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Eighty-twenty
Feb. 10th, 2012 08:35 amGentle Readers,
On Wednesday I got together with Don Aaron and because he is a generous soul we spent our time helping me figure out what I need to be working on to make sure that I get my habits good and burned in.
So far these seem to fall into three categories: habits to break, habits to make, and techniques to drill.
Starting with the first the habits to break are: defending without riposting or counter attacking, not closing lines with all tools available (offhand, lines, etc), stepping straight in, stepping back instead of to the side, and letting go of parries, and setting up inside my opponents distance (or worse, allowing them to force this).
The habits to make are mostly the opposite of the ones to break. I am sure I will come up with more after this weekend.
The skills to practice are the ones I want to be my bread and butter. The ones that generate 80 percent of my finishes. So far we have the groin thrust and the neck cut. Both are good as responsive actions but only the former really works as a means of entering distance. Pallas armata works as an entry as well, but requires a better sense of tempo and also a way to deal with an opponent who just steps back away from your engagement. I think Shamus called this ealdormerian chess. In most of these cases what I need to do is figure out what to do if the opponent doesn't recognize (or is frightened by) the invitation I am giving.
This reminds me. While playing my prize, I am supposed to demonstrate all of my skills which usually means authorizations. I am thinking that instead I will make a list of the styles I will fight in and my opponent may select which of those they would like me to use. I am going to suggest to the MiC that these be selected ahead of time to help speed the process. Fighting each bout to three telling blows might also be cool.
I think this means I am getting excited and energized about this.
On Wednesday I got together with Don Aaron and because he is a generous soul we spent our time helping me figure out what I need to be working on to make sure that I get my habits good and burned in.
So far these seem to fall into three categories: habits to break, habits to make, and techniques to drill.
Starting with the first the habits to break are: defending without riposting or counter attacking, not closing lines with all tools available (offhand, lines, etc), stepping straight in, stepping back instead of to the side, and letting go of parries, and setting up inside my opponents distance (or worse, allowing them to force this).
The habits to make are mostly the opposite of the ones to break. I am sure I will come up with more after this weekend.
The skills to practice are the ones I want to be my bread and butter. The ones that generate 80 percent of my finishes. So far we have the groin thrust and the neck cut. Both are good as responsive actions but only the former really works as a means of entering distance. Pallas armata works as an entry as well, but requires a better sense of tempo and also a way to deal with an opponent who just steps back away from your engagement. I think Shamus called this ealdormerian chess. In most of these cases what I need to do is figure out what to do if the opponent doesn't recognize (or is frightened by) the invitation I am giving.
This reminds me. While playing my prize, I am supposed to demonstrate all of my skills which usually means authorizations. I am thinking that instead I will make a list of the styles I will fight in and my opponent may select which of those they would like me to use. I am going to suggest to the MiC that these be selected ahead of time to help speed the process. Fighting each bout to three telling blows might also be cool.
I think this means I am getting excited and energized about this.
