Today in the Park

Fightcamp is coming up and I've realised how little sparring I've done since the winter. In fact I've been mostly theory and drilling (poorly) for the past 5-6 months. This means that I will get my arse handed to me in competition.


So, in an attempt to get past that, I spent today in the park with the Saturday Scrappers.  Well, two of them, and tried to get back up to speed. Not entirely successfully though.  I don't think I'm going to be much of a longswordsman, I prefer keeping my hands forward and they tend to creep to places that are only vulnerable because some fool forgot to put a complex hilt on my sword.  I'm certainly not going into competition until I've got that sorted out. Especially with the new synthetic swords- They're  pretty safe, you'll get some good bruises from them, but I really don't want to risk my knuckles in really hard play until  I'm more confident with my guards. Hand injuries are terribly inconvenient.



Since it seems I'm flexing my teaching muscles a bit more, I thought I'd run through a few ideas with the guys. Drills, basic concepts and a little sparring and analysis. Capo-esque for the sparring- It was more a matter of shouting "hold" explaining why they should move their blade in a specific way and then watching them do it a bit more- and Swetnam for the drills and explanations (I only have one dagger). The scrappers are longsword to a man, so I get to worry about the intricacies of rapier rather than distance and all of that.

I am starting to have quite a bit of confidence in my Swetnam interpretations, obviously they need improvement, but I know they're going in the right direction. Today was the first time I saw it from the outside and explaining it to people who were not my esteemed and honourable maestro.What  gives me confidence in my interpretation is how little movement is needed to defend- twist the dagger, straighten the blade and your opponent almost impales himself for you..
 
I set up the drill like this:

A takes the dagger in his left hand and holds in a guard.
B Thrusts at A's face
A parries with the dagger,   After they're used to the idea of blocking with their left, I give the defender a sword and tell them to reply with a thrust at the same time.

Repeat with other guards.

I chose this way for two reasons, as mentioned before I only have the one dagger, the other reason is that it forces you to get used to the concept of an off-hand weapon. I know the scrappers are competent fighters and not exactly a good benchmark for difficulty- however, the cackles and mild swearing as they kept on inconveniencing the attacker or suddenly finding a sword in their face suggests I've found a nice little drill to build up the reflexes and that I have got the guards held properly. They also followed movements through, which I didn't tell them about and pulled them off almost identical to how I think Swetnam describes it.

All in all, a really productive day and a good reminder of why we started these sessions in the first place.

Drink lots of water.

I seem to have let the Saturday sparring slide into the background.  There's a combination of reasons for this, and a few of them are practical.

These are due to the lovely English weather and the antiquated public transport system we have over here. A quick history lesson for those who are not familiar with this amazing city.  The London Underground was the first underground railway line in the world. The first excavations were over a century ago and, as such, there are limitations. The platforms and passageways are fairly small, sometimes going all sorts of bizarre ways. It's not a nice thing to navigate while carrying a big bag of swords.  Adding to this, they've just turned King's Cross into an international station and so you have to deal with a lot of eejits who can't follow basic courtesy like "don't stand in doorways". They've also got bags about the same size as mine. It can be quite a stressful journey at the best of times.

Anyway, back to the heat issue. If you ever come to this fair city and enjoy a pleasant day. WALK. It is for your own good. You do not want to be on the tube, it gets stifling, busy, and very hot- this is England, we don't make provisions for strange things like sunshine and warm days, we're only just getting the first air conditioned tubes. Buses are not much better, and so travel will leave you feeling dehydrated  before you even start fighting.  This is not a good position to be in.

Fighting is hot and sweaty work. The padding and mask only serve to make it worse. I urge you to overestimate your need for water. You don't have to drink it all, but you'll be damn glad the extra litre is there. Be aware of the warning signs.

Heatstroke symptoms are:

• headache
• dizziness
• disorientation, agitation or confusion
• sluggishness or fatigue
• seizure
• hot, dry skin that is flushed but not sweaty
• a high body temperature
• loss of consciousness
• rapid heart beat
• hallucinations

 Dehydration:

• thirst
• less-frequent urination
• dry skin
• fatigue
• light-headedness
• dizziness
• confusion
• dry mouth and mucous membranes
• increased heart rate and breathing

Some of these you might not notice, some you might not have.  However, keep an eye out for them in both yourself and the people you train with and don't try to push through them. Everyone gets more training in if you don't faint.

Remember, hitting each other with swords is fun- treating injuries and life threatening problems is not.