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Gentle Readers,
I was away for an event this past weekend. I had a lovely time camping in a giant industrial space. I was the martial in charge for rapier because we the Hammers had wanted to do something to increase our visibility. I suspect that the two gentle who were added to the order did that much more effectively.
The tournament style I ran was called a Venni tournament. You get an ordered list of fencers, first one in is the king. Bouts to 3 touches. Winner becomes king. King wins in the case of a tie. Every one has 2 lives, but you can earn a new life if you win 4 or more bouts as king. As you might be able to tell, the closer you are to the end, the more of an advantage you have. Holkuld was at the end of the list and after becoming King (which he then changed to Queen and then to Royal Personage of Indeterminate Gender). He didn't lose a single fight.
Anyway, since I was running the tournament, I didn't get the amount of fencing I wanted. I did get some free play and did not do so well. I kept getting stabbed. I was able to take control, move in launch the attack, but managed to leave my self wide open to get stabbed. I was letting go of engagement, but not sure why.
So, later this evening at Capo Ferro I finally was able to realize at least one thing I've not managed to get right. We were doing some lunge drills against a dummy opponent. You move in, stringer, and then lunge to target,k eeping yourself safe. I didn't figure it out at first because we were doing the drills with the dagger to add some protection. We were also looking at stepping to the side and how much off the line you need to get. Our instructor has a habit of coming fairly far off the line which I have been emulating so this time we were trying a closer line. I should have been remembering what Sensei would say about the sword not being all that thick.
Anyway. I would step in, stringer, extend and lunch and as I did so my hand was moving to the outside line even though it was in 4th and supposed to be closing the inside line. At first the dagger hid this, but for some reason it was much more obvious with the left hand. Then I tried without the dagger and there it was. Plain as day.
Now I just need to practice doing it correctly. Identify the problem, then fix. Good advice.
I was away for an event this past weekend. I had a lovely time camping in a giant industrial space. I was the martial in charge for rapier because we the Hammers had wanted to do something to increase our visibility. I suspect that the two gentle who were added to the order did that much more effectively.
The tournament style I ran was called a Venni tournament. You get an ordered list of fencers, first one in is the king. Bouts to 3 touches. Winner becomes king. King wins in the case of a tie. Every one has 2 lives, but you can earn a new life if you win 4 or more bouts as king. As you might be able to tell, the closer you are to the end, the more of an advantage you have. Holkuld was at the end of the list and after becoming King (which he then changed to Queen and then to Royal Personage of Indeterminate Gender). He didn't lose a single fight.
Anyway, since I was running the tournament, I didn't get the amount of fencing I wanted. I did get some free play and did not do so well. I kept getting stabbed. I was able to take control, move in launch the attack, but managed to leave my self wide open to get stabbed. I was letting go of engagement, but not sure why.
So, later this evening at Capo Ferro I finally was able to realize at least one thing I've not managed to get right. We were doing some lunge drills against a dummy opponent. You move in, stringer, and then lunge to target,k eeping yourself safe. I didn't figure it out at first because we were doing the drills with the dagger to add some protection. We were also looking at stepping to the side and how much off the line you need to get. Our instructor has a habit of coming fairly far off the line which I have been emulating so this time we were trying a closer line. I should have been remembering what Sensei would say about the sword not being all that thick.
Anyway. I would step in, stringer, extend and lunch and as I did so my hand was moving to the outside line even though it was in 4th and supposed to be closing the inside line. At first the dagger hid this, but for some reason it was much more obvious with the left hand. Then I tried without the dagger and there it was. Plain as day.
Now I just need to practice doing it correctly. Identify the problem, then fix. Good advice.
