Practice Report - 12/8/15

So this week at practice, I was not there.  I've been feeling under the weather since Sunday.  Today is Friday, and I'm feeling a lot better.  I will be at Bhakail Yule tomorrow, where I will become a provost to Master Jean Xavier Boullier.

Foot / Ankle Issues

For the past two weeks or so, I've been having some pain in my right foot.  Not sure what I did to aggravate it, but its frustrating.  Its along the outside of the foot as indicated in the picture.  I found that I'm landing on that area when walking or pushing off it when walking instead of across the entire front of the foot. Part of it likely stems from my the injury to the joint, however I struggled and worked hard in physical therapy after the  injury/surgery so I would walk without a noticeable limp.  In trying to figure out the issue, I've noticed that my foot is turning out as its normal position.  I'm going to have to stay more conscious of what is happening when I walk.  I may need to get new shoes.  I'll need to examine the treads to see if it is wearing unevenly.

Practice Report - 12/1/15

This week I spent a lot more time teaching than actually fighting.  Orlando asked me to run drills this week, and rather than just doing footwork drills, I ran a drill to help work on opposition and disengages.  We had three people who are newer to fencing in the SCA, Jonathan who  has been at it for about a year, Miles who just started, and Tim who started just prior to Pennsic but has a background in modern epee and saber.  I realized quickly that Miles didn't know the basic terminology, so in order to help build him up and as a refresher for  everyone, we worked on wards and building a common language.  For me, this is based on modern french foil.  This is what I was taught, and is understood by many, so it gives us a basis for understanding and instruction.

In observing Tim over the past few months, he has a lot of energy, but not a lot of blade work.  His parries are all parry by distance, retreating out of the way, but not availing himself of the opportunity to attack or counter attack.  We discussed this, and he commented to me that many a coach tried to break him of the habit, but it worked for him on the strip, so they just let him continue as it would win matches.

We had a bit of a discussion on what he wanted out of this game and the SCA, and what he was willing to do.  He could be a good fencer by just continuing with his instincts, but he wants to be better than that, so thus began the process of introducing new skills.  His parries were weak and there was never a riposte coming from him, so we started with defense.  In order to allow him to concentrate on his bladework and not retreat out, I placed his rear foot/leg against a wall.  We then began a slow drill of parry, followed by a riposte.  We worked this, but he was still trying to rely on body movement  without any blade movement to get out of the way during the drill.  So  we slowed it down even more to concentrate on just the parry.

Not wanting to burn him out, we stopped so he could fence.  We discussed him concentrating on his blade work and not retreating, but its still his first instinct.  He's also sitting in more of a gunslinger stance, not covering his opponents blade or even covering a line defensively.  I could see him getting frustrated, and when that hit, all the talk about standing ground and working with the blade went out the window.  There was some good stuff in there as well.  I called a hold and showed him how and why his opponent had free access to strike at him, without him being able to do the same.  I showed him how I could sense and tell where an opponent was going if we had a little blade contact.  I did it  with my eyes closed.  Jonathan moved his blade and I followed it blind, due to feeling it through the sword.  They did a few more passes and we talked afterwards.  I think Tim is of the mindset that he needs to win his bouts, even in practice.

After that I got a little fencing in against Malcolm.  I switched back to my 37" blade and found it to  be comforting like an old pair of jeans.  At one point, I tweaked the ankle, so we did a few more passes and I called it a night.

In other news, next weekend at Yule at the Palazzo (Bhakail), I will be taking on the role of provost to Master Jean Xavier Boullier.  This was something that was discussed at the Roses Tourney, where I broached the idea with him.  It further strengthens our friendship, and I can think of no finer men to take on a project such as myself.

This week in rapier

I skipped practice this week. Between Thanksgiving prep and my ankle being sore from 100 Minutes War, it was just not feasible. Still having some major pain in the ankle. My weight is a contributing factor I'm sure, but it's never taken me this long to recover so I'm getting a little worried. I need to do something, just not sure what.

I also subscribed to Duello TV

100 Minutes War

Sorry for any typos. I'm trying to post this from my phone.

So there was an event yesterday, 100 Minutes War. It marks the end of the outdoor fencing season here in the East.  This year the weather was cooperative. 

The day started out slowly. Bethany asked a question of me and while I wad right in my thinking, I'm not as good at saying the full answer.  I noticed Lorenzo, Donovan, and Remy having a discussion, so I pointed her at the three of them. I enjoyed listening to their sword geekery in breaking down the answer regarding the differences, subtle and gross, between stances of Gigante and Fabris. I need to get better at giving a fuller answer than just an overview as my thinking was right,  but not complete.

Onto the warlord tournament to help choose sides for the day. My first fight was with Melchior, and it wad one of the most fun passes I've had in quite a while.  I figure in a warlord tourney you want good teammates and I could not have asked for a better captain, as he beat me cleanly.  We eventually lost in an 8 on 8 to Orlando.

