On Melees, Marshaling, and a Mini-Manifesto

Sunday I playtested a new melee scenario I concocted on a very generous and patient group of people at the Darach practice. At first I was a little dubious that the scenario would work, and could see similar skepticism on the faces of the combatants as I described it to them, but when we were done running it, everyone came up and said they had a good time. Yay!

Playtesting the new scenario pretty much alleviated my fears of OMG IT'S GOING TO SUCK EVERYONE WILL HATE IT and now I've accepted that of course someone's going to hate it, because you can't please everyone, but most people will probably have a passably good time. Now I'm just down to finishing up a couple of props, making sure I don't break the prize for the tournament before Saturday afternoon, wrangling the eric up to site, and otherwise lassoing as many of the octopus' tentacles as I can before the event.

I was very lucky to have the crowd that I did--four White Scarves and a double-handful of Duelists, all of whom have vast melee experience and were happy to tell me what they thought worked, didn't work, and could be tweaked for even more fun. I was really happy to have such an experienced pool of fighters to test the scenario on, and really appreciated their honest feedback and enthusiasm to make the scenario even more fun. They even came up with a name for it--The Borgia Rings. ;) 

I plan to debut the scenario at King's Hunt, among some other tried-and-true melees that most folks seem to like. This is my first time running two days' worth of rapier and running melees, period, so I'm hoping it all goes well. I passed my Marshaling test almost two months ago, and while I've run tournaments and such before, they were always small (5-15 people) and I always had a Marshal supervising or signing off on everything that I did--I've never run multiple days' worth of scenarios and tournaments or been the Marshal-in-Charge for rapier before. It makes me a little nervous (I'm checking armor! I'm calling holds! I'm approving weird offhands! PEOPLE COULD DIE!!!!!!), but I'm excited too (I'm keeping us on schedule! I'm explaining things! I'm bringing up new scenarios! PEOPLE COULD DIE!!!!!...and then come up and tell me how much fun they had!) 

I really feel like this is one of those things that A Serious Rapier Fighter Should Do--become a marshal, try your hand at running some stuff, experiment with making up new scenarios, just to see what it feels like and to get some perspective. It may be that this weekend goes terribly and I come away from it never wanting to take on this level of responsibility again (although I doubt it will), but that doesn't mean the experience itself will have been bad. I think it's really important to try to do as many different things as possible, even if it only teaches you to appreciate what other folks put themselves through on a regular basis. 

On a more personal level, I'm looking forward to being able to give back to the community a little bit. I had an interesting conversation with a friend on Sunday after practice about getting and keeping new blood in Caid, and keeping the Kingdom going during a recession, and maintaining interest and contribution to the rapier community (and I'm totally summing up badly, but that's not the point). It came from a conversation about the roles of White Scarves as teachers in Caid, and possible methods for including more teaching and more teachers in the rapier community, not just from the White Scarves, but from the populace at large.

I'm sort of of two minds about this--I definitely believe any well-recognized (by awards, word of mouth, or whatever) fighter should be held to high standards in terms of contributions to community and behavior as well as skill, but I also think this kind of perspective can lead to people expecting more from better-recognized or higher-ranked fencers in the Kingdom (to wit, the White Scarves) than they do from themselves... which is, again, a good and a bad thing.

If that kind of expectation encourages the White Scarves, Duelists, and old hats in the community to contribute more, think of new and better ways to keep fighters interested and learning, it's a good thing. If that kind of expectation starts to impact the self-esteem of newer, unrecognized, or less skilled fighters, or encourages laziness because "Oh, So-and-So will take care of that, s/he always handles that stuff," it's a bad thing. We have a lot of really good examples for creativity, research, behavior, and skill in this Kingdom (plenty of whom aren't White Scarves), and I'd hate to see someone newer or less experienced stifle their own creativity because they worry they wouldn't live up to someone else's example or because it simply didn't occur to them to volunteer for something someone else habitually handled.

