Tending the Flame: A teacher's handbook "Those who can, do. Those who cannot, teach." I say, "Those who can, do. Those who understand teach." It is true that there are many excellent fighters. It is true that there are many excellent teachers. These may or may not be the same person. It is not that "those who cannot, teach," but rather that teach requires a completely separate set of skills. To teach, you must understand the components of an action, and how to convey them to the student so he may accomplish them himself. To block a sword blow, you must know that the blow is coming and move to intercept it with your shield. To teach to block a sword blow, you must understand how to know when that sword blow is coming, and how the body must move in order intercept it with your shield. You must be able to understand not only how you accomplish this, but how other fighters (tall, short, female, male, etc.) accomplish this. Finally, you must figure out the best way to convey that experience to the individual student you are working with right now. Language is often the weakest link in this process. Few of us can really take an explanation and successfully turn it into a duplicate of the action which inspired the explanation. Use visual demonstrations supported by verbal cues. Also, don't underestimate the value of physical contact. Place your hand on your student's hand and gently turn it to the desired position. You'll be able to feel if his wrist is loose, or tight. Maybe he cannot physically move his body in the way you move yours due to injuries, or just plain differences in growth patterns. You will be able to discover these limitations by physically manipulating your student's body. Then you must learn to adjust your lesson to your student. A physical limitation doesn't mean he can't accomplish something, but rather you must uncover a different route to the same objective. Tailoring the lesson for the student also means being aware of other limitations of your student. You may need to adjust your pace quicker or slower, or repeat concepts multiple times. Your student may get tired half way through your lesson, or be ready for more after you've covered all of the material you have prepared. Boredom is as much an enemy as burnout. Watch for both extremes. Don't forget that your student will also come to you with emotional and cultural baggage. These may be some of your most difficult stumbling blocks. Patience is the greatest virtue of any teacher. Ask your student questions, even when you already know the answer. The purpose of asking questions is twofold. First it engages the mind of the student. Lengthy lectures can wash over your student without sinking in, but the mind becomes much more absorbent when you ask leading questions. All the better if you can lead your student in a process of self discovery. Secondly, you as the teacher will get immediate feedback as to whether or not your lesson has been understood. Learning to fight is ultimately a personal journey. If you watch the best fighters, you may notice that each one has a unique set of sword blows and blocks and ways of moving. This is because each one of them has found the limitations of his own body, and found a way to get around that to accomplish the task of hitting his opponent without getting hit. When they talk about fighting, they may all use the same language and espouse the same theories, but ask them about how they hit Duke Sir Opponent with X sword blow. They will all answer, "when I throw X, I have to do Y, because Z limitation." Y will be different for each of them because each has their own Z limitation. What does this mean for you as a teacher? Your job is actually to instill in your student the skills and techniques he needs in order to figure out how he needs to fight. On his personal journey he will need to discover his own limitations and how get past them. You can give him maps and guidebooks. You can show him exercises to condition his body for the journey. You can teach him to ride a horse and how to drive a Jeep. Ultimately, when he's in the jungle, and he runs into a cliff that's not on your map, and lacks a road for the Jeep, or even a horsetail, he's the one who will have to figure out how to climb to the top of that precipice. And at that moment, there is nothing, you as a teacher, can do to help. It is for this challenge that you must prepare your student. Before we proceed to the practical stuff, I'd like to leave you with one last Buddhist saying, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." May you be ready when your student appears. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previous Next Index Home Types of Fighters Natural Warrior: The natural warrior is the easiest to teach and the rarest to find. The natural warrior will usually come to you already a black belt in two or more traditional martial arts, and retired from one of the military Special Forces organizations. All you need to do is tell him the rules, and demonstrate the basics of how the game usually works. He will be able to pick up everything else on his own. You may need to show him the limits in term of acceptable force, and help him learn the language that we use to talk about combat. Other than that, he's good to go. Natural Athlete: The natural athlete enjoys competition and has been participated in several organized team sports for as long as he can remember. This is just another sport, although it may be his first martial art. He picks up physical skills with ease. He may not know what he is doing, but he knows when he's doing it right, and can repeat that correct action any time he chooses. You will need to teach him the rules and limitations of our game. You should only need to demonstrate a new technique once or twice, and he will pick them up from others as quickly as he learns them from you. He will naturally adjust those techniques to suit his own body mechanics. It helps if you can relate a body motion to an action in a known sport. You may need to teach him the concepts which are unique to martial arts like range and feints. Traditional Girl: Just because a student is female, doesn't mean she fits into this category. The traditional girl has never participated in a contact sport before. She may be afraid of hurting her opponent, but you must convince her that is what armor is for. I suggest using a great deal of physical contact when teaching new techniques (place your hands on her shoulder and rotate them into position), or even when greeting her on her arrival a practice (a hug), or when giving praise (a hand on the shoulder). This helps enforce the feeling that physical contact in this sport is a GOOD thing. It will help when it comes time for her to throw her body through a shieldwall. Don't be afraid to tell her that menstrual cycles can have an impact on fighting. Some women get debilitating cramps, some become emotionally fragile, or just plain stubborn. Some women don't notice any differences throughout their menstrual cycles. It is different for every woman, and every woman must learn how to incorporate that knowledge in to her fighting. You may also need to spend a great deal of time generating power in her sword blows. Just incorporate it into your regular training cycles, and when she finally hits you with excessive force, smile, and praise her. Then go back and work on finding the ideal power level. Thinker: The thinker may have no natural athletic talent, but he can analyze himself and those he can see. He can also learn from the written sources, so point him towards the online materials and the classical sources. He learns the quickest when he is given hints about how to do something, but let him actually figure it out for himself. He may take much longer to learn new techniques. Whiner: Nothing is ever quite right with the whiner. The equipment doesn't fit right, he can't quite move that way, and he can't make it to practice this week. There's always a legitimate reason for everything, but they are not the real source of the problem. The source of the problem often has nothing to do with fighting or even the SCA. Until this problem is confronted and dealt with by the student, he will never be a comfortable, confident, effective fighter. I don't know how to make it better. Poser: The poser may come to practice. He has beautiful armor, and may even put it on sometimes. You'll definitely see him wearing it at events, but just because he has his gear on doesn't necessarily mean he will fight. He's more enamored of the concept of being a fighter, and possessing it's trappings than he is of the training, physical exertion, and competition it takes to fully enjoy the sport. The best thing you can do is pester the poser about donating/loaning his old "useless" armor to the local loaner closet. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previous Next Index Home Lesson I: Stance, Flat Snap, and Hit Me - Hit You Some of the language and instructions I use come directly from The Fundamentals of Sword and Shield by Duke Gyrth Oldcastle. Teacher, "So you wanna learn how to fight?" Student, "Yah! I can't wait! / Um, I guess so..." Teacher, "Great! before we begin, I just want you to know that there are many terrific teachers here at this practice. It's just that I maintain the loaner closet, so I tend to work with the new fighters. If you don't like the way this works, don't hesitate to tell me to "fuck off" so you can work with someone else. Ok?" Student nods. Teacher, "all right, ah, so what sports have you (organized) played? " Student, "Well, I used to XXXXXXXXX, but that was beck in high school. Oh, and I still play XXXXXXX in a community league. T If the response includes a martial arTeacher, "You'll find that everything you learned in XXXXXX applies directly in theory, but most of the techniques don't work that well. You'll find our biggest limitation is our equipment." Teacher, "Great! So in every sport you've played, how far apart are your feet?" Student usually spreads his feet a bit. Teacher nods and mirrors students stance, "yup. Your feet are about a shoulder's width apart, plus or minus a little bit depending. How about your knees? straight or bent?" Student, "Uh, bent, I think..." Teacher nods and bends his knees deeply, almost to the point of exaggerating the stance, "Yup! And in this game the more you can bend your knees, the better." Teacher, "Now, are you left handed or right handed?" Student, "Righty." (1 ) Teacher, "So you'll have a shield in your left hand. Point your left foot a your opponent, me, and your right foot goes back here. You can place it directly behind your lead foot so it forms a "T", a little off to the right to form an "L", or even back here on the other side of your lead foot like in an Oldcastle stance. (2 ) Good. Now let me show you something." Teacher turns to face student with his shoulders squared towards the student and his arms slightly out to the side, and smiles. In a deep voice he intones, "BIG TARGET." Teacher turns sideways and looks over his shoulder at the student. In a squeaky voice he says, "little target." Student laughs, I hope. Teacher, "So point your left shoulder at me, and thumb your nose at me over your left shoulder. Just leave your shield hand vaguely up there somewhere with your elbow in near your side." Teacher demonstrates the stance. Teacher, "Very good. Hold this wiffle ball bat in your right hand like it was a sword. Now take your sword hand, and put it vaguely up here next to your right shoulder. There are several positions you can use, (demonstrate each of these) shotgun, vertical, but you need forearms the size of your thighs to really do that one right, Oldcastle with your elbow in your ear, high Oldcastle, and deep Oldcastle like this with your sword down your spine. ( 3 ) It doesn't matter which one you use, I even find that I change up in the middle of a fight. What is important, is that your elbow is tucked in out of the way. If your elbow is sticking out like this, it looks like a target, so keep it tucked in." Student briefly tries on the various guards, and temporarily settles on one. Teacher, "Good, now you're standing with your feet a shoulder's width apart, with your knees bent, and your weight centered between your feet." ( ) Teacher demonstrates all of this and lets his hips bounce a little to show that he are loose and flowing, not a tight solid brick. Teacher, "Don't lean over. Once you've got eight to twelve extra pounds of steel on your head, you won't be able to lean over without falling on your butt." Teacher, "Now we're going to throw a "flat snap", or "Belletrix snap." Your target is my temple." Teacher points to temple. Teacher, "The power of this blow starts with your back foot. Push off with your foot and turn it into rotational energy with your hips. Pretend that you're sitting down on a bar stool. That's good." Teacher places his hands on the student's hips to make them turn correctly. SStudent rotates his entire upper body along with his hips. Teacher, "Good. Now do it again, but this time, as you pivot your hips forwards, I want you to keep your shoulder back in it's original position." Teacher, "Get back into stance. Your feet are a shoulder's width apart, your knees are bent, and your weight is centered between your feet. " Student makes slight adjustments to his stance. Teacher, "Now push off with your back foot and turn it into rotational energy." Student pushes off and pivots his hips trying to hold back the shoulders. Teacher, "Perfect! Do you feel tight in your central column, almost like it's a wound spring?" Student nods. Student, "Yeah..." Teacher, "Good now that we've wound that spring we're going to release that energy into a whip like motion." Teacher, "So get back into stance (5 ). Your feet are a shoulder's width apart, your knees are bent, and your weight is centered between your feet. Push off with your back foot and rotate your hips. Now let your shoulders follow your hips and point your elbow at your target. Punch with your basket hilt towards your target while letting your blade trail behind. Lastly, let the blade rotate to the side with your palm facing up." Teacher, "Good. Two things. If you threw the blow with an open hand (Demonstrate), it would end with your palm open to the sky. This insures that you'll actually hit with the edge of your blade and not the flat. Secondly, you want to end with your hand as high as your target, so that the blade follows a flat arc to the target. That's why it's called a "flat snap." The reason will become clear when we start working with a shield. You'll just have to trust me for now." Teacher, "So get back into stance. Your feet are a shoulder's width apart, your knees are bent, and your weight is centered between your feet. Don't lean over. Push off with your back foot and rotate your hips. Now let your shoulders follow your hips and point your elbow at your target. Punch with your basket hilt towards your target while letting your blade trail behind. Lastly, let the blade rotate to the side with your palm facing up." Student throws the blow as quickly as he dares and gets way ahead of you. Teacher, "Whoa! Important safety tip. Unless you are hitting an object, a person, a telephone pole, a pell, NEVER throw sword blows at full speed. If you do, you will be using your own muscles to stop yourself, and you'll begin to damage your wrist, your elbow, your shoulder. And you'll injure yourself before you even get a chance to come out here and fight. Slow motion, slow motion, slow motion." Teacher, "I want you to throw the blow again, in slow motion, and this time stop once you've reached your target." Teacher, "So get back into stance. Your feet are a shoulder's width apart, your knees are bent, and your weight is centered between your feet. Don't lean over. Push off with your back foot and rotate your hips. Keep that shoulder back. Now let your shoulders follow your hips and point your elbow at your target. Punch with your basket hilt, and let the blade rotate, and stop." Student looks at the teacher funny. Teacher, "Now let gravity take control of your sword. Yup, let it fall, and as it reaches your side, rotate your wrist." Student tries to turn wrist in towards his body. Teacher, "No, rotate the other way. There you go and the sword magically reappears on your shoulder. Let's try that again." Teacher, "So get back into stance. Your feet are a shoulder's width apart, your knees are bent, and your weight is centered between your feet. Don't lean over. Push off with your back foot and rotate your hips. Keep that shoulder back. Now let your shoulders follow your hips and point your elbow at your target. Slow down! Punch with your basket hilt, and let the blade rotate, and let it drop, rotate the wrist, and good." Teacher, "This is called the gravity return. There are other ways to get your sword back to guard, but this ensures it gets back to the right place, and takes the least amount of energy. When you're out on the battlefield and you're getting exhausted, you want to use the easiest option. If you learn it now, you'll use it when you need it. Not only that, but when you're in a fight, if you don't use the gravity return, your first blow will come from back here with tremendous power. But you'll only recover about halfway and your second blow will have much less force, and your third, from way out front, will have no power at all. So, Use the gravity return. Let's do it again." Teacher, "So get back into stance. Your knees are bent, and your weight is centered between your feet. Push off with your back foot and rotate your hips. Don't lean over. Now let your shoulders follow your hips and point your elbow at your target. Punch with your basket hilt. Get your hand up, and let the blade rotate, and return, and good." (6 ) Teacher, "Great, just two more things, and then I'll put a helmet on so you can hit me. Then you put a helmet on and I get to hit you." Teacher grins wickedly. Teacher, "I want you to start a flat snap, but stop when your elbow points towards your target." Student starts the blow, then stops and looks expectantly. Teacher, "Now throw your hand down next to your forward knee. And rotate the sword horizontally into my leg. Keep your palm facing up." Student manages to get the blade in contact with the teachers leg, although the blade is almost always pointing at a downwards angle. Teacher, "So, why do we want the flat snap and the leg snap to look the same when we start the blows?" Student, "So we don't telegraph the blow?