Research and Discussion Forums

I seem to recall that there may have been someone in KC. Anyway, thanks for all the great advice and I look forward to eventually meeting some of you. Andrew That would be us -- all two of us and somewhat pinned by a 2-year-old. I clearly ought to check the board more frequently, since we could hav...

Keith Culbertson wrote:ah, but a humble demeanor is among the finest qualities a scholar can have

'Specially when well warranted.

Hopefully this will pan out!

Sorry about the slow reply!

I'd be happy to practice & sent you a PM about it.

I think Keith vastly overrates my skill, though.

We've been very happy with our longswords from Lance Chan (RSK, http://www.rsw.com.hk ). (Not knocking the Edhellen products at all - I've never touched them.) They've stood up to quite a bit of abuse, but are still going strong with a bit of duct tape to repair the odd tear in the cover. :D

Thanks for all the clarification! We hadn't expected that day care would be laid on, though the suggestion of getting together with any other parents is a good one. We don't yet know that we are, or are not coming, but the fact that the classes repeat does put it in the realm of the possible (since ...

I've been meaning to ask.... Corinne and I are examining the option of coming to this. The main complication is a wee laddie named Ian, who will be just under 1 year old at the time. If I'm reading the schedule correctly, many of the classes repeat - they run once in the morning, and then again in t...

My apologies on the slow reply! (Thanks for noticing it in a more timely manner, Rob!)

Corinne and I (and now young Ian) live in Platte City, a bit northwest of the Kansas City airport.

Drop me a line at james.sterrett (at) gmail.com and we'll try to mesh our schedules.

Jeff: I agree ARMA does well in both a serious approach to the available sources, and in having a collegial approach to learning - both of which attracted Corinne and me to ARMA in the first place!

Note the lead item on this article: http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/news/uofcpublications/umagazine/fall2006/generationR/ Carolyn Willekes, studying Alexander's cavalry, went out and tested assertions by acquiring the necessary kit and trying it out on horseback. Sadly, I've failed to find any link to th...

Central Kansas, no -- but we're just north of Kansas City.


Quick check on google-maps: Salinas KS to Platte City MO is around 3 hours.

This mostly backs up things others have said; we found that these all helped Corinne: - Learning technique, which gives confidence, which in turn breeds willingness to be aggressive! (Cor also notes the extreme joy she felt when she learned the technique for setting aside an incoming head strike (wh...

If you're looking for the skeleton of a practice session, this is what we do; adjust to taste. 1) Stretching & warming up 2) Individual footwork. done with sword in hand, in a guard position; moving it from guard to guard as you get more comfortable. The purpose, here, is to practice getting...

Do I train for self-defence? In the abstract, yes. Any martial arts training, done seriously - with Inent, to use the ARMA phrasing - provides both physical and mental conditioning for a fight. But do I expect to use my longsword training in real life? Not directly. I don't carry a longsword. I've o...

I could probably title this as "How a young twit discovered the importance of technique". <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" /> When I was a beginner fencer (foil), I regarded footwork drill and technique as reasonably pointless. After all, in sparring, my ...

Reminds me of a training device I used to use back when I was learning foil: A raquetball on a string. <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" /> We used it as a lunge target, much as you describe, with the ball either stationary or swinging. In addition, to practice tip ...