I don't know if this is a serious problem, or not, but it might be worth addressing anyway. I guess part of this (doing the marshal thang, running the rapier at King's Hunt, even, to a certain extent, this blog) is a gesture to less well-recognized fighters and also to myself--to put myself out there, do try new things, to be okay with screwing them up, to muse over questions and lessons, and generally to keep thinking, discussing, and talking. A lot. Like I do. ;) 

A Widdle Personal Update

Finally! Finally! Finally the rain stopped! Halleluia! Praise the gods! Dance and sing in an emphatically non-rain-dancey way!

Yes, Sunday was the first time I got out to Darach practice in the last 3 weeks, because it was the first time Darach actually had practice in 3 weeks. I love love love having practice on the weekends, and I love love love having practice outdoors, but in the late winter/early spring it does make all practice plans pretty tentative--especially this year, when we've had a wetter, colder February and March than I've ever seen in Southern California. Don't get me wrong, I loves me some rain (reminds me of those foggy days in the Bay Area), but it does make fencing less likely.

I was a little tentative fencing on Sunday, because I'd spent a few hours at a pre-natal yoga class the day before (no, not for me--for a friend of mine whose husband couldn't make it). The class turned out to be about 50% individual yoga, which I'd never really done before (WiiFit aside), so I spent a lot of time with weight on both arms and/or my feet flexed. I was worried that after two days of exercise, my elbow and foot would be complaining loudly on Monday, but so far they both feel fine. I iced my foot Sunday night and took Advil before and after exercising on Sunday, and things seems to be holding up pretty well. We'll see how I feel after King's Hunt this weekend, where I'll hopefully get to fence at least a little bit two days in a row.

Drills and Such

Other than playtesting the new melee scenario (see followup post), I got to spend some one-on-one time drilling with Laertes, which was great. I really feel like I've been slowly (slooooooowly) improving over the winter, and doing the same drills I've been doing off-and-on for the last year or so is a good touchstone for me. It's nice to do a drill and think Okay, that's easier than it was three months ago, or Okay, I'm better at this part, now I need to focus on fixing this more advanced thing.

One thing Laertes observed, which I think is definitely true and led me into some more complicated musing, was that I'm much more confident when I'm fighting him. It's true--I'm more relaxed, more aggressive, and more self-assured. At the time, I said it was because we were just doing drills and I could expect him to throw one of three or four shots, so I got to turn the more watchful, anticipatory part of my brain off... but then he switched styles and it turned out that I maintained the attitude, even when we weren't drilling.

This is a behavior I've noticed with folks I'm used to fencing (folks I started fencing with in Isles, Laertes, friends from various fighting units I've practiced with, etc.) and it's sort of a good and a bad thing--I can relax enough to concentrate on fine-tuning my technique, which is cool, but it still only happens with people I'm fairly familiar and comfortable with, not all the time. I'd love to be able to bring that attitude to all of my fencing endeavors, not just practice with people I'm close to or have fenced with a lot.

I think that's one of those things that will come with time, although probably more time than I'd like. I do have a deep vein of self-consciousness that comes out when I'm fencing (most of the rest of the time, it's covered by a deluge of snark and one-liners). I guess I'm worried about being too easy a fight, about people who are watching forming bad opinions of me and my meager skillz, of looking like a doofus (more than usual). 

Oddly, that self-consciousness might contribute to my strong drive to be chivalrous and generally well-behaved on the field. I have a much higher opinion of people who are weaker fencers with unfailing courtesy than I do of people who win every tournament they enter and have every award their Kingdom has for rapier, who are unfailingly rude and dismissive--you know, the people who clearly think more highly of themselves and their "accomplishments" than they do anyone else, because they don't have to respect anyone who isn't exactly like them and doesn't meet their narrow and self-serving criteria of success. I'd rather be a shitty fencer who has a reputation for good times and good behavior on the field than the best fencer in the Society who has to have all the doorways in her house widened to get her head through, know what I mean?

Anyway, more of the same. Practice practice practice. Maybe I should just fence naked for a few months and get all the self-consciousness out of my system through over-exposure. :) 

Keep Calm and Carry On

Hi all! I just wanted to drop a brief update here--there's not much new going on over here in Chateau Enid, but there are a couple of things worth noting.

