Curriculum: Class 3

By the time of writing this, Class 3 of the Curriculum was two weeks ago, and annoyingly I'm struggling a bit to remember what we did. I was pleased that all three newbies were still present, and displayed every sign of being keen to continue. One of them is ambidexterous, with a preference for using her left hand, so I was very pleased that our resident leftie Mícheál was present as well.

Once more, we started by quickly revising what we had done so far in order to keep the flow of new information untangled. I outsourced this to Aodh while I was getting into armour.

1. Third shot: The Wrap

I remember having fierce trouble with the wrap shot. I don't feel that I properly "got" it until late last year, in fact. Many other people have also reported difficulty with this shot, so I wanted to spend some extra time with it. Annoyingly, we don't have a pell at the practice, but we did have three spare people, so (as very often) we used those people and swords held upright by them as pells. I explained my method, and then had them practice the shot, reviewing it for each one at a time.

I started out by talking about targeting, and how many people forget that the legal target areas extend to the back of the body as well as the front. The wrap is a way to access those hard to reach target areas.

My disclaimer is always that I can only teach as I have been taught. With the wrap, this is particularly pronounced, as my Knight teaches it in a very specific way. The shot starts the same way as the two others. From your basic guard, your hip moves forward, letting its force to extend your arm, in a throwing motion, so that the sword moves forward, pommel first, in a straight line, as though you are planning to throw an onside shot. Instead of keeping your palm facing upright for the entire shot, at the point where the momentum has pushed the sword to its halfway point, you turn your elbow outward so that the point of your elbow faces out. This turns your hand so that when the strike lands, your palm is facing downwards.

I demonstrated the arm movement without a stick - it's like clasping someone around the neck or back with your stick - and asked them to do it to each other. Then we moved on to practicing it with swords, and I was pleased to see that the learners picked up the shot reasonably well.

2. Connecting shots and footwork

I warned the learners that I was about to introduce them to a very tedious exercise, which resembled the previous week's Statues game but was nowhere near as fun. I found that it was a very useful exercise, though, as it forces you to think about connecting your feet and your sword from early on.

You assume your basic stance, and then proceed a distance using the basic footwork. With each step, you strike against an invisible opponent, or, alternatively, recover your sword. The step and the strike must be in sync. You can strike using any of the three blows you have learned, but each must be fully recovered before you strike another one. You repeat the distance a few times, including backwards.

3. Active spectating and commentary

While I have deliberately - partly because of their own request, and partly because of my own judgement - not put the newbies in armour yet, I have wanted them to get a good idea of what they're getting into. Each time a new person appeared, we started out by doing a quick introduction to the concept of the fighting and the gear we use, and then I demonstrated with someone else what the fighting was actually like.

In subsequent cases where the newbies have had to be idle while fighting has taken place, due to space restrictions, for instance, I have used what I call the method of active spectating. That simply means that they have a more experienced fighter watching with them, providing commentary of what is actually taking place - and why. The commentator points out things like, "Did you see that wrap?" or "Do you see how she's moving her shield, only a little bit" or "Look at how he's using his height and longer range to get at her". The commentator attempts to show that any fight consists of elements that the learners already know, it is simply matter of being able to isolate them from the overall whole - just as when you're learning a new language.

4. Power and movement

To end this session, which contained a lot of things to take in, I wanted to give the learners the experience of putting the lessons in use and to get the experience of hitting something for real, without having to be nervous of being hit in return. Mícheál and I, in armour, went on full defence, and got each of the learners to practice trying to hit us with power, while keeping moving at all times. I was pleased with the results - there is, of course, a lot to be done, but the very solid base was definitely there.

Cruinniú - Lough Devnaree Fight Camp

Some time the year before last I got sick of the lack of dedicated fighting events in the Isles, and decided to have my own. Thus was born Cruinniú - which in Irish means gathering, meeting, assembly, the participants on a sports field. In January last year, I harassed, cajoled, encouraged and threatened people in Ireland and the UK until we had about twenty people in attendance, as well as a small group from Nordmark accompanying Sir Torbjorn whom I persuaded to come over to teach. We did a lot of melee training, which we don't normally get to do much, and it seemed people really liked it.

