Sword Fighting in Northern NJ - Femme Fatales - thoughts on training women how to fight in armor.

As a long standing instructor of fighters I have a tendency to think of fighters as genderless. As admirable as this may be, as an instructor I have to consider the individual and what they bring to the table, rather than their genetic sex. That's all established with an interview. I want to know what their physical background is like, what their body is going to default to, how resilient is their psyche. All this is gender neutral. What isn't gender neutral is how they define themselves, and how they drive the bus that is their body. I can teach you how to throw a shot, but I can't teach you how to find the drive within your heart to want to learn it. Women are special when they come to this game. Understanding why they came is nearly as important on mastering a wrap shot. It has been said, "Guys are dogs, women are cats". Simplistic rationale but not without merits. Guys will follow a leader unless they are the leader and then they will figure it out and go forth. Women want to be the boss, but understand that a boss without the necessary skill set is just bluff and bluster. The best female fighters I've know want to figure it out, but not be told how they need mastery of a skill however they get to that place. Again generalizations fall before the individual example, but it works for our conversation. Retaining men in this game is about their comradery and their desires to excel.. Retaining women in this game is about appealing to the individual and how much in love with it they fall. Again generalizations, but mine are based in observations over the years. So what do you think?

Sword fighting in Northern NJ - Pell Design I find useful

To the serious sword fighter a "Pell" is a useful and tool for training. Historically pells were usually conveniently dead trees, or trees that became dead after repeated strikes with swords real or practice ones. A pell is literally something that you will practice your strikes on. Modern pells are logs, posts, lumber or (my personal favorite) rail road ties. Pells can be fixed (anchored to one spot) or moveable/portable for you fighters who require such things. My pell is moveable. It's construction is simple. A Six by Six Railroad tie bored out to accept the shaft of a base which is affixed to a weighted moveable/portable base. The base is the rear half axle of a truck bolted to a wheel with tire attached. The shaft of the Pell is a Six by Six railroad tie, which besides being bored out to accept the axle shaft is padded to reduce the damage to rattan swords we use in the SCA. I padded my pell with 3/4" polypropelene rope. I've marked striking areas with different colored (comes in handy for calling out colors when training other fighters). When wrapping the rope for padding I affixed a handle made of 2 inch nylon strapping, which collapses when hit. It breaks down into the two major components (shaft and base) for ease of movement.

Come to "Thursday Night Fights" aka Sword Fighting in New Jersey

In Northern NJ you can discover if you have what it takes to become a medieval swordsman or a Renaissance Fencer.

Find your "Martial expression" at RW's "Thursday Night Fights" also known as The Shire of Rusted Woodlands, Thursday Fencing and Fighting practice, aka the Bruise Factory.

Whether you're a SCAdian looking to improve your game, or a new fighter looking to find the warrior within come to Hawthorne and find out.

The answers you seek are there for the discovery.

Where: The United Methodist Church, 452 Lafayette Ave, Hawthorne, NJ 07506

When: 8:00pm til

What: SCA Period Fencing, and Heavy Weapons combat

Suggeste contribution: $2.00

Sword Fighting in NJ - The tourney forms of SCA heavy weapons.

There are 6 individual weapon forms in SCA heavy weapons.

Weapon and Shield

Two Weapon

Polearm

Two handed Sword

Spear

Combat Archery

One will likely only use the first 4 in tournement.

Weapon and Shield can be: Sword, mace, or ax and shield. Shield size is only limited by the wielders choice or the kingdom that you reside in laws.

Two weapon can be: two swords (most popular), maces, or axes or any combination. There are those who practice even the true florentine style of broadsword and dagger.

Polearm are essentially a blade on the end of a stick they can be up to 7.5 ft long.

Two Handed sword is any sword that you would wield with two hands.

Spear in SCA combat is a thrust only weapon. If it is cut and thrust it's classified as a polearm.

Combat Archery is not a tourney form, and is reserved for melee only.

in SCA combat weapon and shield is the most prevalent and successful. Our shields aren't ablative so the form gives you the best combination of attack and defense. Shield shapes are limited to the users imagination, but cannot have see through sections or blade catching sections.

Two weapon gives you twice the offensive options but diminishes your defense significantly. It is a form that favors the agile or the most aggressive of fighters.

Polearm is the range weapon of tourney forms. Up to 7.5 ft in length, you can make your opponent pay to get in their weapon range.

two handed sword is the most difficult of tourney forms because it gives up so much in defense and offense. Athough commonly longer than most other swords they're rarely up to the length of polearms, and give up all the defensive options of weapon and shield, or two weapon.

In the end, the form you bring to tourney is the one you favor the most or the one that is dictated by the rules of the list or the crown.

Whatever the option, stay safe, protect yourself at all times and have fun

Q&A with Mr. T #7 "How do I make the team?"

Adam asked: Q: "Sir Tanaka how do I make the East Kingdom Unbelted Team?" A: Great Question! The answer is both simple and complex. It's simply a matter of going to the unbelted practices and fighting well enough to make the team. It's a bit more complex based on the nature that our Warlord changes with the War reigns so each warlord may have a differing agenda, or format for selection. My suggestion is to fight well, fight ALOT, and Fight at all the unbelted practices.... Cheers,T

Sword fighting in Northern NJ - Thoughts on making rattan swords...by diagnosing problems with them

Galfrid showed me his broadsword and asked me to diagnose the how and the why his swords were brooming so fast.

Now Galfrid fights 2-3 times a week at a couple high level practices...so the brooming of his swords could easily be diagnosed as heavy use, but the main fractures in his rattan ran 90 degrees off of his striking surfaces!?.

Now Galfrid is primarily a right handed Weapon and Shield fighter, and we're looking at his broadsword. it's a 32-34 inch weapon with a Stainless Steel Wire baskethilt that he fabricated (really nice work btw). He keeps his handles thick to offset breakage by the wire baskethilt (common problem) and only shapes them a little bit. The blank stock for the sword was probably just shy of 1.5 inches in the 35-37 MM range. He didn't plank this sword. (plane down the sides so they're flat).

So I took a serious look at his tape bruising. "Tape Bruising" is the damage done to the cosmetic tape on SCA swords. By examining this bruising, I diagnose a good bit about the users technique.

The bruising was substantial as was the surface pulping of the rattan. There was the aforementioned crack running east - west of the striking surfaces. On closer examination, the inside side of the sword was really mashed. This is a indication of incomplete rolling of the wrist during wrapshots especially since the area of the pulping was the last 4-5 inches of the blade toward the foilable.

I suggested that he go to thicker rattan stock, 40 mm perhaps, and to plane down the blank and shape the handle so that the sword doesn't "swim" on his wrap shots.

Galfrid said he's going to give it a shot...

Makes me want to get down to the shop and make some weapons...

Fifth Thursday - This Thursday!

Fifth Thursday is approaching on September 29th, 2011. Dress in garb, bring a dish to share, dance or fight! 8PM at United Methodist Church, 452 Lafayette Ave, Hawthorne, NJ 07506.

ATTENTION ALL OFFICERS: THERE WILL BE AN OFFICER'S MEETING AT THIS WEEKS GATHERING. IT IS THE END OF THE QUARTER AND WE HAVE MULTIPLE THINGS TO VOTE ON. YOU MUST ATTEND THIS WEEK! OFFICER'S MEETING WILL BEGIN AT 8:30 PM.