To address the problem discussed in my previous rant...er...blog post, I brought in an Albion Earl longsword. Not only is this a sharp, but it is a realistic representation of a 15th century sword, not an ultralight designed to appeal to modern sensibilities.
The first thing I did was to have the students show me how they fought with a plastic simulator. I asked them to do the kind of moves they normally do in free fencing. Then I gave them the real sword and had them try to do the same thing. They quickly realized two things. One, they were considerably slower with the real sword than with the plastic, and two, a good percentage of their cuts were ineffective. The Earl is a very good longsword to test this out, because it is very, very loud (when you cut with proper edge alignment and velocity). So if you swing it and you hear nothing, you're wrong.
Imagine that...swinging a real sword and actually getting it to work right is really hard. Hmmmm...
After they took turns doing solo cutting drills with the real sword, we did some free fencing with a twist. The idea was to be honest, to yourself and your training partner, and only do things with the plastic sword that you could actually do with the real sword. Not only do, but do successfully.
The fencing was fantastic. Boris and Vlad participated, and both were able to keep it honest the vast majority of the time. I fought each of them, and they fought each other, and the fighting was really good, and really clean. The things they did were things they could actually do with a sword. The disconnect between cutting and fighting was, if not eliminated, greatly reduced.
Way to go, guys. Really well done. Now to try it on the rest of you and see if works just as well.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Stop playing games
I've been paying close attention lately to how you fight and cut, and your free fencing is writing checks your cutting can't cash.
When you fight, some of you are hopping demons, lashing out sword punishment like boxers dish out jabs. When you cut, you approach your target carefully, take some breaths, get ready and swing, knowing that if you screw up your angles or your velocity, you'll just knock the mat off the stand. This is good...for the cutting.
So let me ask you a question...what do you think you're doing in free fencing? How does a person who can only cut through a mat (which is easier than inflicting a critical injury to a human body) with careful preparation and with only a Zornhau and sometimes an Unterhau justify flinging their sword around like Bob Anderson? How many of your cuts would actually do any real harm to your opponent?
Look at the following image:
A represents correct edge alignment. The sword is perfectly aligned with the direction of movement. As you all know, this is what you need to cut successfully. Mats, people, anything. Nothing less will work.
B represents how most of you cut in free fencing. I've been watching you carefully and with few exceptions, about 70-95% (depending on who you are) of your cuts are like B (with the exception of the Zornhau, which is mostly okay). Do you know what happens when B strikes a person? Nothing. No matter how hard you hit, all you're going to do is really, really piss someone off, and then you will die.
The other issue is small motions, quick motions, the kind of stuff you see a lot on Youtube bouting vids. Sword jabs, if you will. You'll often see me making quick and small motions such as these in free fencing, but that's because I can cut with those motions. If you can't, then you don't get to use them.
Why are you doing all this? It varies for each individual. Some of you are so eager to score a hit that you swing wildly, even in winding drills. Some of you move faster than your brains can follow--you act without thinking. Some of you take advantage of the light weight of the plastic simulators and pay no attention to the realities of a much heavier steel sword.
I often tell you that cutting must inform your free fencing and your drills, yet so far this is not happening. You cut carefully and deliberately, but fight like rabid monkeys. For example, I see a lot of you leaving the bind to launch a quick cut to someone's side or stomach horizontally. That's fine, except...how many of you can cut a tatami mat horizontally that way? Well if you can't, what exactly do think you're doing using that cut in free fencing?
I want you all to stop playing games. Stop treating free fencing like a competition in which the object is to score points by touching your opponent with your sword or whacking them with it as though it were a club. If this is what you really want to do, there are Jedi lightsaber classes offered all over the city. No edge alignment or power generation or tip velocity is necessary, because light sabers are plasma weapons and kill on contact. Real swords, however, take a lot of skill, and a lot of patience.
What's that you say? Lightsabers aren't real? It's all fantasy? Well, so is your free fencing if you don't try really hard to use your fencing simulator like a real sword, with all the limitations inherent in the weapon and in yourselves.
Why am I suddenly being such a hard ass about this? Because when you fight like you have a lightsaber instead of a sword, you're forcing your opponent to react to you as though you were a much better fencer than you really are, except that you're not acting like a good fencer, you're acting like a wild man, and that compromises his or her ability to learn from free fencing. And that is, after all, the point of free fencing, even tournaments. To learn. Not to cheat and win. Respect for your fellow student is of the utmost importance. Your job is not just to learn to be a badass sword ninja killer. Your job is to help your fellow students learn, and theirs is to help you. We all support each other. Keep that in mind next time you flick your wrist for that fight winning point or charge in like a screaming barbarian with no concern for edge alignment or any of the other aspects of proper cutting.