Coming up to this year, I had been up to a lot of stuff and wasn't really intending to run another fighting event, until my Knight noted that it would be a really good idea and he would like to see me do it. I had made acquaintances at previous Estrella War, and Sir Donngal and Mistress Iona from Atenveldt figured they would enjoy a holiday in Ireland and respectively teach fighting and Middle Eastern dancing at this event.

You'll note that I talk about importing knights - we don't have any knights on the island of Lough Devnaree, so a few years ago I started talking my high level fighter friends to come over every once in a while to give lessons, and some others have used their contacts as well. Since they usually go to some effort to teach a bunch of provincials (among whom I include myself) I try to make a bit of a fuss of them at the same time.

Unfortunately, just before the event, Sir Donngal hurt his back and was unable to travel. Happily, his friend Sir Sly and Sly's lady Josephine still made it to Ireland, and Sly very generously dropped over on the Saturday to give people some pointers and to teach a class on the spear. Master Alexandre d'Avigne and Crown Prince Vitus provided individual and pair coaching, and the latter gave a class on efficient pellwork.  Master Robert spent much of the weekend with complete newbies, running through his curriculum. All in all, we were quite well served in terms of teachers, in the end.

I was very happy that we had about three people who were complete beginners, as well as others who had recently started and were able to avail of the classes. Altogether we had about 18 people in armour, as well as others doing A&S or cooking, so that the full event was about 30 people.

I felt that the morning slot was a bit slow, although we suffered a little from bad weather. People mostly stuck to the paved areas near the main building, which caused a little crowding and I felt it didn't lift the spirits. After Master Alexandre's class on fighting poleweapons was over, there seemed to be a little drifting among the fighters, so at a future event I might need to think of a way to warm people up, get them going, and possibly provide a little bit more directed programming, although I dislike very strict timetables at events. At this one, we had scheduled the meals, and otherwise we had "the morning slot", "the afternoon slot" and "the evening slot".

After lunch, weather was better, and we were able to spread out into a large green walled off area. I felt the afternoon slot went better - two classes took place, and people did pickups and ad hoc training without being prompted. At one point I looked up from my own training, and saw pairs of fighters everywhere around me, with other people talking and watching, and felt very very happy that such a thing was taking place in Lough Devnaree, where fighting had been pretty quiet for some time.

I had wanted to do something special during the evening slot, after dinner, and had asked permission of my Knight to organise a torchlight tourney. In a torchlit Pas d'Armes, a wide path is formed of torches stuck to the ground. This passage is held by a number of tenants, whom the entering venants must fight in order to pass through and to circle back to the end of the line. Typically, this tourney lasts for an hour. There is no winner: this tournament is about chivalry and the joy of fighting: a deed of arms, which is my favourite kind of tourney. I introduced the format to the spectators, and had all the tenants and venants to introduce themselves. Here, the pool of tenants consisted of the Crown Prince, Master Alexandre, Lord John and myself. Of us four, two held the passage at any given time. Our venants numbered approximately six. An hour was quite a long time of fighting in this format after already being in armour for the entire day, and for the last three fights I ran on a less than empty tank. I had the honour to finish the tournament with Master Cernac, during which I learned to tap into negative energy reserves.

Apparently we are running another such event next year - a household member has offered to steward it for me, as long as I organise the fighting. Now I just have to find someone to come over to teach....

Curriculum: Class 2

I am having the luxury problem that there is too much heavy stuff happening for me to actually keep up with it here. I will have to condense the Curriculum classes 2 and 3 somewhat.

We had a third new person start at my Class 2.  It was relatively straightforward to integrate her along the other two, as I wanted to do substantial revision of the first class in the beginning of the second one anyway. Revision is something I want to keep carrying on through the curriculum, as I want to keep working on the structured framework of building new lessons on the previous ones, so that everything works together and makes sense together as much as possible.