/To make it harder to stop?/etc. " Teacher, "Yup. The later the decision point is in the blow, the less time your opponent will have to block it. Try it again, and remember slow motion." Student throws the blow a few more times. The hardest part is getting the right blade orientation and not reaching forwards with the sword hand. ( ) Teacher, "Last sword blow for today is the offside head snap. Watch me go through this one once, and then I'll talk you through it." Teacher throws an offside snap with exaggerated slowness, "See how the first part of the blow is the same as the others? And we end with the sword point down, and palm facing towards the swordside. Ready?" Student, "I don't know, that looks confusing." Teacher, "It is, so we'll go slowly. Get into stance, and start your sword blow, and stop when your elbow is pointing at your target." Student performs the now familiar maneuver. Teacher, "Good. Now punch your basket hilt across towards your target over here (wave your swordhand) and start to raise your hand. Now throw your elbow up and your point down." Student, "That's feels awkward." Teacher nods to Student, "It is now, but pretty soon you'll have it down. Let's try it a few more times." (7 ) Teacher grins, "Great! So are you ready to hit me in the head?" Student, "sure." Teacher is already in armor, "Just let me get my helm on and grab a shield. Here, take this sword." Teacher pops on helm and shield. Puts a gauntlet or padded glove on his swordhand, but does not carry a weapon. Teacher, "OK, now I want you to start in slow motion. Remember your target is my temple (point). If I need you to stop, I'll shout, "hold." I'm not going to block this." Teacher, "So get into stance. Your knees are bent, and your weight is centered between your feet. You're not leaning over. Push off with your back foot and rotate your hips, and then shoulders, and point your elbow at your target. Punch with your basket hilt. Get your hand up, and let the blade rotate, and return, and good." Student probably throws the blow without touching you. Teacher, "Next time I want you to actually make contact with my helm." Student, "But I don't want to hurt you." Teacher, "That's why we wear protective gear. You're not going to hurt me." ( 8 ) Teacher, "get back into stance and try it again." Do just a few of these until the motion starts looking comfortable. Teacher, "Go ahead and go a little faster." Student throws. Teacher, "Good. A little more." Student throws. Teacher, "That's still a light blow, a little more." Student gets a funny expression on his face but throws a flat snap anyway. Teacher, "More." Student throws a killing blow. Teacher, "Yes! That's a good blow. Now I want you to hit me hard. " Student, "Ok...." Student throws just a little harder. Teacher, "No. I mean, a HARD blow." Student, "Are you sure?" Teacher nods, "That's what the armor is for. Go ahead." Student finally cranks up and makes your ears ring. Teacher, "Excellent! That last blow, might actually be considered excessive force. You should not hit someone quite as hard as that, but occasionally you will be hit almost that hard. That's why we wear this stuff." Student blinks. (9 ) Teacher grins evilly, "Now it's my turn to hit you. Let's try this helmet on." Try a helm on the student. Teacher, "Here, lean onto my hand." Teacher places a hand on the face grill and make sure the student won't get his nose broken, "Good. Stand up again." Teacher tries to wobble the helm from side to side to make sure there isn't too much play in the helm. and makes sure the neck is sufficiently covered. 10 minutes later when we have an approximate fit..... Teacher hands Student a shield, "I want you to hold this shield in front of your body like this. You are not trying to block. The purpose is to gauge how you react to being hit in the head. The shield is just so you can protect yourself if things go horribly wrong. If you need me to stop at any time just shout, "HOLD!" That's our safe word. It always means stop." Teacher, "Ok, stand here, just like that. And I'm going to start off light, and then work my way up." Teacher throws a flat snap so that it land slightly harder than a tap. Teacher, "you good?" Student nods. Teacher, "Ok, this is still light." Teacher throws another light flat snap, but just on the light side, "Still good? Then this one will be good." Teacher throws one that is just barely good, "And now a little harder." Teacher throws a solid flat snap. Starts watching for closed eyes or cringing away from the blow, "And one more hard blow." Teacher throws a hard tourney force blow. You do not need to take his head off, but you do want him to realize that he will be hit hard, "You still ok? I'd like to throw three more blows to the offside, and then were done. Ready?" Student nods. Teacher throws three offside head blows of medium strength. Grin, "Good. Take that helm off." Student struggles out of helm. Teacher, "how did that feel? You ready for more?" Teacher, "Next week we can get you into armor. Do you have a cup? If not, go out and buy one, or you'll be using the loaner." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ( 1 ) Most lefties will try to tell you that they can use either hand. Let them know that they may want to consider two sword in the future, but for now they should concentrate on one hand. Most of them will go for the left hand. (For the remainder of this script I will assume a right handed fighter, but the first lesson is essentially identical for both) ( 2 ) I don't care which precise stance they use. I worry about the things that make the biggest difference when they start. They'll have to learn to evaluate and make personal choices about their fighting style eventually. If my description of the Oldcastle stance doesn't make any sense, read The Fundamentals of Sword and Shield by Duke Gyrth Oldcastle. ( 3 ) Yup, I still don't care which choice they make. Since everything they start off with must be unlearned anyway, I'm not too worried about these details. ( 4) You may have to get after martial artists for shifting their weight to their back foot especially if they come from a form that includes lots of kicks. ( 5) You may notice some repetition here. That's how we train the body, by performing the same action a million times so that the mind is free to think about other aspects of the fight. ( 6 ) Repeat as necessary, but not too many more times. You just need to get the general motion together. It doesn't need to be perfect and you don't want to tire your student because you have a few more concepts to teach. ( 7 ) Don't worry about getting these perfected. The point is to introduce the fighter to the concept that blows come in families, and we want him to learn of the "snap" family. You can perfect these next time. ( 8 ) This discussion may not happen until he is throwing blows with force. ( 9 ) If the student is not tired yet, you can go through the leg snap, and the offside snap, but don't push it too hard. He's already learned a lot. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previous Next Index Home Lesson II: Shield blocking and block with reply drill This lesson assumes you are working with a right handed fighter with a heater shield. Teacher, "I want you to grab a shield and a wiffle bat. You'll get into armor later." Student waves at the pile of loaner shields. "Uh, which one?" Teacher, "It doesn't really matter which shield you choose. None of them will fit you right." Student, "Ok..." And grabs a shield and holds it across his chest beneath his chin. Teacher, "Now get in guard. Remember your shieldside shoulder is pointed towards your opponent while your swordside shoulder is pointed away. I want you to think of your shield as an extension of that same plane." Student gets into guard and moves the shield into a much better position. Teacher, "Good! Now tuck that elbow in. You can rest the weight of the shield on your body if you keep your elbow against your side. Stick your shield arm out straight for a moment." Student does so. After a a minute his arm starts to droop from the weight of the shield. Teacher, "A little heavy is it? Then tuck your elbow back in and rest the weight on your body." Student, "Yah, this is much better." Teacher, "Ok, this is refereed to as an open stance. We use this most of the time except in melee and when fighting lefties. See how the corner of the shield near your hand is all bent and dented?" Teacher, places a hand on the beat up corner of the shield. Student