International HMB news, Patrick’s elevation, other flotsam

Last night was our local SCA Rattan fencing practice. I had a grand old time. Duke Bardolph was there, and I more or less monopolized his time. We fought quite a bit. There were a number of exchanges that were really quite excellent. The only stuff that was landing on either of us was third intent attacks. It was most enjoyable.

 

This morning at the gym though, I had to curse Ollie. In one of our fights,  He popped me on the forearm. It was a great shot, but it was EXACTLY where the kettlebell lands during overhead kettlebell presses. What are the chances of him popping me in that very spot the night before Kettlebell morning? Dick. (wink)

 

When the SCA practice was done, Dolph and I worked on leg sweeps and takedowns. I am still having a really hard time with remembering leg sweeps and kicks when fighting ACL. It will come though, and when it does…..

 

After my evening workout tonight, I am heading to the BlackSwanAcademy practice. Looking forward to it. We are gonna focus on the First sword preparation, and review the first form of the Prima Assalto.

 

There is actually a LOT in the first form. It has three guards, two different kinds of cuts, and two different pieces of footwork….

 

And that’s the FIRST form…. There are thirty separate forms in the first Assalto.

 

This is why I laugh when some rattan fencers “develop” some new shot, or some new combination. In all honesty, there is no action that cannot be encompassed by the works of the Dardi Masters. (well, I actually amend that statement a little. There are some SCA’esque actions that you won’t find…. The ones that are harmful to the practitioner’s body or are not martially sound.)

 

But I digress. It’s gonna be an enjoyable night.

 

After the practice, I’m gonna do another round of Video of my foil thrust form to send to my Classical Fencing coach. I have been practicing the corrections he indicated from last time, so it is time to send another one. It’s going to be a long long process. (laugh)

 

In ACL news, a great deal has been going on. The most long-term impactful event though is the formal registration and founding of the HMBIA. The HMB (Historical Medieval Battles) has been operating as the international governing body for the sport since its inception. This has primarily been through the efforts and control of a handful of individuals.

 

That changed last month. The Historical Medieval Battle International Association was officially registered and recognized, and is formally based out of Switzerland, similar to FIFA, UEFA, and other international competitive organizations. The governance of the HMBIA is also changing, and will be governed similar to other international organizations; by representatives of recognized participating Nations.

 

This is a big shift in the previously Russian dominated International sport. (I am speaking of the organization itself, not the fact that they dominate the sport by being simply better than everybody else. They are, by far, the best. And only hard work and time will raise other National teams to the level that they will honor the Russians with a real challenge. Poland is the closest to this right now. But again, I digress)

 

Kudos to those individuals for recognizing that the International sport could not grow without change. Though apparently this was planned all along, it is still a significant step forward.

 

It is hard to predict the particular changes this will create in the sport, but it will no doubt be impactful.

 

If rumor holds true, it will not be the newer teams that will be immediately affected. Conversely, members of the original National Team’s equipment will have to change to more closely reflect the stringent harness and weapon requirements. The new National teams have never really been allowed to “fudge” in this area in the first place.

 

As an analogy, it would be like the SCA Inc. trying to enforce a “no plastic’ rule on all existing participants; even that crusty old duke from the 80’s who still uses a spun top helm and barrel plastic.  This, of course, is a bit of a flawed analogy for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the SCA is not billed as an amateur or professional sport, doesn’t charge spectators, and cannot reasonably expect it’s hobbyist members to embrace a professionally stringent appearance. The SCA is, after all, a very big and very accepting umbrella. (It’s greatest strength)  But from the practitioner’s standpoint, this analogy hints at how disruptive the enforcement of the HMB’s previously stated high equipment standard may be for the older National Teams. It will be interesting to see how this falls out.

 

In SCA news, My friend, and fellow Leftenant of the Company of St. Jude, Patrick von Brandenburg will be elevated to the Order of the Laurel for his work on equestrian and Historical combat research. He has done some extremely interesting work on Equestrian swordplay and lance technique, based primarily on medieval german fight books. I am very proud of him.

 

The Company will be armed, and will escort him into the ceremony with all the splendor we can muster. The real questions is; what weapons will go with my outfit! I will tuck the mace into my belt, of course, in Honor of His German tendencies,  but should I carry the Poleaxe, or the Macejewski chopper?! I will have to examine myself in the mirror to see which one brings out the madness in my eyes. (wink)

 

This will occur this weekend at the event known as the “Festival of Maidens”, in Champaign, Ill. I am really looking forward to it. I have had to limit my event going, for various reasons, and have not gotten to participate in a tournament in a while. It will be a grand time. I am really looking forward to seeing friends, and beating the piss out of people with a stick.