1. Recovery - the concept

Having finished revision, I pointed out that a shot is not finished until you have recovered it to a position where you are able to strike again. For a beginner, this will mean returning to your base stance. We practiced striking with the hip, and using the hip to recover the arm back into the starting position. I asked them to keep the concept in mind as we moved on, since we'd need to come back to it in a bit.

2. Second shot: the off-side

Time to introduce the second basic shot of the three: the off-side. Start exactly as you would your on-side shot. Hip brings the sword forward, pommel-first, until the momentum forces the rest of the sword to move. Turn your wrist to a backhand so that the sword edge hits your opponent's right side (your left side) and your palm ends up pointing downward.

Once you have got the hang of this shot, practice completing the shot by recovering from the off-side to the basic stance.

3. Introduction to transitions

So we have worked out two different shots, and talked about the concept of recovery, so we are now ready to think about how we might move from one shot to another. Efficient recovery is the key here. A minimal recovery can be performed by allowing the sword tip to fall back, while your hand and arm still stay out front. Practicing the very simple on-side/off-side transition/combo allows you to instinctively get a better grasp of the mechanics of the two shots, pay attention to how your hips move to enable the exercise, and likewise intuitively let you perform the transition.

4. Game: Statues

I strongly believe in incorporating an element of fun and a bit of lightheartedness into training. Last week we played tag using footwork, this time we did another footwork exercise in the guise of another children's game. With a sword and shield, the players line up at one end of the hall, while one person takes their place at the far end, without any equipment, facing away from them. The players must proceed through the hall, but the person at the other end - the watcher - will periodically turn around, and if they see anyone move, they will send that person back to the end of the hall. Kind of like Doctor Who's Weeping Angels. The object is to touch the watcher GENTLY with a sword tip, and take the watcher's place. We played a few rounds of this.

5. Slow work

The concept of slow work was introduced to the new person, and the learners were set at each other under a careful eye.



 
  

Ostara: the other kind of first lesson

Visited a neighbouring shire's College's 10th anniversary celebrations yesterday. Two of my usual fighting buddies were going, so I fancied getting into armour and getting in some casual fun for the afternoon. I figured that there might be some potentially interested people present, and failing that, we could show good example at the very least and enrich the event.

I ended up somewhat distracted by the (to me) unexpected news that my Knight had won his fourth Crown, but counter-distraction was provided by the fact that there were no less that three people present who wanted to have a go at getting into armour.

Acquisition and retention of fighters are a big issue where we are. In a few years, we have evolved from having a number of fighters calculatable by the fingers of one hand, to a fairly healthy number, at least in our peripheral terms. So if any interest shows itself, I'm always going to prioritise that above my own armour time.

Gytha, Mícheál and I did a quick warm-up followed by a ten-minute bearpit between the three of us. I have an untested formed-before-going-to-sleep last night hypothesis is allowing three minutes per fighter and rounding up to a convenient number is a useful metric for a casual bearpit. (So, for four fighters, 12 minutes, round up to 15, for 5, ok, you get 15, but you can bring that up to 20 - so maybe it should be three and a half minutes... science to be done.)

Between the loaner gear that I had brought just in case (just as well), and pieces cannibalised from Mícheál and myself, we were able to get the three gents in full kit. Here, I took a different approach from teaching the newcomers in my own shire: they had approached us, were prepared to take things slowly, step by step, and understood the preference for a curriculum stretching over several weeks. In this case, I was mindful that, instead, we had, essentially, approached them, and had to provide a hook to get and keep them interested. That hook had to be the actual wearing of armour, keeping talking to the minimum (which was still quite a lot), and letting them have a go at Gytha: our moving pell, and each other.

One of the gents had done some training before, so after the introductory talk and instructions I paired him with Gytha for a beginners plus lesson. I pointed Mícheál to look after the other two, who were working on a very basic level. This arrangement had a few advantages: 1) We had the energy of two training pairs going on at all times; 2) all the newbies had the personal attention of someone more experienced; 3) Gytha and Mícheál had a chance to begin teaching.

