The importance of play

I suspect that I've already had a post with the same title, but the manuals tell you to play at the sword.  There's this distinction between at play and fighting for your life and I think that distinction is missing from a lot of places. Especially where ritual is there instead of value.


I really like this "what if" idea- give people a grounding, teach them to be safe, see where they cackle (and they will cackle..) then pair them up with their opposite- weapon variation is also a useful tool in this context..  Once you've got that, insist on a third, keep an eye out, take the edges off and ask everyone what they know.  Then, barring a few tweaks (which you didn't explain properly in the first place) and a realisation that you've misread an entire section, all you do is listen.

Well, I say all.. once I've listened properly, I'll know of better partner combinations, find new drills, and keep on with that cycle.  It also means that I can rotate the experienced lot out of play to drill with newbies- and keeping it relevant by matching the drill to their weakness, and stuff like that.  But you can't build on that cycle without seeing where it fails and making sure that the class knows how to fight to teach. It's simply more efficient to create a class full of teachers.

I think play is at the very heart of HEMA, which sounds more than  a little strange considering it's about finding the most efficient way to stab someone in the face.  With that in mind, the next couple of weeks will be open play. If I do it right, I can keep a good rotation of newbie/experienced/experienced/newbie for specific principles...

Then I get to play.