 

Hmm.. speaking of sticks. I’m gonna have to make a new Baton. All of mine either have giant chunks out of them, or are totally broomed out. (sigh)

 

No rest for the wicked!

 

In far less interesting news, I am considering moving this blog to my self-hosted web server, and domain www.eclecticantagonist.com

 

I am considering doing this for a number of reasons, but the biggest is financial. I pay for space on wordpress.com, and the renewal is coming up. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to pay for it when I am already paying for web hosting for my other sites. The biggest problem is that I have a lot of links and users pointed at THIS url. (I actually get a lot of traffic these days off web searches of various topics)

 

Luckily, WordPress.com has a very cheap service that will keep all the old links working, and redirect them to the new site, so users see no change. (or so the brochure said). We will see. I am still contemplating it. I have until the middle of Feb to decide, but Self hosting this wordpress site has a lot of other advantages…

 

Anyhoo. Break over. Back to work.

Black Swan Academy of Defense Overview

I wanted to talk a little about the Black Swan Academy of Defense.

The WMA world is very diverse, and the approach of WMA schools and study groups are as varied as the people who pursue this course of study.

A lot of folks who study and teach WMA “fetishize” (for lack of a better word) Historical European Martial art material, spending all their time focusing on the Choreography of the Fight Master’s teachings.

As with most things, there are pros and cons to this.

If One’s martial art approach focusses on technique (usually without context) to the exclusion of all else, they are essentially never getting past the “elephant”.

(For reference, the “elephant’ refers to the teachings of Master Fiore de Liberi. The elephant refers, roughly, to the physical attributes and development of a swordsman)

But, there are three other attributes that, in my opinion, must be cultivated and trained, if one is to become a Martial artist worthy of the legacy of the Past Masters, and if you do not develop those things, you are merely learning, at best, dance. You can have the most perfect longsword form in the world, cutting tatami effortlessly. But if you don’t have the “gameness” to take a punch, it is useless.

The approach I am taking to the culture of our Academy is that I am offering the training tools and opportunity to help Modern Men, Women, and young adults better themselves as People, as Martial artists, as Modern day Knightly Aspirants.

In other words, I am less interested in creating Martial Arts fetishists, and more interested in helping people create a positive impact on the world by being Strong, Confident, Chivalric individuals.

(Side note, Chivalric does not mean Courtious… a subject for another time)

After all, What is the point of studying Martial Art, Eastern, or Western, if it is not to use it as a vehicle for self improvement: In cultivating the Physical, Emotional, Intellectual, and Spiritual aspects of one’s Nature.

Studying the Martial systems of the Past Masters in a focused, academically sound, and Martially valid way can be vehicles to cultivate the Physical and Intellectual.

Participating in Chivalric sport, Community, and the pursuit of Excellence can be vehicles to cultivate the Emotional and Spiritual. (“violence brings people together”)

In my opinion, if the Martial curriculum of a school does not develop all four, it is not supplying the World with those “modern” Knights that C.S. Lewis notes it so desperately needs.

Our primary art of study is the Dardi, or bolognese school. We are utilizing elements of Classical Italian Pedagogy, and eventually will be offering classes, especially youth classes, in Classical Italian Foil.

We also will train and participate in various forms of Chivalric Sport: primarily preparing individuals for ACL combat, (Train to be part of the Black Swan fight club) SCA combat, and eventually modern fencing.

A number of self defense classes are in the works, and we will also be offering KnightFit workouts. (Focused group workouts, go from couch potato to Killer)

If you are interested in getting fit, becoming a Knightly martial practitioner, or you want to train for a Chivalric sport, You can email me at Rob@wayoftheknight.com or call the Academy’s phone number: 309-306-1454

You can also join the Academy’s Facebook page for updates on classes, news, etc.

The Academy’s website is in flux, and is being completely revamped, so it will be up and down, etc. But the URL is http://www.wayoftheknight.com

Getting back up to speed

Years ago, I toyed around with a Podcast. I did this in conjunction with a then-close-friend.

I really enjoyed doing it. It was a different medium, and something new. I was pretty proud of what we did.

But after all that work, I only actually published one episode. Seemed like a waste.

I suspect now it was just a matter of an idea who’s time had not come yet. Last night, I started poking around the setup and such, and it all still exists. If I wanted to resurrect it, it wouldn’t be that much work.

Thing is, there is so much to talk about with the emerging ACL, the SCA, WMA, fighting arts in general, HMB, and all the other acronyms, and I have access to so many really interesting people to interview, who’s stories and voice would be valuable to the community that it is possible the time has come to revisit the idea.

