered fencing.
For practice, I marked out 9' x 9' lists so when we were in the full sized lists, we would have more maneuverability.
My martial arts training always had a contingent for fighting in tight spaces. Basically, if your style requires a lot of space to be effective, it isn't. I approached this with the same mentality. Regardless of the length of the rapier, the fact is, historically, fights took place in alleyways as much as open fields and common areas.
Strategies included offline fighting, employing more of a cutting game and my dagger saw more use. There were some really good matches, some had a stronger strategy than me, but all of it had good take aways.
This past weekend was a two day seminar called AEdult Swim. Fencers from all over the country show up for classes and sparring and having fun after hours.
Range and line closing were high on the list of things to pay attention to. I received some good compliments and great advice. I also made note that when fatigue set in, old flaws re emerged such as floating elbows and dropping guards. Remaining vigilant was it's own contest at times, I was even able to self correct at times.
More to come..
