Cascadia and the Iron Waffle

The timeline for Cascadia and my specific experience with it was something of a long one.  It began in hypotheticals, half promises, and lots of confusion.  Was I volunteering?  How much was I paying to go?  What would my duties be?  How much running and stress was there going to be?
The last thing on my mind was lesson content.  I was only going to be a volunteer.  My duties (theoretically) included the same things I did in the city: set up the range, tear down the range, marshal the range when Jason needs a break, and make sure no one does anything crazy.

I booked the time off work.

I packed up the van and the trailer on Friday afternoon.

I rode out to North Van, unloaded the van, and hopped on the boat (still confused).

"Oh Aaron, you're teaching the Beginner Archery workshop."

"Wait, what now?"

Yep.  Teaching.  I was supposed to run the standard 2-hour workshop that I had spent a great many hours watching and assisting for the last several months.  A bit of a bombshell, but my options included getting Jason to teach the course, trying to teach it and crumbling to itty bitty pieces, or actually doing a good job of it.

I was introduced to the man representing Jubilee for the weekend and then I set myself to work.

Assess the facilities, determine how much equipment I would have, plot the lesson, talk to Jason during supper and get his thoughts, and then drink myself into a stupor and spin fire with Terri.  (by the way, fire spinning is stupid amounts of fun)

Then the next day was the lesson.  Up bright and early to stretch by the dock, then a big breakfast, then a bit of prep work on the Jubilee range, and then I went to fetch my students for the morning.

I gave the history talk to the late comers on the way up, had a short talk on the bow and it's technology and was terribly nervous through the whole affair.  Once the history talk and the preliminaries were done, I got into the physical component, and then everything got easy.  Helping someone's form is easy.  Eventually Jason got one the scene and started running a couple other lines, and then before I knew it, it was all done.

I didn't know what to think of it.  In all honesty, I still don't.  I've heard nothing but good feedback from everyone, including Rish, so I guess I can take that as a sign that the job was well done.  Well done, but not done to my own standards.  The goal for next time is to be able to deliver the whole spiel without appearing so obviously nervous, and to make non-awkward conversation for the first half of the workshop.

Knight Camp Pt.1

Let me preface anything to do with Knight Camp with this:

There is nothing in life that I've ever been more proud of than my work with Knight Camp.

It's everything special that I wish I could have done as a little boy, a teenager, and a young man.  It's a collection of every single thing that I wanted to do, and usually did with friends in my parents' back yard when I was little, except there were people around who shared in the joy of the sword, and adults who made it safe and fun.

There were games, there was sword training, there were ranks to climb, battles to fight, and a deeper level of involvement for the kids who were a little older.  There was a standard of behaviour that the kids not only adhered to, but a higher standard that many aspired to.  I saw acts of kindness from these kids that moved me to tears on more than one occasion.  I saw a spirit of comraderie, competition, and compassion that I didn't think was possible.  I saw punk kids come in on Monday mornings, and well mannered; virtuous young men and women leave on Friday afternoons (usually begging their parents for another week, or to be allowed to come back next year).

I saw teenagers give up a summer of making money for the chance to pass on the joy of Knight Camp to a new group of kids.

I could swear that I saw everything that was best in life in the two months I was there.

There were days that I wanted to string a few kids (and a few of my counter parts) from the ceiling, but in the final estimation;

I've never had more pride in anything I've done.

Training with Randy

Yesterday I got the privilege of training under Randy Packer over at box-wrestle-fence with a dear friend and old training partner, Jordan.
Let's start at the beginning.  I met the man for the first time, after much acclaim from Jordan and Kaja at CNAT.  I knew that he was Devon's former partner, that he was a white scarf, and that he had a beard.  Other than that, I could infer that he had a much different focus than Devon from how Jordan and Kaja's fighting had changed and developed since they started training with him, though I couldn't articulate what it was.  Outside of that, for all I knew, him and his (epic) beard could have been fueled by the blood of his enemies*.
* Jordan has not explicitly denied the possibility of this.  I remain necessarily curious and wary.
We arrived at his house shortly after 3:30, and after affixing my tips to my weapons, we set about to slow work.  He told me just to work on flow and to really try and get my joints loose, to try weird and goofy stuff, and to fight with my dagger unless I was exceptionally uncomfortable with it.
After that, he had me and Jordan mask up and fight a few full speed passes.
Then he recorded me lunging from a few different angles.
Then he inquired about my diet, and I earned a disapproving look from him for several months of poor choices.
Then there was more full speed sparring, some slow work woth just daggers, and yet further sparring, and then holy mother of god do I need some water, and it's already been an hour?  No way.  That's almost impossible.  I don't hurt NEARLY enough for that to have been an hour of training.
My classical fencing looks terrible according to him.  He made me stop thinking about footwork, and just focus on my fighting.  He did that in a fairly novel way, too.
He told Jordan to kick my ass.
He made Jordan set his dagger down so that he would be forced to be aggressive and high energy, and then after Jordan was moving quickly and aggressively and being fairly consistantly foiled by my dagger, he was instructed to take his dagger back up again.
Then it started to get furry.
The passes were intense, and combat flowed quickly.  Far more quickly than most combat at Duello.  There were cuts.  More than I've ever seen in any rapier fight.  And it felt almost like a dance.  I was shifting from a long guard into a refused guard and batting attacks away with my dagger and testing him with my sword and voiding my legs and body.  And through all of it, Randy was quizzing me on previous combat and sport experience, looking for a movement that I was used to that could be inserted into my fighting.
He was puzzled by some of my defenses and motions.  Not because they were bad, but because he hadn't seen anyone fight like me before; becuase my horizontal attacks and defenses were rock solid, and most fencers lack strength on that axis.  He was less surprised when I told him that I was an archery teacher, and that Patricia was training me.
He let me know what wasn't working.  What postures were bad, what was making me get hit, and what his fixes were.
He told me that I was good; that I was better than I thought I was.  That I have good reflexes, and that he can help me learn to fence comfortably.
It was an intense hour, but not uncomfortably so.  He's easy to talk to, very casual in his language, prone to cussing, and willing to explore the mechanics of my body.  It was enlightening, invigorating, and sweet god, it was FUN.
I look forward to training with him more in the future.

