At Double Wars I spoke briefly with a young female squire, who is fairly fresh at fighting, and she mentioned an issue that has plagued me as well: that in melee scenarios, she finds herself hanging back, afraid that she might do something wrong.
It hasn't really left me since, and I wonder whether this is an inherent issue in minority fighters, or whether it is more widespread but doesn't get acknowledged. Further, I wonder whether this translates into one-to-one fighting, as well, and whether it is a factor in holding us back.
I suspect that this issue becomes more sensitive with people who have been socialised to avoid making any kind of fuss, to strive for perfectionism in all areas of life. Some people say "Sorry" excessively, apologising for any minor real and imagined trespass. Many people are socialised to feel accountable to (patriarchal) authority figures. SCA fighting is full of patriarchal authority figures, and those who are not but feel that they ought to be. Many people are also socialised to be afraid of male anger and its unpredictable consequences. I can see a situation where a less experienced fighter makes a mistake, and some others on the same side lose it a bit in the heat of the moment and adrenaline and say things they don't necessarily mean in tones and volume they don't necessarily mean at all.
They're your mates. But you've accidentally made them angry. You did that. Holy shit.
And you've disappointed them.
And they're going to go away thinking, wow, Agnes is such a noobass, never going to want to play with her again.
And what if they're not going to like you again?
My best fights have happened when I have not been emotionally invested in the outcome, or I have been in the very fine zone just before exhaustion, when I move in what to me feels like exaggerated patterns. I get into the flow when I let go. Imagine if you could just let go in all your fights, one to one and melee alike. Not be afraid to throw yourself into it, go full on Leeroy Jenkins with the knowledge that even if it doesn't work out, at least it'll be awesome, in some direction.
I don't know how to address this issue. Some of it seems to get a bit better simply with experience. Maybe we should all talk about our fuckups more. Maybe the commanders of melee teams need to explicitly say in the beginning of a melee tourney that making mistakes is okay (and if it was me, I'd say they'll be welcome, because a mistake means that something was done, so at least there was activity). And maybe those of us who are affected by this issue need to have a deep extended look at ourselves, and see what we can do for ourselves. Listen to the usual encouragement in the beginning of any tourney to have fun, and be aware that those words in themselves contain the permission to make mistakes. And each fighter everywhere can keep an eye out for others. Don't let anyone get away with losing their temper in the field. If someone makes a mistake, let them know that it's okay - because it has to be okay.
Thursday 30 May 2019
Double Wars
Drachenwald's premier fighting event is the ten-day long Double Wars, which takes place in the Principality of Nordmark (Sweden) every May during the week Ascension Day falls on. The main war concerns the lasting debate of which side a slice of crispbread (knackebrod) should be buttered on: the flat side or the hol(e)y side. Otherwise, the event includes plenty of tourneys and training opportunities, as well as other usual SCA activities. For me, it is the year's best opportunity to get training from the top fighters of the kingdom and to connect with fighters outside Insulae Draconis. It is also the base of the extended household I belong to: the lineage of Duke Matthew Blackleaf.
This year, work has been inconvenient, and I had not planned to go at all, but the aspects of fighting and family weighed on me so much that only a few weeks ago I made the decision to go for the first half of the event, as it would interfere with work less.
I had three full days available, so I wanted to get in as much fighting and training as possible. In practice, I was forced to conclude once more that especially in the case of training, when you are actively working with your head as well as your body, you can only keep going so long.
1. Rose Tourney
I wasn't sure to begin with whether to fight in the tourney or to just do pickups, but I'm glad I went. The tourney was great fun. You issued a challenge and queued up to the list field with your partner, and the loser would retrieve a rose from the Queen and bring it to the winner's consort, or whoever they wished. Towards the end of the tourney, the marshal set up a few last man standing scenarios, which awarded more than one rose to the winner or winners. I fought for my friend Jasper and brought him six roses, for which he was very proud for the rest of the time I spent at the event.