Also, I suspect it would be a great venue to bring the Black Swan Fight club and the Academy into a greater consciousness, and that in itself would be worth the effort.

I have found the only way to get all the things done I want to get done is to go mobile. I just don’t have the time to sit down at a computer and write, or record for long intervals, so I have to snatch as many seconds as I can, and utilize them.

This fact has, strangely enough, made me tremendously attached to my apple products. (chuckle) Especially my Ipad. When I was playing with the Podcast the first time, I was using my laptop, and some windows software, but now from my understanding, A lot of folks are using Garageband for Ipad, and an external USB mic to do this same work. It makes sense, Especially if you want to do on the fly interviews.

So I am gonna explore that a little. I think it would be of interest to some folks, and the idea of capturing some of these people’s own words holds a lot of appeal to me.

In other news, Scott, from Darkwood Armory is busily constructing my Langes Messer for me! He sent me some pics of the blank, and it is looking awesome! He was also working his magic on the balance and weight distribution so it doesn’t “move” like an orc weapon. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with. (these are for ACL style combat, btw)

So, on the Armor front, I have been using my Kettlehelm that Sir Rudy made me. I am very thankful to have it. It is working really well right now. I think I got all the padding and strapping figured out. It’s pretty damn solid.

But the goal was to not really use it in France. We were going to make a ‘better” version of it, but that isn’t gonna happen now. My other plan was to get Maxim to make me a kettlehelm and bevor combo, but nobody can get hold of Maxim lately….
We shall see, I may have a solution. more info to come.

By this Friday I will have completed my first week back working at Cat. It has been good to see familiar faces. I did gain more time in the day with no commute, which is a huge bonus. I am doing a cardio workout in the morning, and strength training after work. Been doing that this week, and all is well. It seems to work better than the other way around. Strength training seems to sap me much more thoroughly of energy, and by doing cardio in the morning, I have enough time to recover during work. It seems to be working. We shall see.

On the fifth of January, Black Swan Fight club hosted the Central Division practice. We had a great time, and nobody was seriously injured. We had some new fighters, including my dear friend, Bo Harris. He did a tremendous job, including throwing me down.

This was the first time we used Rattan weapons mixed with steel weapons. We did this for a number of reasons. I completely understand the reasoning for it, but I personally hated it. I had made a rattan longsword for this practice, and tried to stiffen it by covering it in epoxy.

It sucked.

I hit guys on the head, and the Rattan bent, having no physiological effect. I pretty much knew this would happen, but I wanted to use it anyway as a grappling tool. I don’t have enough practice using it for that purpose, so the weapon itself was pretty much useless in my hands.

That being said, it was a good exercise. I know what I need to practice. Jon and I will be attacking that deficiency soon.

Last night, we did the first Black Swan Academy practice. More people showed up than I thought would, which was cool. We got a good sweat on, and focused on the first form of Manciallino’s Prima Assalto. Just that one form has two pieces of footwork, two cuts, and three guards, so it is pretty dense. We had a great time, and its just gonna get better!

The Academy’s website needs to be completely revamped, and the promotional activities planned need to be executed, but it’s definitely a strong start.

Angels and ministers of Grace, defend us.

The new year, and the old

I have been meaning to sit down and put together a new entry for…. well…. at least nine days.

In my mind, I had this whole “State of Rob address” thing planned out in my head. Well, most of that is gone. My head fills up and empties pretty fast. (laugh) not really a good thing.

I Haven’t even gotten hold of my own Father the past week. It’s been pretty hectic.

But, To touch on the highlights, I hosted a “to be traditional” early morning workout and sword arts practice on the First day of the year. I fully expected to be the only one there. but as it turned out, John Kell, and Bill Hoffman showed up to usher in the new year with my by sweating their asses off.

Huge cudos to them, especially Bill, who I had not seen in a number of years. (and who had not, of his own admission, set foot in a gym since high school)

Other folks showed up later in the day, and we had a tremenous time fighting, talking, etc. Jamie made a huge vat of black eyed peas (traditionally good look on new years day) and cornbread, and we had a grand old time.

For me, Last year was one of the most tumultuous in my life so far. I experienced highs that I expect I will not top in this lifetime, and lows that were achingly difficult. But that is the nature of change, is it not? The antithisis of mediocrity and stasis. I sat in the dark and the cold a lot of times, and also basked in the brightest of lights. It had been, without a doubt, a pivitol year in my life.

This year seems to be shaping up as the year of realizing and pursuing those things from last year. Some doors have not merely opened to me, they have exploded outward, others are closed, and create a deep sense of loss. But without a doubt, I will be a better person, and a more Knightly individual by the end of this year.