nods. Teacher, keeps his hand on the corner. "This is the part that does most of the work when blocking. You want to watch your opponent just to the side of this corner, or over top of it when you are forced to move it across your body." Teacher, "The whole goal of this process is to keep your shield between you and your opponent's sword. Of course we want to move it a little as possible so that the action may be quick and energy efficient, and we can get the shield back into it's proper guard quickly." Teacher, "Now get into guard, and I'll throw a slow motion blow." Student and Teacher settle into guards facing each other. Teacher throws a slow motion flat snap. The student reaches out with a punch block. Teacher, "Wait. Keep your elbow into your side, and don't even try to block this blow." Teacher throws a slow motion flat snap that connects with the top corner of the shield, "See, when you're in guard, you don't even need to move to block a flat snap. No if it's a more extreme snap, like this next one, you block it by turning your hips towards the threat, and letting your shoulders, and shield move with the hips." Teacher throws a rising snap allowing his hand to clear the top of the shield, "Now just turn into the blow." Student turns and can hardly believe that the shield stops this too. Teacher, "Good, now the same thing for the offside blow. Just turn into the blow with your hips and you'll stop it." Teacher throws a slow motion offside snap. Student pivots and catches the blow on his shield. Teacher, "Good, once more." Teacher begins an offside snap, then pauses and lets Student complete the block. Teacher then finishes the blow which passes over the shield. Teacher, "There's one trick to the offside block. You must wait until you see the blade before you block it. If you anticipate the blow, your attacker can pause and land the blow after you think you have the block in place. One more thing. Make sure you return to guard after the offside block. It's easy to forget that." Teacher, "One last block and then we'll drill. To block the onside leg blow, squat lower, and turn your hips. If you need to you can get a little extra range with a shoulder shrug, but don't reach for the block. The smaller your movements are, the better." Teacher demonstrates the motion. Teacher, "you ready?" Student, "Sure." Teacher throws a few slow motion leg snaps or even wraps. Teacher, "Great, now get your helm on, and we'll play." Teacher, "Ok, I'm going to call a location, onside, offside, or leg, and throw a blow to that location. All you need to do is block: no footwork, no swordblows. Ready?" Student, "I think so." Teacher, "Onside!" Teacher throws an onside head snap. Teacher, "Onside!" Another. Teacher, "Onside!" Still another. Teacher, "Don't raise your arm like that. Keep your elbow tucked in and you'll be fine." Teacher, "Offside!" Teacher throws an offside snap. Teacher, "Don't forget to return to guard. Offside!" Another. Teacher, "Better. Offside!" Teacher does the pause, then throws the blow over the block. Teacher, "Don't forget to wait for sword before you block the offside. Let's try that one more time. Offside!" One last offside snap. Teacher, "Good, now Leg!" Teacher throws a slow leg blow so that Student can make the block. Teacher, "Squat and turn into it. Always turn towards the threat. Leg!" Another Teacher, "Better, but don't reach for it with your arm. That was really ,over blocking you can move a lot less than that. Leg!" Still another leg blow. Teacher, "Now, the hip motion when you block and onside snap is the same hip motion you make when you do what?" Student, "Oh! When I throw a snap?" Teacher, "Right. So when you block an onside blow, you can throw a flat snap, or any other snap at the same time. Let's try that in slow motion." Teacher throws a slow motion flat snap while Student slowly block it and replies in kind. Teacher, "Good. Now when you block an offside blow, it's really over cocking for a..." Student nods, "an offside snap." Teacher, "Right, or any other snap. Let's try that in slow motion." Teacher begins the offside snap. Student anticipates the block and moves too early. Teacher, "Wait for it. Let's try that again." Teacher again throws a slow motion offside snap. This time Student blocks correctly and replies with a snap of his own. Teacher, "Excellent, and the leg blow?" Student, "Yah, I got it." Teacher throws a slow motion leg blow while Student blocks and throws a snap in reply. Teacher, "Great! let's do some drill. I'm going to start by calling the location of the blows, and you can block and reply as often as you can. Ready?" Student, "Sure, let's do it." Teacher, "Onside!" pause "Offside!" pause "Leg!" pause "Onside!" "Offside!" "Leg!" Pause "Onside! Offside! Leg!" By this time the Student usually fumbles something. Student, "Gah! I couldn't throw that blow in there that time." Teacher, "Don't worry about that. The important thing is that you block the blows, and then reply as often as you can. You ready for a little more?" Student, "Yah." Teacher, "OK, I'm going to speed it up some, and change the order around. At some point, I'm going to stop calling the locations." Teacher, "Onside! Onside! Offside! Offside! Onside! Leg! Offside! Offside! Don't anticipate that offside, or I'll slip it in over your shield. Leg! Leg! Offside! Onside! Onside!" Teacher stops calling the target location, but keeps throwing blows until Student noticeably slows. At this point most student's will be done for night. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previous Next Index Home Lesson III: Range and footwork Again, much of this is based on the work of Gyrth Oldcastle in The Fundamentals of Sword and Shield . Teacher, "I'd like to take a few minutes to talk to you about range, and then we'll get into footwork. There are several different system for talking about range, but the one used most frequently around here is "ABCD"( 1 ). Why do we care about range? Different blows can be thrown at different ranges, and most of the kills occur as the range is changing. So let's get down to it. "A" range is everything you can touch with your sword hand. " Teacher waves hand around a bit, "You'll notice that the area defined as "A" range is not a circle, but rather more of an oval." Teacher picks up a sword, ""B" range is everything that you can touch with a sword. Pick up a sword and stick out your arm straight." Student does so. Teacher does the same thing while facing the student and with his sword and arm parallel to the student's, "You'll notice that we have different range I (or you) have a slightly greater "B" range. Also, some people have very long or short swords too." Teacher Taking a big step backwards, ""C" range is from where you must take one and only one step to get into "B" range. This can be quite long for some people." Teacher lunges in from extreme "C" range to demonstrate, then takes a couple of steps backwards, and throws arms wide, "Lastly, "D" range is the rest of the world. "D" range is the only place you should relax. In "C" range you should be on guard, and you should only be in "A" or "B" when you are trying to kill your opponent. Now, what is "A" range?" Student vaguely waves his hand around, "It's uh..." Teacher, "Everything you can touch with..." Student, "Your hand." Teacher, "Good. What's "B" range?" Studentwaving his sword around, "Touch with your sword." Teacher nods, "Good. And "C" range?" Student, "It's, uh, whatever takes one step." Teacher, "And "D" is the rest of the world. How about some footwork? " Student nods. Teacher pointing, "Now get into stance with your back foot on that line and watch me." Teacher turns around so his back is to the student, "Whenever you're moving forwards, that's towards your opponent or towards your swordside, you want to start by moving your shieldside foot. Then your other foot catches up, and you're back in stance." Teacher takes a step towards his swordside, "Whenever you're moving backwards, that's away from your opponent or towards your shieldside, you always want to start with your swordside foot. Then your other foot catches up, and you're back in stance." Teacher picks up a shield and turns around to face the student, "It sounds like it's backwards, so why do we do it? Watch." Teacher steps to swordside starting with swordside foot. His shield should open dramatically. Student, "You open up when you do that." Teacher, "Right! And watch how that happens if I back up the wrong way too." Teacher steps to shieldside starting with shieldside foot and allows shield to open, "Now let's try to put these together." Teacher once more turns his back on the student, "When we approach our opponent, we don't want to walk in a straight line. Instead we'll zig-zag by alternating steps towards shieldside and swordside." Teacher advances to swordside, then to shieldside, "When you try this, you'll notice that you're actually moving your feet: left, right, right, left, left, right, right, left... Follow me." Teacher advances some more. Student advances some, and eventually starts laughing as his feet get tangled. Teacher, "Let's try a retreat with the same zig-zag." Teacher, "Great! Now get out there and put your footwork to use in a fight." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1 ) The important thing is to develop a common language that can be used to discus range. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previous Next Index Home The Pitfalls of the Trainer Newbies may not care as much as you do about fighting. Watch their eyes when explaining long and detailed information. If their eyes glaze over, stop, change the subject, worry about it later when they ask again. Newbies do not have the same weird muscles that us long term fighters have built up. Additionally, the chances are the loaner gear or gear given them by someone else doesn't really fit well. What this means is DON'T STAND AROUND TALKING WHILE THEY HAVE GEAR ON! They burn energy just standing there in full equipment. Don't you remember how heavy that helm was the first time you put it on? I know you can stand out there all day long in your armor, after all, you've done a 2 hour bridge battle plus a resurrection battle in the same day at Pennsic. If you need to explain stuff, drop the gear and talk. At least remove the helm and drop the shield. If a newbie is wearing a helm, he should be fighting or drilling, not listening to a lecture. Reward your newbie. Chances are, they will spend most of their first year fighting people who are WAY better than they are. Unless you have several newbies who started at the same time, you'll run into this. Remind them what they did right. Give them opportunities to succeed. And when they surprise you, don't just grunt, tell them it was a great shot and you had no idea you were open. Stop telling him what he did wrong, and start telling him how to do it right. Physical contact: put your hand on his shoulder. Shove his shield around while you tell him what a good fight he just had. The purpose, is to train him to respond positively to physical pushing and shoving. Sometimes it is imposible to communicate a particular motion with words, but if you place your hand on your studen't wrist and gently rotate it to the correct position, you may get the idea accross more effectively. Just be warned that some people, especially women, will be uncomfortable with you placing your hands on thier hips or other body parts. If you're not dealing with "public areas (hands, elbows, shoulders) you should ask for permission before you take action. We've all seen the movie scene where the guy is teaching the girl how to swing a baseball bat or golf club. He wraps his arms around her to show ther what to do, and next thing you know they're kissing. This is not our goal. Be careful of your pace of training. Some new fighters are there just to pick up another martial art. For others, this is their first real sport. Stop when your trainee is tired, or when you have filled their brain. You can get some clues as to your trainee's state by paying attention to his breathing, and eyes, and expression. Of course when his shield starts drooping towards the floor, you know he's had enough. Many new fighters have played other sports. Do your best to link your curriculum to what they already know. For example, all sports require you to place your feet a shoulder's width apart (plus or minus just a bit) and keep your knees bent. Likewise, shieldwall work can be likened to being a linemen in football. Most people show up to their first fighter practice "thinking" they want to fight, or at least give it a try. I believe no-one can "know" that they want to fight until they get hit in the head. This is the most unusual aspect of SCA combat. The most common way that a fight ends is with a blow to the head. If you don't react well to this stimulus, then you're in the wrong game. I take my newbies at the end of their first practice and put a helmet on their head, and a shield in their hand (to cover the body, and make them feel more secure). I say, "I will now hit you in the head lightly." *tink* "I will now it you a little harder." *tonk* "You OK still? Good, now I'll hit you with a good shot." *thwack* "Harder" *THWACK* You want to watch your new trainee for flinching, closing his eyes, getting angry, or just feeling uncomfortable. If he takes the helmet off and smiles at you, you know you've got a fighter. Afterwards, I put on my helmet and act as human pell for the new swordblows they learned that night. One of the best training tools is a wiffle ball bat. This lightweight plastic bat allows the trainee to go through all of the motions of throwing swordblows without exhausting his muscles. Why is this important? We want to train muscle memory, that is, teach the body to do complicated actions without requiring conscious thought. The way to achieve this is to repeat the same motions millions of times. As the body gets tired, the trainee is more likely to make mistakes. As you repeat these mistakes you start to train these mistakes into the muscle memory. That's just more work to undo later. You are far better off starting with a lightweight stick, or bat and working in slow motion until the movements are correct. It is not uncommon for several "teachers" to jump on a student simultaneously. Each is giving independent, and sometimes contradictory, advice on the bout that was just fought. This will overwhelm most students with a bewildering barrage of data that he is unable to assimilate. If you see this happening, wait till the crowd disperses, then approach the novice fighter and commiserate about the experience. Only then will you be able to work one-on-one with him in a meaningful way. If a studen't is "yours", you can let him know that he is not required to sit through every three hour lecture every other fighter wants to give him. He may politely say he doesn't want to work on that right now, but wants a good fight instead. Almost every fighter will respond to that line. He may also politely suggest his flaws should be pointed out to his teacher so they may be encorporated into his training program. The important thing is for the student to politely tell the fighter he doesn't want to work on that issue at this time. By the time your novice is ready to authorize, he's ready to pick his own opponents at practice. The first couple of times he fights someone other than his primary trainer, you should be careful who he fights. His first opponents should be participants in his training, and not someone out to prove that they are better than this new guy. They need to be aware of when the trainee needs to stop, even if he says he can keep going. They need to be aware of his limitations, and push him towards those limitations, but not beyond. Many experienced fighters face a novice in a practice bout by slowing down to the novice's speed, but otherwise, using all of their skills to still strike the newbie. I prefer to keep the pace a little beyond what the novice is used to, but limiting myself to the swordblows and defenses that the trainee has learned. I do what they do, only better. I also like to leave holes in my defenses periodically to train my novices to spot those holes and to go for them. I think this provides a challenge without overwhelming him. It is important for new fighters to face both peers and Peers. When another novice fighter show up, make a point of getting the two of them together for a fight. It's important to test yourself against someone of similar abilities. These fights are often the most rewarding. At the same time, you improve the most by facing opponents who far out-class you. Thus you should also encourage your trainees to introduce themselves to the local chivalry, and to ask them for a bout. One of the most difficult things for trainers to accept is that sometimes new fighters don't come back for a second lesson. Three quarters of the people who appear at my practice for the first time don't authorize. This is not a bad thing. As I mentioned before, not everyone knows whether or not they really want to fight. Then there's real life. School, work, relationships, and family problems can all get in the way of someone who want's to fight but disappears. Often these fighters find their way back to the SCA years later (I did), when life permits. Make sure they know that they are welcome back whenever they are available. On top of that, only half of those who authorize survive beyond their first three year. It can be frustrating to lose student after student, but you must treat each trainee as if you are willing to take them on and guide their education for the next ten years. If you don't, then in ten years you won't have any friends to fight beside, and to share a beer with over tales of battle. I often find that one or two concepts is plenty for one day. Spend the rest of the drilling or fighting. Never get into a romantic relationship with a student of yours. Both educational and romantic relationships are based on trust. You may think she's willing to bed you because of your amazing romantic skills, but more likely it's because she trusts you as a teacher. Do not take advantage of that trust. Also, do not try to teach your spouse of significant other. It's too difficult to separate what happens on the field from what happens at home. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previous Next Index Home How To Recruit New Fighters First you must make recruitment your first priority at practice and events. Yes, this means less play time for you, but you already made that choice when you started reading this. Be friendly. Whenever you see a new face, whether they look like a fighter or not, go introduce yourself with a smile on your face. Inquire as to whether or not they want to learn to fight. Remind them how much fun this game is. If they are just curious and want to watch, stop back and chat with them throughout practice. Invite them to take the first lesson, "yes, right now. No, you don't need any gear. We have loaner equipment you can borrow." Don't place any demands on new fighters. After they're hooked in a couple of weeks, you can get hard on them, but don't scare them off before they are committed. Establish lines of communication. Exchange phone numbers or email addresses. It can be convenient to have a "business card" or to put your contact info on a training tally card. Don't stand around telling "no shit, there I was" stories. Do that around the campfire or in the diner after practice. Always invite new fighters to participate. It doesn't matter what you are doing, ask them along. Invite them to your next armoring session, or out to the diner after practice, or to help scrub the kitchen after feast. Be helpful. You don't have to know everything. Not all questions have answers. It's one thing to tell someone what you know, or tell them you think something is true, but you don't have to come up with an answer if you don't actually know. Recruit your friends, coworkers, college friends. Post a couple of combat photos in your work cubical or dorm room. You'll have plenty of opportunities to explain what it's all about. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previous Next Index Home The Annotated Training Tally I provide this list of training topic to my novice fighters in the form of a card they can keep in their wallet. It serves several purposes. Since the novice is checking off topics as he gets comfortable with them, I no longer have to keep track of what lessons have been taught to which students. Secondly it gives the student a method of gauging his own progress. This can be vitally important when he only faces dukes and other battle scarred veterans who easily beat him at any practice. Thirdly, when someone other than myself teaches a new skill or tactic, as when sparring, the student may look down the list an check it off and see how it fits into everything else he has learned. You can download the training tally card as a 25k MS Word document. Basics: I feel obligated to impart everything on the "Basics" list to a novice fighter before he authorizes. This is also enough information that he can go out and have a real fight. For descriptions of any sword blow, please refer to the Compendium of Swordblows . Stance: How to stand and position the sword and shield while on guard. Make sure the knees are bent and he is standing up straight with weight centered between the feet. Flat Snap: How to throw a flat snap, or Belletrix snap. I find that due to physical limitations, some can only throw a right cross, or rising snap and still land the blow with force and correct orientation. Onside Leg Snap: How to throw an onside leg snap. Don't let them reach forward for the shot. The swordhand should end near the shieldside knee. Yes, the leg wrap is a much better blow, but this keeps to the "snap" family. Offside Head Snap: How to throw an offside head snap. Yes, the offside head return is a better blow, but this keeps to the "snap" family. Shield Blocking: How to block with your hips. Pivot your hips to move the shield towards the sword blow. Pivot and squat to block the legs. Block with Reply: How to throw a sword blow while blocking. Use the same hip motion to block and throw a blow at the same time. Range: "A" range is anything you can touch with your swordhand. "B" range is anything you can touch with your sword. "C" range is anything that requires you to take one step to reach "B" range. "D" range is the rest of the world. We use these because different sword blows and tactics are better suited to certain ranges, and also because most kills occur as the fighters change the range. Footwork: How to place your feet without compromising your shield. I also include the zig-zag ingress and egress as explained in The Fundamentals of Sword and Shield by Duke Gyrth Oldcastle. Clearing Blow: How to throw a powerful drop shot/clearing blow to stop your opponent so you can egress to "C"/"D" range. The purpose is to throw a blow with enough force to negate any offensive actions by your opponent and to discourage him from following you. Offside Return: How to throw an offside return blow. The power comes from the hips returning to the cocked position while the elbow is thrown upwards. I often ask students to do the first half of the blow in slow motion and the second half at speed while learning. Sword blow Cheats: How to change the angle of your sword blow to sneak around your opponent's shield. Matching the opponent's shield angle with a flat or rising snap, and offside return or snap. Getting your swordhand on the edge of the opponent's shield. Throwing a "flat" snap from High Oldcastle guard to get your hand past the offside edge of the opponent's shield and land the blade on his face grill. May include shield presses, snatches, and shoulder feints. Death: how to die properly. Be loud when dying. Falling in the right direction. Covering yourself with a shield to protect yourself from other fighters. Advanced: The advanced topics should be taught in the student's first year of fighting. These skills should give the student enough confidence and tools to go out and enjoy combat, and to continue on a self guided program of advancement. The student should be capable of seeking teachers for individual skills and techniques they wish to acquire. Onside Head Wrap: How to throw an onside head wrap. Make sure the arm doesn't swing out to the side, and that the swordhand ends high and the point ends low. Onside Leg Wrap: How to throw an onside leg wrap. Reach for the edge of the opponent's shield. End with the point high to prevent low shots when the range is off. A step with the swordside foot can help from "A" range. Onside-Offside Combo: How to throw a flat snap - offside head return combination shot. Focus of pumping the hips back and forth, and elbow position. Demonstrate how this combination can be endlessly cycled. The whole thing should be done in "A" range. Onside-Leg Combo: How to throw a flat snap - onside leg wrap combination. Offside-Leg Combo: How to throw and offside head return - onside leg wrap combination. Offside-Wrap Combo: How to throw and offside head return - onside head wrap combination. Keep the elbow high, and pull the sword behind the head. Wrap-Wrap Combo: How to cycle through repeated onside head wraps. Focus on cycling the hips, and pulling the sword back from the first blow into the second. Wrap-Leg Combo: How to throw and onside head wrap - onside leg wrap combination. Kneeling Attacking: How to approach, dominate, and kill a kneeling opponent. Don't corkscrew. Use knees to control opponent's shield without knocking him over. Throw a suppression blow, and hammer the wraps. Kneeling Defending: How to defend yourself while kneeling. Throwing a high offside snap, or onside leg wrap. Blocking head wraps with your sword. Shoulder Feint: How to feint a snap by dropping your swordside shoulder, and follow up with a bell ringing snap, or other blow. Rising Snap: How to throw a rising snap or J-shot. Off Timing: How to control the pace of the bout through changing the timing of your sword blows. Sword blocking: How to improve your defense with the judicious use of sword blocks. How to block head wraps, offside returns, etc. Entries: Strategies for getting into the range of your choice. This includes footwork, suppression blows, and choice of approach angles. Exits: How to get back out to "D" range when you realize you are in the wrong place. This includes suppression blows, footwork, and choice of angles. "A" Range: How to stick to your opponent in "A" range without dying. Melee: These are the skills I want the baronial fighters to have before I lead them off to war. In my case, I'm focused on Pennsic War, but you will should focus on whatever your local group attends as a unit. Moving/Stance: How to use the hanging guard in melee. How to walk with knees bent, ready for explosive movement. Dress Right/Left: How to form a line or shield wall. Loose formation should be about elbow