When you fight, some of you are hopping demons, lashing out sword punishment like boxers dish out jabs. When you cut, you approach your target carefully, take some breaths, get ready and swing, knowing that if you screw up your angles or your velocity, you'll just knock the mat off the stand. This is good...for the cutting.
So let me ask you a question...what do you think you're doing in free fencing? How does a person who can only cut through a mat (which is easier than inflicting a critical injury to a human body) with careful preparation and with only a Zornhau and sometimes an Unterhau justify flinging their sword around like Bob Anderson? How many of your cuts would actually do any real harm to your opponent?
Look at the following image:
A represents correct edge alignment. The sword is perfectly aligned with the direction of movement. As you all know, this is what you need to cut successfully. Mats, people, anything. Nothing less will work.
B represents how most of you cut in free fencing. I've been watching you carefully and with few exceptions, about 70-95% (depending on who you are) of your cuts are like B (with the exception of the Zornhau, which is mostly okay). Do you know what happens when B strikes a person? Nothing. No matter how hard you hit, all you're going to do is really, really piss someone off, and then you will die.
The other issue is small motions, quick motions, the kind of stuff you see a lot on Youtube bouting vids. Sword jabs, if you will. You'll often see me making quick and small motions such as these in free fencing, but that's because I can cut with those motions. If you can't, then you don't get to use them.
Why are you doing all this? It varies for each individual. Some of you are so eager to score a hit that you swing wildly, even in winding drills. Some of you move faster than your brains can follow--you act without thinking. Some of you take advantage of the light weight of the plastic simulators and pay no attention to the realities of a much heavier steel sword.
I often tell you that cutting must inform your free fencing and your drills, yet so far this is not happening. You cut carefully and deliberately, but fight like rabid monkeys. For example, I see a lot of you leaving the bind to launch a quick cut to someone's side or stomach horizontally. That's fine, except...how many of you can cut a tatami mat horizontally that way? Well if you can't, what exactly do think you're doing using that cut in free fencing?
I want you all to stop playing games. Stop treating free fencing like a competition in which the object is to score points by touching your opponent with your sword or whacking them with it as though it were a club. If this is what you really want to do, there are Jedi lightsaber classes offered all over the city. No edge alignment or power generation or tip velocity is necessary, because light sabers are plasma weapons and kill on contact. Real swords, however, take a lot of skill, and a lot of patience.
What's that you say? Lightsabers aren't real? It's all fantasy? Well, so is your free fencing if you don't try really hard to use your fencing simulator like a real sword, with all the limitations inherent in the weapon and in yourselves.
Why am I suddenly being such a hard ass about this? Because when you fight like you have a lightsaber instead of a sword, you're forcing your opponent to react to you as though you were a much better fencer than you really are, except that you're not acting like a good fencer, you're acting like a wild man, and that compromises his or her ability to learn from free fencing. And that is, after all, the point of free fencing, even tournaments. To learn. Not to cheat and win. Respect for your fellow student is of the utmost importance. Your job is not just to learn to be a badass sword ninja killer. Your job is to help your fellow students learn, and theirs is to help you. We all support each other. Keep that in mind next time you flick your wrist for that fight winning point or charge in like a screaming barbarian with no concern for edge alignment or any of the other aspects of proper cutting.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Posturing does not equal intent
Since no one has yet commented on last Saturday's lesson..
A lot of attention was given to high vom Tag, and how it is to be used (and how not). Although posturing is useless in any guard (by posturing I refer to assuming a guard either for no tactical reason, or worse, without intent) it is extremely dangerous in high vom Tag. Not dangerous in the sense that it leaves you particularly open, although quick hand snipes are certainly possible. Dangerous in the sense that if you are in high vom Tag, the sword must come down: it's an aggressive guard, and must be taken as a serious threat. However, if one simply holds a high vom Tag and doesn't strike, the sense of aggression is completely lost. Your opponent will take advantage of this, and start going for the hand snipes, etc.
In short, take high vom Tag, and mean it. Bring that sword down on your opponent's head; make him aware of the danger they are in.
A lot of attention was given to high vom Tag, and how it is to be used (and how not). Although posturing is useless in any guard (by posturing I refer to assuming a guard either for no tactical reason, or worse, without intent) it is extremely dangerous in high vom Tag. Not dangerous in the sense that it leaves you particularly open, although quick hand snipes are certainly possible. Dangerous in the sense that if you are in high vom Tag, the sword must come down: it's an aggressive guard, and must be taken as a serious threat. However, if one simply holds a high vom Tag and doesn't strike, the sense of aggression is completely lost. Your opponent will take advantage of this, and start going for the hand snipes, etc.