Tonight we held the first Black Swan Academy class. It was larger than I expected turnout wise, and is a really solid start. This effort will be a big theme in my life moving forward, and a great deal needs to be said about it, but not tonight… (laugh)

A great number of things in my head need to go here before they drip out the other side. I have realized through the promptings of folks that writing my adventures down is possibly one of the reasons I am supposed to be doing this. It seems to fire people’s inspiration.

Of course, on the flipside, I have been told all of my “adventures” are merely irresponsible larks, or, (in some ways worse) self aggrandizing and overblown attempts to cast myself as a hero of some sorts.

(shrug) St. Michael will weigh my deeds and God will decide my fate. As my Brother Sir Brad says, “It is what it is.” I am who I am, and I do what I must.

There is so much to talk about, Women, Horses, Armor, Swords, workouts, muscle gains, jobs, the list goes on and on. But I must stop for now… Bernard Cornwell’s new book, Titled 1356 just popped onto my Kindle. I have been waiting for its release for some time, and to hell with the rest of the world for a bit. I shall sit by my fire, and read of fell deeds and bloody battlefields, just like Don Quixote, and I will dream of riding my own Rocinante to bright deeds of arms, and Stricken fields.

(Well, at least until 10 PM. I have to get up pretty early to the first workout of the day before work these days) chuckle.

Long overdue updates

I have not written in some time. I have been consumed by various pursuits and goals. It has been an altogether productive time, but also altogether exhausting.

My preparation for BoTN in France continues. I am currently on a schedule of morning physical preparedness workouts, and evening skills based workouts. I try to make sunday a day of rest, and do not work out at all, but at this point in my life, it actually is difficult to do.

It has become such a habit that the day feels very strange without any kind of physical training.

Still, I need it. This last Black Swan practice (last saturday) I completely hit a brick wall. After a single round of longsword, I was completely on empty. In fact, I actually fell asleep sitting on a stool right after. It was altogether annoying and alarming.

I know that it is a deficiency in how I have been fueling myself. I have not had nearly enough complex carbs to fuel all of what I am doing. It’s just another step to bring into line.

I have been so long thinking about cutting calories, that I haven’t balanced my type of intake with the work I am doing. I have pretty much achieved my goal weight, I now need to switch more heavily into strength training mode.

The plan now is to make strength training 80% of my GPP workouts until the final National qualifying tournament in Feb, then after that, I will balance back and bring my cardio back up, so that by February, when we fly to France, I will be optimally prepared.

I have been taking Kick boxing classes. They are enjoyable, but I am realizing they are of limited use. The low leg sweeps, and front kicks are useful, but much of the material just doesn’t translate well. It IS one hell of a workout, that’s for sure, but I may switch out of it to a more sport specific mix of training.

I am taking sport fencing lessons from the local Sport fencing school. It has been an interesting culture shift. I am sure I will have more observations about this in a bit. There are some very specific reasons I am studying here. It all ties together, I promise. (laugh)

Part of my nightly sport specific workouts include working through the Classical fencing material. one of the things I need to achieve is to send my “sponsor teacher” video of my progress. I plan to do this soon.

Dr. Dobyns, the minister of the First Christian Church here in Peoria, Who is an amazing person, btw, Is allowing me the use of their facility for my trainings and pursuits. They allow the SCA practice there too. I hope to give back to his community in various ways. Having an indoor facility is so vitally important in so many ways…

I am gearing up to start the Intro Bolognese class in the next couple weeks. My dear Jamie is finishing up the changes to the flyers, and I will be printing them out and disbursing them. I’m eager to get this going. So many things in my life seem to be pushing me to get off my ass and just DO it, that I can’t ignore it anymore. We will see how it goes.

My father and I are also working on a writing project that is very dear to my heart. Not only am I really excited about the content and subject, but I am really jazzed that we are going to do it together. It will make it that much more special for me.

Preparations for liquidating the house continues. It is both supremely sad, and at the same time, full of hope. Following one’s bliss seems to be that way.

The Captain’s meeting in France went well, by all preliminary reports. The international sport is undergoing a lot of changes to bring it inline with a true internationally recognized sport. There are a great deal of things coming down the pike, and it is all pretty exciting. Doors are opening.

I am still trying to figure out if I can swing Christmas tourney. I really really want to go, for a number of reasons. I will make that decision by the end of the week.

We had a good turnout tuesday at the SCA practice. It was a lot of fun. I managed my food intake better that day, so I wasn’t as gassed as I was the week before. I love playing with my friends. It makes me sad to think of those folks that have moved on. I miss them.