2. Tournament of Chivalry
This is more of a three-hour high-level fighter practice with members of the Order of Chivalry. You invite a Knight to fight you, and possibly another one to observe, and you can ask for guidance in a particular element or just get general feedback. I had a list of things to get out of this one, which were:
1) Get time with my Uncle Knight George
2) Get time with Duke Gerhardt
3) Find every belted two-stick fighter and make them train me how to fight against them until I couldn't train no more.
I proceeded to do exactly this. I got some very useful pointers on fighting against two-stickers from Sirs Morales, Gilliam, Rok, and King William, but I feel that I need to put in a lot of further work towards figuring that one out properly.
Afterwards, my Knight invited me to do some pickups with him, but soon enough he sent me off to get out of armour, observing that I was too tired to do anything useful. The intensity of learning from the Knights and fighting them had creeped up without me noticing, and I held off from attending the fun pirate melee in the afternoon I had greatly enjoyed in previous years.
3. Training
On my third full day, I had offered to help marshal a new fighters tournament, but there were only two participants, so I wasn't needed. I got into armour nonetheless around noon hoping for pickups and training (although the previous night had been very late and involved a great deal of gin with other squires). I ended up spending most of the afternoon with Duke Gerhardt, who's one of my favourite trainers, working on how to control the fight in various ways. It was intense, but we took breaks and talked about what we had worked on, then put our hats back on and trained some more. Other people came and went, but we must have been working for about three hours. Afterwards I did a few pickups with Sir Wlfric and my own Knight.
More analysis and thoughts forthcoming, now that I have introduced the event.
Thursday 2 May 2019
Curriculum: Class 4
Spring is far enough in Ireland that we were able to move our practice outside, to the schoolyard, where we like to train during the brighter part of the year. We have lots and lots more space there, part of which is covered, so it's possible for us to train with extra space even when it rains.
1. Revision
Each class starts with a quick revision of what we have covered so far. Even if it's just a mention of the concept, it helps to bring it to mind.
2. Different types of shield
While the learners have been handling shields in previous classes, tonight we moved from talking about the basics of handling the sword to the basics of handling the shield. As my experience is, to a large extent, with heaters, I had Aodh talk about round and oval centre-grip shields and how they mechanically differ from strapped heaters in terms of range of movement and blocking. With a heater, you catch the incoming blows with the corners as much as possible; with a centre-grip, you track the opponent's sword hilt with your shield boss, and punch the incoming blow out of the way. These days, we have many different kinds of shields available at our practice, which has not always been the case, so we encouraged the learners to try out different shields to see which one they liked best.
We also briefly talked about other weapon forms that are available, and the benefits and disadvantages of the sword & shield against them.
3. What you can and cannot do with a shield
As I cover mechanics of topics, I try to do that in conjunction with the relevant rules and accepted customs of the list. It's no use to know how to use the shield if you are taken by surprise by a shield hook you didn't expect because you didn't know it could be done. So we talked about how you are not allowed to slam your shield against the body of your opponent, but you can use the shield to manipulate your opponent's shield and weapon. I demonstrated the shield hook (opening a tin can is how I like to think about it) and how to lock your opponent's defence in place by exerting pressure on their shield.
4. Efficient blocking: the concept of minimum movement
Next was the time for the concept of the minimum movement: how to move your shield the minimum necessary distance to block the incoming blow, in order to preserve your energy, and in order to be able to return the shield quickly to your basic guard. The concept is the same as with the sword: a shot is not complete until you have recovered your sword to where you are comfortable and able to strike again with ease; and a block is not complete until you have returned your shield home.
Which led us to....
5. Finding your guard and keeping it while in motion
I talked about how you need to make sure after each block and each blow you need to return "home", to your basic stance where you are protected and ready to attack as well as defend yourself. People have different preferred positions for their shields and their swords, which can really only be discovered through practice, so I invited them to adopt a guard in which they felt comfortable. The trick is to maintain this guard in motion, particularly in the fast movements of a fight.