distance from neighbor. A shield wall should have shields touching or overlapping. Advance/Stop/Back: Responding as a group to basic movement commands. Wheel Right/Left: How to wheel. The man on the inside corner stands in place and pivots while the outside corner runs. Change everyone's place in the line to accustom them to all positions. Wheel's will likely be 90 degree turns unless commanded otherwise. Shift Right/left: How to shift or slide right/left while still advancing as a unit. Shields Up: We use this to mean too many things. Gotta figure it out first. Column Charge: How to form a column and break an enemy formation. This includes both charging for penetration, and how to dump the opponents on their collective butts. Drop into a squat and push forwards like a football lineman. To penetrate aim for the space between shields. To dump them on their buts, aim for the shield itself. Pulse Charge: How to charge to stop the enemy's momentum, how to counter charge, how to create an open space. How to reform your line following a pulse charge. Receive Charge: How to drop your weight and repel a charge, including the "one step counter charge." Knight Killer: How to gang up 2 on 1, 3 on 1, and 4 on 1. Never get in a fair fight. Killing Spears: How to run down lone spearmen. Killing Polearms: Don't stand at his range and get clubbed over the head. Quickly get into "A" range and stick there until he's dead. Killing Two Sword: Aggressively force him backwards and keep pushing until he's dead or legged. Clear Flankers: Splitting off the end of a line to clear enemy flankers either by killing them or intimidating them, and returning to the line. Engage from Behind: How to approach an enemy from behind and either engage him or entangle him. how to respond when an enemy approaches you from behind. Cover other engagement topics. Leg 'em and Leave 'em: Don't play with legged enemies. Finish the rest of the battle, then come back for clean up. Bridge Sweeps: How to clear enemy spears from aggressive bridge positions. How to push enemies off a bridge. Other Info: I include my own contact information and links to resources I think all new fighters should have access to. Feel free to modify this section to suite your own needs. Lord Sylvanus Perrin email: brian_pfeifer@hotmail.com mail list: rawmetal@yahoogroups.com http://sabletower.homestead.com/files/index.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previous Next Index Home Books: Written sources that have direct value to fighters Much of the information on this page comes from the introductions to various editions of the books. Very little of it has been contributed by my own mind. Ancient Authors The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi Also called the Book of Five Spheres, it was written by the preeminent duelist/rogue of samurai 16th century Japan. Don't worry about recreating the techniques he describes. What Musashi really does for us, is lets us into mind of a fighter. His attitudes, and his theories about life and death struggles are right on target. The man was not a chivalrous knight. The Book of Five Rings is written in a very simple style because Musashi did not write very well. He did not attempt to write down his ideas, or to teach any students until he retreated to a hermitage at the end of his career. During his career he did not bathe or comb his hair. He appeared as a wild man who won all of his duels. On one occasion he waited in a tree at the appointed place of his duel, and when his opponent appeared beneath him, he leapt from the tree and struck down his opponent before he hit the ground. Honor and chivalry are a luxury, to Musashi one cannot afford when one's life is truly on the line. It is fortunate we get to go home after our tournaments with no more than bruises. This is available in pocket edition as well as full size. The Art of War by Sun Tzu Sun Tzu, actually wrote this as a form of resume when trying to get a job. What he accomplished was the creation of the foundation document on which all other Chinese military writers have based their work. His application of Taoist beliefs to martial activity goes something like this. The worst kind of general wins a battle by employing a tactic that allows him to destroy his enemy. Better is the general who can defeat his enemy before the battle starts. Better yet is the general who prevents his enemy from joining the war. Better yet is the general who has no enemy. How is this miracle accomplished? One takes very practical steps before battle. Develop good officers. With good officers, you can train good fighters and disciplined troops. Know your enemy (yes, this is where it came from). Be strong where you appear weak. Attack your enemy where he is weak. Do what your enemy believes is impossible. Read the book, he keeps going. And if that didn't give you enough to think about, every translation includes the commentaries made by one or more of the many classical generals who expanded on Sun Tzu's work. A word of warning: look for an academic edition of The Art of War, like that published by Shambala Classics. Many editions were translated for and have notes for businessmen. Sun Tzu was transformed in the 1980's into a handbook for Yuppies and corporate raiders. Business editions will not help you as much as you would like. Shambala Classics also put out a pocket edition which only lacks some of the commentary. The Lost Art of War by Sun Tzu II a.k.a. Sun Bin De Re Militari by Vegetius Writing for (insert name here) of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 4th Century A.D. (or C.E. depending on how politically correct you choose to be), Vegetius collected and abridged the works of the earlier Roman military writers. The Western Roman Empire had fallen, and the army of the East was corrupt and degenerate in his eyes. The purpose of his work is to convince the emperor to reform the army to it's former glory. His instructions are simple and straight forward. He spends much more time describing how to select troops, train them, and keep them from corruption, than how to use them in battle. For Vegetius, the set piece battle, the hallmark of SCA warfare, is to be avoided unless you already had everything in your favor. It is much better to weaken your enemy first with starvation and by sowing dissension and desertion in his ranks. We know of several Medieval commanders who had copies of De Re Militari with them both in the Holy Land and on the continent. Machiavelli had access to it when writing The Art of War . The Art of War by Machiavelli The author of The Prince also tried his hand at military matters. He wrote The Art of War to promote one idea: the best military organization is an all volunteer citizen militia. Machiavelli saw first hand the ravages and abuses caused by both professional mercenaries and armies built around knightly retinues. Why is this work of value to us? Because we are an all volunteer militia. Even if we are knights and squires sworn to our king, or "mercenaries", or the vassals of a Baron, no one can make us show up and fight. We are all here because we want to be. Machiavelli talks about how to organize and train just such a force of people who are there because they want to be or think they ought to be. He does go into detail on formations that have little value to us, and we don't really need to worry about our supply train. Nevertheless, it's well worth reading, especially since it's a European source. Fight Book by Hans Talhoffer A translation by Mark Rector can be found published under the title Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth Century Illustrated Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat. This work is a series of 270 illustrated plates with captions displaying moves with greatsword, pole arm, sword and buckler, and more. Talhoffer created this and several other works in the mid 15th Century. It should not be read as a linear progression of events, but rather selected individual images taken from the multiple engagements. It's almost like a set of professional wrestling posters that promote one of the best of the day. It's difficult to learn a move from the poster unless you are already a trained wrestler. Likewise, Talhoffer's captions can be quite cryptic, but they contain gems for the taking. You may have noticed a distinct absence of the fencing masters. The are plenty of descriptive bibliographies of their works available on the Web today. Furthermore, I believe most of them are only of marginal interest to the heavy fighter. Modern Authors The Armored Rose by Duchess Elena This is the tool that all women fighters, and teachers of women fighters should read. Duchess Elena covers everything from the physiological to the psychological and social differences between men and women and what it all means for us in combat. It can easily mean the difference between enjoying our martial art, and having an experience which will turn the woman away from fighting and maybe even the SCA for good. The book also proposes the idea that women fighters should use a swordside lead in their stance. While I do not feel this stance is always appropriate, there is no doubt in my mind that it greatly increases the force that women fighters generate when striking with a sword. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previous Next Index Home Drills and other fun stuff Blocking drill This is a good drill to teach proper blocking techniques with a heater shield. I'm sure it could be modified for other shield types. With full armor on, the student gets into stance. Periodically check the student's stance throughout the drill. Tell the student what you are going to do before you do it. Describe how to block a flat snap by rotating your hips. The student may need a shoulder shrug as well, but no more arm movement than that. Concentrate on turning into the oncoming blow. You may need to physically move the student's hips and shield a few times for him to get the right motion. Now throw a flat snap. Correct the student. Throw again and correct again. Move on to the offside snap. Describe it, demonstrate it, practice it, correct it. Then the leg snap. Now for the drill. Call a blow and then throw it. Shout, "onside!" and throw an onside snap. Call "offside!" and throw an offside snap. Yell "leg!" and throw a leg snap. As the student gets comfortable, start changing the order and the speed it up. Don't hesitate to stop and correct glaring flaws. Most common are: failing to return the shield to it's guard position, over blocking, and blocking with the arms instead of the hips. Get the speed up, and stop calling the your target locations. Stop when your student starts missing several in a row. The second part of the drill teaches how to incorporate a reply swordblow in with blocking. It helps prevent students from feeling like they can either block, or throw a sword blow, but not both. Point out that the hip motion used to block a flat snap, or a leg snap is the same as that used to throw a flat snap. In slow motion lead the student through the process of blocking a flat snap and simultaneously throwing a snap. Next point out how the hip motion used to block an offside snap is simply over-cocking the hips for a snap as you return to stance. In slow motion lead the student through the process of blocking an offside snap and replying with his own flat or offside snap. Now go back into the drill. Call your target and throw a snap. Go slowly at first as this is much more difficult for novice fighters. Don't be surprised if the novice skips several replies. Keep the pace as quick as he can handle, and stop calling your targets. One last warning. Don't let yourself get into a predictable rhythm, or else the drill will have little value. Don't forget to throw multiple shots to the same target, and occasionally leave a one or two count break between blows. 20 and 3 I stole this drill directly from Duchess Elena's book, The Armored Rose. In full armor, fight a sparring bout. Call blows as good, light, etc. The aggressor gets to throw a total of 20 blows at his discretion. The defender only gets to throw three blows at his discretion. Every time one fighter throws a blow, he should call out the number so the other fighter knows how man blows are left. I.E. "Five! Six! Light. Seven!" After all blows have been thrown, the bout is over, and the fighters should switch roles. The purpose is to let the aggressor concentrate on throwing good, clean, accurate blows, while still dealing with range, footwork. Of course the defender has just enough blows to remind the aggressor to keep his defenses up. The defender gets to concentrated on defensive shield and foot work. The defender also must use aggressive footwork to get in and past the aggressor's offenses, or else there is little value to the exercise. If the defender simply backs away from every engagement, he will not learn how to stay alive while in "A" range. Knight killer This game has been around forever. You have to realize when I say that, that I was born only a few years after the SCA started. The premise is simple. Two on one. The "knight" should be better than both aggressors. The purpose is to learn how to coordinate simultaneous attacks on one victim in melee. Novices should never let themselves get into a fair fight. They must approach their victim with a little space between the two of them, then as the "knight" chooses a direction to run, or an aggressor to attack, the second aggressor must instantly engage the knight at the same time to prevent a the "knight" from acquiring a one on one fight. This can easily be modified to three or even four on one. There's a great variation on this called King Killer. You need a ratio of about three to two, the larger side has a "king". They loose if the "king" dies. The "king" does not need to be the best fighter, he just needs to survive the longest. Formation marching Yup. This is exactly what it sounds like. Get the group to form up in a line or column. Give a command, and start marching them around. Practice is the only way to teach a group to wheel in unison. Don't forget to vary the tempo. At first, walk backwards in front of the unit with your spear held horizontally to keep the line together. Once they are comfortable, walk behind the group and just shout corrections. You do not need to do a lot of this. Twenty minutes once a month (even if you don't start till spring) will allow your unit to move more coherently than ninety percent of the other groups on the field. You may want to include obstacles in the path of the unit; trees, park benches, dead bodies. Why would you do that? On the field they will need to step over or around dead fighters, and it's even worse in the woods. Shields vs Poles Line up your shieldmen and one at a time send them to run down a polearm or spear fighter. The goal is to teach shieldmen how to quickly traverse the pole's killing field and to stick to the pole until he's killed. The secondary goal is to break fighters of the natural tendency to run up to an enemy unit and stop just inside spear or polearm range. This can also be done with N pole weapons attacked by N shieldmen. Spear Guard This is run like Shields vs Poles, except that one shieldman is guard for the spearman. The guard stands about about two steps behind and to one side of the spearman. When the aggressor rushes in to kill the spearman, the guard counter chargesstops the aggressor. Then the guard and the spearman work together to kill the aggressor. Then the aggressor becomes guard and the old guard goes to the back of the aggressor's line. Charge There are endless variations on the charging drill. This drill really should be done outside on grass because you can expect people to fall down. These are all done in full equipment. There should be very few if any swordblows thrown. It is wise to slow the drill down to 3/4 speed, at least when you start. Variation I: Two defenders passively receive a charge from one aggressor. The aggressor attempts to get low and punch between the defenders. Variation II: Two defenders attempt a one step counter charge to block aggressor as he tries to penetrate. Variation III: Two defenders attempt one step counter charge. Two aggressors attempted to punch between defenders. The aggressors are a mini-collumn. The second aggressor is touching the first aggressor at the point of contact with the defenders. His job is to push the first aggressor through the shieldwall with pressure between his shoulder blades. Variation IV: One defender gets knocked on his ass by one aggressor who gets low and hits his shield and pushes up. Variation V: One defender attempts a one step counter charge to block the aggressor. Variation VI: One defender attempts a one step counter charge while a pair of aggressor dump him on his butt by charging in mini-collumn. Variation VII: Form two shieldwall facing each other. Call one side to pulse charge, and quickly get back into line. Call the second side to pulse charge. Continue as necessary. Uneven melees Rarely do fighters find themselves in fair fight on the melee field. In fact they should never try to get into a fair fight. So when performing melee drills it's more beneficial to keep the sides uneven and give them different goals. How do you make the sides uneven? Give one team all of the novice fighters. Give one side more fighters. Give one side all of the chivalry. Give pole weapons only to one side. Then you have to choose goals. Fighting to the last man in small unit melees doesn't represent the kind of work the units have to perform on the battlefield at wars. Much better are goals like: Split the enemy into two so the (fictional) unit behind you can charge through, kill all of the spearmen and polearms, kill Duke Sir Flatulence, keep Duke Sir Flatulence alive and get him across the field, be a speed bump and stay alive for n seconds, force them to the left side of the field. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previous Next Index Home