Back Again

Among other things, I have returned to the blogosphere, and boy howdy do I have stuff to say.  The first rank exam took it out of me; removed the wind from my sails as it were.
Knight Camp came shortly after, the Cascadia North Accolade Tournament took place, a bit of training on equipment maintenance has happened, and holy god there was another rank exam, and I've gone and expanded my training by adding in another teacher.
But before I get into anything about that, I have a thought on an eventual school:
There has to be hardwood floors.
Because aesthetics are important dammit.
Now that I have that out of the way, keep your eyes open, because there's much to catch up on.  It's all going to come out in a fairly unfiltered manner, but I hope the sheer volume will make up for the lack of polish.
Thanks for reading, and it's nice to get back into it.

Training Journal- Day 21

June 15, 2012
Took a couple Weeks off of formal training after the rank exam. Between a move, two jobs, and archery, life has been a goddamn mad house.
The week following the exam was spent settling in to the new house, losing my keys, and adventuring as a borderline hobo for a couple days.
The week after was spent in merciful decompression.
The next several weeks are going to be an aggressive training schedule. All focus classes.
Life carries on, training makes it all worth while. The goal is near, next time I will be strong and ready.
Warm Up- dynamic warm up
Solo Drills- footwork in a mirror, emphasis on good posture and alignment
Partner Drills- tessatura, defense against cuts in contra tempo, off hand covers
Slow Work- N/A
Full Speed- N/A
What Worked- hips stayed back in solo work, learned how to defend against cuts in contra tempo (retreat, collect the sword, strike; I almost take 2 actions in the space of their single action)
What Needs Improvement- body needs to be positioned better, I'm leaning towards my right leg, should be directly in line with my left
Follow-up for Next Time- footwork and body alignment corrections with a mirror
Other Notes- none today

Rank Exam 1

June 2, 2012

Today was my first rank exam.  The first time I was called on to demonstrate a measure of proficiency with the weapon as a whole.  It was an important lesson and learning experience, but I'll get into that below.  The exams make me realize just how damn special that the school and it's students are: we all/as many as are able, come together to test and help each other grow.  There's a high standard for success, and fortunately for those of us who aren't quite ready, a large network of superior swordsmen/women who will help train the areas where we are deficient.  Anyways, a breakdown, and an AAR.

Warm Up- Standard mastery warm up, with movement added to the medicine ball tosses.
Solo Drills- N/A
Partner Drills- demonstrating techniques for gaining control, maintaining control, and regaining control; defending against cuts in mezzo, contra, and dui tempo; covers and stringere with the offhand.
Slow Work- lots of slow work.  must have been at least 10 straight minutes
Full Speed- Two ten minute rounds of sparring, with a 5 minute break in between.
What Worked- I controlled the measure of the fight well, controlled my opponents' swords well when preparing for a strike, and moved in good tempo.  Demonstrated well with my off hand.
What Needs Improvement- my grappling needs more intention, my footwork needs to improve (keep a consistent distance between my feet, don't let them gather, don't use so many passing steps) need to brush up on defenses against cuts in contra tempo, and I need to adjust my posture so that my weight is resting over my rear leg instead of in a more central position.
Follow-up for Next Time- Movement drills and body alignment in a mirror.  Follow up with Clint and Greg for ways to construct effective drills for the points I need to improve on.
Other Notes- From a non technical perspective, I felt rather unprepared for the exam.  Physically, I was gearing myself up for a test in August.  I had only managed to get one night of conditioning in during the four sessions that got lumped into a single post.  My arm was ready to quit on me at the end of the slow work section.  I'm going to need to start strength training in addition to the technical training that I've been focusing on.  And mentally, I was grossly unprepared.  The exam was stressful.  I had to stop and center myself on several different occasions so that I would stop rattling.  Now that I know what I'm in for I can train up my deficiencies, and prepare myself mentally and physically.

Training Journal - Day 20 - pt. 2

June 1st, 2012

Why are you posting twice in a day?  That is a silly thing to do, and you should feel silly.  PISS ON THAT, THERE'S A DEMO TEAM PRACTICE!

Warm Up- Similar to the mastery warm up, except tossing the medicine ball around also involves moving around through the room, and some more awareness and agility focus.
Solo Drills-  N/A
Partner Drills- Basic rapier choreography up to 3 plays with Radge and Kat.
Slow Work- Expanding the choreography into a combative looking set
Full Speed- N/A  A full speed version of this choreography will be expanded and developed over the coming weeks.
What Worked- I can play the agente reasonably well in any given drill.  I felt solid in my findings, and control.
What Needs Improvement- As passiente, I need to receive my hits better, and establish the speed of the plays.  Too often the plays were speeding up, and leading to messy disengages.
Follow-up for Next Time- Practice practice practice.  Also involve a camera.  In fact, do that last bit for as much training as possible.
Other Notes- As usual, I had to leave early for work.  The affair saddened me more than slightly.