I've been going to Darach practice recently, because my work weeks have been super busy and my carpool buddy moved to Mississippi, making the drive down and back from Altavia (between 45 mins and 1:30, depending on traffic) a bit more nerve-wracking. I tend to get sleepy on the freeway, especially in a warm car or at night, so driving by myself at night, in winter, with the heater on, doesn't really appeal. :)

I really enjoy the feel of Darach practice--it's usually pretty small, but it's spearheaded by Dons Alex K. and Eogan ("Owen"), giving us a good ratio of Scarves to non-Scarves. They're both really willing to teach and pretty much everyone who attends the practice regularly is very friendly, laid back, and approachable, which really colors the whole ambiance of the practice for me. That's not to say that any of the other practices I've attended are stuffy or overly serious or in any way not fun--just that this one's smaller, so I get some more individual attention, which I like (spoiled brat that I am), and all the regulars there are very easy to get along with.

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty good about my fencing right now in general. Between the maintenance exercises and the fish oil, neither foot nor elbow have been bothering me much (I could feel my elbow working hard at practice yesterday, but it's not sore at all today). I've been working on incorporating more forward motion into my fight, and a shout-out is due here to Don Alex B., who led an impromptu class on sloping and compass steps at Altavia practice a month or so ago that I found really helpful.

Yesterday I was playing around with them with a fencer who I haven't fought a lot (I think he might be kind of new, not sure). He basically fought with lots of circling, lots of going backwards, and lots of sticking the sword out, hoping someone will run into it. Forward-moving aggression consisted pretty much exclusively of little shots at the hands and face--more of a "Don't come any closer!" than a genuine attack. It was a lot like fighting myself six months ago, with less hair. ;) I had fun experimenting with sloping steps to throw his circling off, or to invite him in closer so I could hit him. I concentrated mostly on my own defense and working through his sturdy parries and offhand-work, with some good success. Now I just have to work on making my advances more subtle--if I wasn't taking a step in to counter his circle, he could tell what I was doing and countered my advances quickly.

I did notice that I started getting frustrated with myself as I started getting tired at practice. It was interesting to note--I haven't had a lot of frustration with myself recently. Between time commitments and joint issues, I've been so glad to be out fencing at all that it's hard for me to have a bad time out on the field. :) Yesterday, though, my brain had ideas for stuff to do and none of it was quite working fast or fluidly enough--I think I was just getting tired, and I wasn't reacting quite as fast or as skillfully as I wanted to. Either that or because someone dropped a comment about my not doing the correct motion to counteract my opponent's defense, and it bothered me. I didn't think it did at the time, but it might have wormed its way into my brain and irked me. I'm disinclined to take my subconscious that seriously... ;) Not a big deal either way, just something worth noticing.

Let's see, what else is going on? Tourney season is almost upon us, Caid's Crown Tourney was this past Saturday, and I'm working on a new doublet. I hope the pattern I have now serves me well enough to get a fighting dress out of, as well. We'll see how the new doublet wears--I already know it fits me, but it remains to be seen how comfortable it's going to be. Working on garb has always been a bit of a challenge for me, because it ties into some body-image issues I've always had (and really, doesn't everyone have some body image issues? Come on, now.) It's been a long uphill battle to acknowledge and accept that the only way I'll feel like I look nice in my garb is by taking the time and effort into making nice garb, rather than just throwing a T-tunic on and trying to avoid mirrors for the whole event. :)

There's all of that and the fact that I really do think a nice, period appearance on the field is important (or at least an obvious attempt at a period appearance), so I really owe it to myself to make something nicer. My current doublet is basically a waster I cooked up quickly, trying to supplement my fighting gear, and ended up wearing full time after I gained some weight in the last quarter of college and hadn't lost. Now, a year and a half later, I've lost some of the weight and don't have any good excuses anymore. :)

Also coming along the pipe are slipcovers for my sneakers, a new hood, and hopefully a dress of some kind. I'd love to find some super-discounted brocade for a new gear bag as well, as the camp-chair bag I repurposed for my gear is on its last legs, but that's kind of an ongoing desire, not an active plan.

That's about it for now. See you next time--Same Enid time, same Enid channel.