In short, take high vom Tag, and mean it. Bring that sword down on your opponent's head; make him aware of the danger they are in.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Training for a Tournament
With Longpoint 2011 just around the corner, preparing for a tournament should be on everyone's mind (don't forget to register here: http://fightlongpoint.com/ ). This is part of the reason we've started doing the stations workout in class, and also the reason I have considerably upped the intensity of my personal nightly training regimen.
However, when preparing for a historical fencing tournament, we have to remember that the focus of our training should be...historical fencing. Fitness is extremely important, and a good training regimen will incorporate a lot of endurance and strength boosting exercises, but fitness should not be the focus or goal of your training. Your routine shold focus mostly on building the core skills of swordsmanship: coordination, balance, power generation, reflexes and, most importantly, technique. I've written in the past about what all the best professional athletes have in common, and that is that they train not just for resulsts, but for the refinement of individual techniques. And so you should train in the fashion as well. Solo cutting drills, pell work, forms, etc.
I've outfenced people who were in 100 times better shape than I was, but I've also lost fencing matches because I was too tired from previous matches. You have to find a balance. Skill is number one, but endurance cannot be forgotten. Happy training, and good luck in the tournament!
However, when preparing for a historical fencing tournament, we have to remember that the focus of our training should be...historical fencing. Fitness is extremely important, and a good training regimen will incorporate a lot of endurance and strength boosting exercises, but fitness should not be the focus or goal of your training. Your routine shold focus mostly on building the core skills of swordsmanship: coordination, balance, power generation, reflexes and, most importantly, technique. I've written in the past about what all the best professional athletes have in common, and that is that they train not just for resulsts, but for the refinement of individual techniques. And so you should train in the fashion as well. Solo cutting drills, pell work, forms, etc.
I've outfenced people who were in 100 times better shape than I was, but I've also lost fencing matches because I was too tired from previous matches. You have to find a balance. Skill is number one, but endurance cannot be forgotten. Happy training, and good luck in the tournament!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Scoring Hits in Free Fencing
The other day we were doing some free fencing, and one of the students wanted to challenge me with steel. So we got to fighting. In one particular exchange, his sword made contact with my right arm and “sliced” along the sleeve of my gambeson. The judges called a point. I said, "No." As the teacher, I get to make such decisions. The judges did not understand, but the other fencer did. Don’t get me wrong, I like it when my students hit me, it means I’m doing my job. But this was different.
A sword is not a light saber. It is not enough merely to touch someone with it. You have to cut them. Or stab them, or slice really hard. Even a thrust has to be delivered with force. There are people who think it takes very little effort to put a sword point into someone's body, but those people apparently like to fight naked, and without bones. That's some trick!
There is a clear dividing line between excessive force and a decisive hit. You don't have to hit someone hard, but you have to hit them. Or if you sword happens to make contact with their arm or other part of their body, you have to turn the edge to the target and push/pull hard and slice (no need to worry about holding back for these!). If you thrust, I want to see the blade flex, or it doesn't count, particularly with the plastic swords.
There is a great danger to counting light touches. It leads to massive distortions of free fencing, which already has more than its share of artifacts. This is one of the reasons we practice cutting. You know what it takes (technique wise, not just force wise) to cut a mat. It takes more than that to mortally wound a human being. There are reasons to cut back on force in free fencing, but not technique.
As the months roll on, I will be increasingly strict on what I consider a "point" in free fencing. My ultimate goal is to have you guys deliver each strike cleanly and decisively and avoid small snipy movements. Note that this has nothing to do with hand snipes...by all means take the hand. But take it decisively.
A sword is not a light saber. It is not enough merely to touch someone with it. You have to cut them. Or stab them, or slice really hard. Even a thrust has to be delivered with force. There are people who think it takes very little effort to put a sword point into someone's body, but those people apparently like to fight naked, and without bones. That's some trick!
There is a clear dividing line between excessive force and a decisive hit. You don't have to hit someone hard, but you have to hit them. Or if you sword happens to make contact with their arm or other part of their body, you have to turn the edge to the target and push/pull hard and slice (no need to worry about holding back for these!). If you thrust, I want to see the blade flex, or it doesn't count, particularly with the plastic swords.
There is a great danger to counting light touches. It leads to massive distortions of free fencing, which already has more than its share of artifacts. This is one of the reasons we practice cutting. You know what it takes (technique wise, not just force wise) to cut a mat. It takes more than that to mortally wound a human being. There are reasons to cut back on force in free fencing, but not technique.
As the months roll on, I will be increasingly strict on what I consider a "point" in free fencing. My ultimate goal is to have you guys deliver each strike cleanly and decisively and avoid small snipy movements. Note that this has nothing to do with hand snipes...by all means take the hand. But take it decisively.
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