6. Drill: Keeping your shield in place while you strike
We practiced the above by adapting the previous week's exercise of connecting footwork with blows. So we proceeded across the shorter side of the yard, now with quite a few different elements to keep in mind: footwork, for sure, but also ensuring that the shield didn't leave its safe spot while blows were being struck in the air and returned. As we know, this one is tricky.... and an exercise I will be getting back to many times.
7. Drill: Minimum movement
One of my favourite drills involves learning the practical aspect of the minimum movement concept. I learned it from Master Cernac. This exercise involves working in pairs. Person A observes Person B, who adopts their guard. Having identified a gap, Person A gently and very slowly directs a blow into that gap. Person B takes careful notice of this. Person A recovers, and repeats exactly the same thing, but this time, Person B moves their shield as little as necessary to block/deflect/take out (assumed) power of the incoming blow. Roles are switched over, and repeated several times.
8. Slow work
After all of the above, it was time for slow work once more to try to make use of the things learned during the class.
1. Revision
Each class starts with a quick revision of what we have covered so far. Even if it's just a mention of the concept, it helps to bring it to mind.
2. Different types of shield
While the learners have been handling shields in previous classes, tonight we moved from talking about the basics of handling the sword to the basics of handling the shield. As my experience is, to a large extent, with heaters, I had Aodh talk about round and oval centre-grip shields and how they mechanically differ from strapped heaters in terms of range of movement and blocking. With a heater, you catch the incoming blows with the corners as much as possible; with a centre-grip, you track the opponent's sword hilt with your shield boss, and punch the incoming blow out of the way. These days, we have many different kinds of shields available at our practice, which has not always been the case, so we encouraged the learners to try out different shields to see which one they liked best.
We also briefly talked about other weapon forms that are available, and the benefits and disadvantages of the sword & shield against them.
3. What you can and cannot do with a shield
As I cover mechanics of topics, I try to do that in conjunction with the relevant rules and accepted customs of the list. It's no use to know how to use the shield if you are taken by surprise by a shield hook you didn't expect because you didn't know it could be done. So we talked about how you are not allowed to slam your shield against the body of your opponent, but you can use the shield to manipulate your opponent's shield and weapon. I demonstrated the shield hook (opening a tin can is how I like to think about it) and how to lock your opponent's defence in place by exerting pressure on their shield.
4. Efficient blocking: the concept of minimum movement
Next was the time for the concept of the minimum movement: how to move your shield the minimum necessary distance to block the incoming blow, in order to preserve your energy, and in order to be able to return the shield quickly to your basic guard. The concept is the same as with the sword: a shot is not complete until you have recovered your sword to where you are comfortable and able to strike again with ease; and a block is not complete until you have returned your shield home.
Which led us to....
5. Finding your guard and keeping it while in motion
I talked about how you need to make sure after each block and each blow you need to return "home", to your basic stance where you are protected and ready to attack as well as defend yourself. People have different preferred positions for their shields and their swords, which can really only be discovered through practice, so I invited them to adopt a guard in which they felt comfortable. The trick is to maintain this guard in motion, particularly in the fast movements of a fight.
6. Drill: Keeping your shield in place while you strike
We practiced the above by adapting the previous week's exercise of connecting footwork with blows. So we proceeded across the shorter side of the yard, now with quite a few different elements to keep in mind: footwork, for sure, but also ensuring that the shield didn't leave its safe spot while blows were being struck in the air and returned. As we know, this one is tricky.... and an exercise I will be getting back to many times.
7. Drill: Minimum movement
One of my favourite drills involves learning the practical aspect of the minimum movement concept. I learned it from Master Cernac. This exercise involves working in pairs. Person A observes Person B, who adopts their guard. Having identified a gap, Person A gently and very slowly directs a blow into that gap. Person B takes careful notice of this. Person A recovers, and repeats exactly the same thing, but this time, Person B moves their shield as little as necessary to block/deflect/take out (assumed) power of the incoming blow. Roles are switched over, and repeated several times.
8. Slow work
After all of the above, it was time for slow work once more to try to make use of the things learned during the class.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)