ETA: This post was originally on my LiveJournal.
This is the first of what I hope will be a series of posts as I try to improve my fencing game. I'm not locking these to my SCA-peeps group, just in case those of you who aren't in the SCA are interested... but I'm also cutting it in case you aren't. :)
Last week I went fencing for the first time since I tore ligaments in my foot, and it was overall very successful. I hadn't even held trusty Idris for about 2.5 months (blasphemy!), but putting on the gear and picking him up again felt really nice. I've lost some arm and leg musculature in those months--I think that's how Michelle Obama keeps her arms so toned, she secretly works out with a schlager.
I only fought two opponents before my foot started bugging me. Zhivana was my first fight--she deflowered my new dagger, which has yet to be named. I really, really like fighting Zhivana. She always gives me a workout--we have a habit of one kicking the other's ass for 5 or 6 bouts and then switching. New dagger was awesome--felt like a feather in my hand. I only thought it was my baton once or twice and tried to parry shots that I should have caught with my sword, which leads nicely to my next fight...
Lodovico and I went a few rounds before I called on account of tired. I have pretty good point control and was very pleased by how often I took his right hand or arm. On the needs-improvement side, I realized about halfway through our bouts that a) I was taking a lot of shots on the left side of my torso and shoulder and b) my head felt completely unprotected.
Re: the torso shots: I think I need to stop fencing with baton for awhile--the reason I was taking shots on my left side was because I wasn't getting my sword in to parry enough. Part of that's because my arm was tired, but that's not the primary reason--the thought that I actuallyneeded to parry more with my sword didn't even occur to me until we were driving home. My basic guard tends to angle the baton or dagger over the sword, so I can windshield-wiper parry as fast as possible, and using a baton makes up for a lot of sloppiness and reduced speed in my sword arm.
Re: the head shots: Lodovico didn't take any of the offered headshots, but I didn't have the sensation that my face was hanging out with Zhivana, so I think it's because he's a little taller than me. I could understand feeling like my head was unprotected if he was one-shotting me to the face every other bout, but he wasn't--it was just a feeling I had. I think it was a valid feeling, is all. :) One of the weak spots about fencing in Isles is that not many of the potential opponents are taller than I am. Darach's better, but I'm still so self-conscious around all those folks that the (two or three) times I've been to those practices I never fence very much or very well. Which leads me into my next point...
I'm still super-self-conscious about fencing to the point of getting frustrated with myself really easily. I flat out refuse to fight Todde or Dylan anymore because I don't like how angry it makes me. I think it's a combination of being very close to both of them emotionally so I want to feel like Dylan's equal and feel like I'm actually learning the things Todde is teaching when we spar, which I often don't because he kills me so quickly and unfailingly. I actually thought this was me being completely neurotic until I mentioned it to Laertes--he had asked me if I had anyone to spar with regularly and when I said it was just Dylan he said that he'd figured out from living with and fencing with Batista (sp?) that there was some whole other headgame that could play itself out while fencing with your SO that maybe wouldn't be very conducive to a learning environment. I already knew this, but I thought it was just me being crazy. It still may be me being crazy, but now I know it's not justme. :)
It's easier to fight with a) people that I don't know very well or b) people who are categorized as "students, just like me!" in my head, like most of the current Isles crew. I know all of my mental and physical roadblocks are resolvable, but how to resolve them? Not so sure on that. Hence these posts--Imma get edumacated, either by you, gentle readers, with your deft and accurate commentary, or by my own brain because writing shit down is part of how I process difficult mental or emotional concepts.
Unrelated note: I've noticed that my defense is pretty good-okay when I'm just standing still, and even better when I'm backing up and controlling the tempo that way, but when I go forward or someone charges at me at top speed, it all falls apart. Bailing out of a charge and waiting for them to come at me again or trying to get a potshot in while they recover doesn't seem to have much effect. I don't know if I'm afraid of hitting them too hard if I stand my ground and punk 'em or if I just don't like big speedy things rushing at me--probably both. And why does my defense fall apart when I go forward? I should know where my opponents' weapons and offhands are regardless of how near to or far from them I am, and if I'm defending myself properly, the physical proximity to my opponent shouldn't matter.
So, current goals for fencing:
* Go forward more. Laertes said, and it sounds like a good idea.
* Better parries and single-sword defense (or at least better left-handed defense).
* Less thinking and analyzing while fencing, more Zen. Zen fencing. Zencing.
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