Then there wad the crazy cannonball melee. Seems like people enjoyed hitting me hard, including a punch with the guard to my mask (Looking at you, Monsoiur Remy) and a shot from behind into my kidneys. It was all good, though I do have a few nice bruises. I talked to the folks who made the mistakes after the fights,  not out of anger, but to use it as a teaching moment. Remy still continued to hit me hard.  Must be my mask that offends his sensibilities.

At brief court in which for new members were added to the rolls of the Silver Rapier, Yehuda was given a medallion that started with me, was passed to Engracia, and is now his.

Alesone, put out a call fire anyone willing to be a lava otter for the next scenario.  Now lava otters are an elusive creature, chaos incarnate but with a sense of fun and fair play. I jumped on the opportunity and thus the forces of chaos included myself, Caine, Nataliia, Melchior,  and Ronan.  It was some of the most fun I've ever had fencing. My queen called me the perfect lava otter for my actions. That made me smile inside. Chasing Aiden through the woods at the end like a crazed horror movie killer, telling him "my son wants me to give you a fist bump" and his reaction to that is going to be s favorite memory for a long time. We were both laughing about it.  He said I had that perfect killer stalk, which was because I was wiped and my ankle was killing me.

Then into the final tournament, the MOD/OGR challenge. I had some great passes with people, was able to provide some good feedback and instruction (I hope), and end the day on a high note.

Gearing down a leaving site down, I was very happy with the day. This morning, my legs still hurt but I am smiling. It doesn't hurt that my sin wad just giggling and being all cute.

Practice Report - 11/17

Not happy with where my fencing was last night.  I'm relying too much on tricks and not good fencing.  This makes me want to just pack it in for a while.  I know in my mind what I am doing is wrong, but I just can't break the body of the habits and make it do something different.  In part, I wonder if it is due to the new blade.  I think before next week, I am going to drop back to the 38" Darkwood blade, instead of the 45" Castillle.  I wonder if I'm using the length as a crutch to prop up bad fencing.  I have not been this unhappy with the way I have been fencing in quite some time.

The good, well interesting, from last night was Yehuda and Firebow doing some teaching on what they learned at KWAR.  We were doing some very basic things, like finding the blade, which is awkward at the moment since it is new.  It is very similar to what I was doing on Saturday with my bouts against Jean Xavier, but now there is some thought behind it.  I look forward to learning more as I need new skills to develop.

St. Andrew's on Long Island and Practice Reports

Practice has recently felt like a chore.  Last week however, I had some great passes with Orlando which I really enjoyed.  I'm not sure why the feeling of malaise when it comes to practice, other than my life has been very busy right now, and going to practice feels more like an obligation and not like something fun.  But I do enjoy being at practice for the people and the fencing.  Its the "going to practice" that has me iffy.  I also need to get back to working on drills and building up muscle memory.

Saturday, we traveled out to Long Island for St. Andrews.  Its a small local event and most of the people who were fencing there don't travel all that much, so it was nice to see some unfamiliar faces, as well as those more familiar.  There were two tournaments, a single elimination tournament and then the novelty tourney.  I went into the first tournament over confident.  I drew Eanraig the Bonesetter as my first bout.  He's pretty good, I was stupid and I wound up dying.  So lesson learned... and its a lesson I've probably been needing for a while.   I tried to toy with my opponent, figuring that I could counter anything he threw at me.  I was wrong.  I need to fence my game and keep it tight.  That is when I am at my best.

In the second tournament, there were three people fencing at a time.  You got one or two points for picking up objects around the list and three points for killing your opponents.  I said heck with bending down, and my strategy was dispatch my opponents and then pick up any remaining objects.  At the conclusion of the tournament, I had 27 points.  My next closest opponent had a little over half my total.  For my effort, I was rewarded with a signed copy of "Honor Among Thieves" by J.M. Aucoin.

I did some pickups and a little teaching at the conclusion of the tournament.  I did some pickups with Eanraig wherein I felt better about facing him earlier.  He's strong and faster than I thought, but playing my game and maintaining proper measure, I felt more at ease.  He does like to come in hard and fast, but it left me his belly to hit as he tried to  recover from his initial attack.

I did some my quick and dirty dagger lesson with Baroness Lassar.  She picked it up right away and we signed her auth card for dagger.

Then I participated in a re-auth for a nice lady and did the dagger portion, as she had all her auths and had to go through all the forms.   I had to coax her significantly to actually make any attack with the dagger.  Even after tying her sword up completely with the dagger free, she was reticent to make an attack with it.

Finally it was a series of bouts with Jean-Xavier.  Its always a fun time fencing with him.  For some reason, I was making a lot of parries in five, with my blade over his, and my point offline, which was allowing him to complete his attack after the initial interception.  I'm not sure why I was doing this or what was going on in my head, but I was not rolling my wrist over to execute a parry four properly.  I paused what I was doing, evaluated it, still have no clue why I was doing it, but was able to correct it for the rest of our passes.

Following the fencing, I was able to witness Jean-Xavier take Lady Miriam Giant Killer as his first provost.   Then it was the long trip home.  I hate travelling through NYC.  While it was only a little over 90 minutes to get to the site, it took us an hour longer just to get to the George Washington Bridge.