We did two sessions with a break in between, and switched pairings so that the three had a chance to practice with everyone. It seemed to go well - when I had called time, two asked if they could keep going for a while longer.

We talked about the prospect of setting up a practice in their area, but it remains to be seen whether that would be actually viable or not. I suspect that a couple of weekend practices nearby to test the waters would be the way to go.






 

Curriculum: Class 1

In the SCA, we typically teach fighting in a fairly haphazard way: here are the three shots, here's your armour, go fight people, figure the rest of it out yourself. As far as I know - and would be very happy to be corrected in this - in Drachenwald, only Master Robert of Canterbury has put together a structured curriculum in order to teach complete newcomers. I am very keen to explore the curriculum approach, as I think a solid 6-8 week step-by-step curriculum would substantially help new fighters, improve retention rate, and avoid the development of many bad habits that will later have to be unlearned. 

In Dun In Mara, we have had the good fortune of two newcomers starting within a space of a week, so I'm using them as my guinea pigs, and recording the "class notes" here. 

Introduction to Heavy Fighting: Class One 

1. Concept - what are you getting yourself into? 

A form of full contact martial art c.50 years old, derived from boxing, American military and how people thought Medieval tournament fighting ought to be. Rigorous safety regulations in terms of protective gear, gear inspections and marshalling. 

No one true correct way to do things. 

Victories decided by honour system: you never win, your opponent always grants you victory. Conceptual difference between light and good blows. 

Gender - women and men train together and fight together, no segregation of genders in tournaments. My experiences as a gender minority fighter in Drachenwald have been 100% positive (but not necessarily the case everywhere). 

2. Fighting demo with commentary of what's happening from a third person - do you still want to stay after seeing what it's like? 

3. Introduction to footwork

Importance of body parts regarding effective fighting decreases as you move upwards on your body.
Feet - the most important
Hips - the second important
Arms - not really all that important 

Start by familiarisation with the fighting stance: feet roughly hip width apart, shield foot in front of the sword foot, both sets of toes pointing forward. Knees very gently bent to allow for maximum movement and reaction. Back and head straight. Core engaged.

Footwork exercises individually and in pairs, forward and backwards: tap-and-step to train testing the step before committing, never cross your legs. Retain the position of the feet - even as you step, keep the sword foot behind the shield foot.

Footwork tag: We played a game of tag in a group of unarmoured fighters, using the footwork, in order to train not only the footwork itself but how to employ it in a quick, dynamic situation involving many other people. 

4. Using the hip  

Assume the fighting stance and engage your core. Now pretend you're carrying a full tray in your hands and you need to close an open drawer in front of you. Close the imaginary drawer with your dominant side hip. That is the motion that you are looking for. Your heel may come up off the ground, that is fine. 

Ragdoll exercise: With your core engaged, move your hips back and forth, side to side, but completely relax your upper body. Pay attention to how your hips move your arms. Now repeat with a sword. The arms should be totally relaxed, and the sword movement powered by the movement alone. 

Demonstrate the differences between an arm-powered and a hip-powered shot. 

5. Introduction to flatsnap

There are three basic shots, but we will focus on each individually. Handily, they are all more or less the same shot, with the wrist movement at the end determining which shot the blow lands at. 

Flatsnap/on-side shot moves in a straight line from the starting point to the target. Hip moves forward, simultaneously bringing the hand holding the sword hilt with it. The tip of the sword follows behind the hand/hilt but remains on the same straight line. Using the power provided by the hip, extend your arm in a strong forward-moving motion as though throwing a tennis ball. When the sword connects with the target, your palm should be facing upwards.

Learners practice on the pell until it looks like their focus is suffering - and bear in mind they have had a lot of new things already to take in.   

Ideally, finish off with some very controlled slow work to combine the elements of the class.

Plan for next time: Revision of footwork and the snap, completing your shots through recovery, introduction to the off-side shot, introduction to transition from one shot to the next.