Wisconsin 1.0

[Jeremiah Backhaus]

Ladies and Gentlemen, For those of you who may have missed my brief announcement on another thread there will be a 1.0 held in Onalaska, WI on February 2 and 3.

Since there are no real tourist pulls in the area during February the cost for this 1.0 will be $50 a head. We have a large area for practice so number of people is quite open at this time.

For those interested in attending and helping your new year's resolution to be more tenacious in your training, please send me an e-mail at Sulan_Firegaard@yahoo.com

Again the SFS helping us through will be Aaron P. from Appleton. We are hoping to see you there.

-Jeremiah (GFS)

P.S. For those of you who don't know where Onalaska is, it is closely connected with LaCrosse.

[Jeremiah Backhaus]

For those who may be on the fence about attending this session, I have been informed that AP has been doing a lot of research and practice with the Dussack. He has said that the knowledge that he has gained he will share.

So, in addition to the 1.0 there will also be an introduction to the Dussack.

-Jeremiah (GFS)

[Jeremiah Backhaus]

Still plenty of room for the 1.0 in February!

AP is very excited about teaching this one, as he has been doing a lot of prepping for the Dussack.

We still could use a few more to sign up, it will make any freeplay much more interesting.

Plus, the next three people to sign up will get a free bout with AP! This is your chance to vent on him for the times that he hit you, or a friend, or someone you saw on the internet.

[Aaron Pynenberg]

Yes -Thank you Big J. This 1.0 will be a great opportunity for all involved. The 1.0 curriculum is undergoing changes, which from the sound of it will make the art as a whole easier to understand.

Recently, I was socked with a major cold, so I used my time as best I could and really hit the books. I studied Meyer, and many other source works, and reviewed some of my old notes. It is interesting how things look diffrently to you after you train, attain certain levels of physical understanding, then go back and apply the source works. It sometimes gives you surprising revelations about basic movements and tactics.

We are really going to work with each other in this class to achive some basic fighting ability. The more the merrier, I guess this facility in La Crosse supports many folks, so do not miss out- I very rarely-shoot never-have been described as a boring! See you all very soon-AP

[Aaron Pynenberg]

Hey Folks,

A quick note on this. I am unable to teach this session, due to a hand injury. I just will not be healed in time. I guess there were a few folks who did not have much notice and were not able to go, so maybe this will help them. In talking with Jeremiah, sounds like we are shooting for the weekend of March 1&2.

Sorry for those folks who have to make changes to thier plans, not much we can do about it. I am hoping now with some more notice, we will have some more folks able to make it out for some great training! Thanks- AP

[Jeremiah Backhaus]

yes, unfortunately true. We will be rescheduling, in talks with the facility about using the site on the 1 & 2 of March. Hanven't heard back yet, once I know more you all will. Hopefully we can get some more people interested. And hopefully the weather will be a little nicer then...

-Jeremiah (GFS)

[Jeremiah Backhaus]

The good news came back, We do have a firm date on rescheduling. We are on for the 1 & 2 of March. So we can again begin to seek people to attend. Again, Contact me to register. It will undoubtedly be a fun and highly energetic 1.0.

-Jeremiah (GFS)

[Jeremiah Backhaus]

It seems that the heavens were against this 1.0.

First time planning and crossed paperwork led to some disasters as to our place of practice. We had a wonderful gym reserved for February, but they did not transfer our reservation to March. This we did not find out until 12:45 on Friday. Then we scrambled and found that the local YMCA would let us use a room in their facility. Crisis averted.

Then we got a phone call @ 4 from our leader. Work had him, there was no way he could come. But since people were already on the road, there was no canceling. Thus 1.0 gets changed to a practice weekend with a first-timer.

Once we go to the site, it was very fun. We went over the basics for a good review and introduction. Then drills for the Segno and cutting. This was a worthwhile time.

Right before breaking for lunch, the place began to resonate with horrid chanting. We had no idea what this was, as it was a Y. But we continued to look at the Meisterhau. When lunch arrived we went to the hall where it was quieter and noticed there was a window into the room where the chanting was coming from. Looking in revealed that it was in fact a Kendo club! This was a source of grand ideas. Since we had two GFS's there, we pulled out our steel practice swords and began to drill with them. The "screamers" as the Kendo people were affectionately called by Y members were old hat, but steel sword fighting, that was new, we had many spectators looking through our own window. No unfriendly contact was made between the two groups. But is was interesting to note the extreme differences between our two arts and manner of practicing.

We started at 8 in the morning and continued until 3 in the evening. The Kendo guys made it about 2 hours. That was kind of fun to note.

Since Aaron wasn't able to make it, there was no Dussack training. We finished on Saturday and called it a good training session. Thanks to those who attended and helped put this together. Many lessons learned and the next event will be more the better for the efforts of this attempt, though the opportunity to fight some Kendo guys might not happen again for some time...

-Jeremiah (GFS)

[Lucas Crist]

Hey, if you guys still can do a 1.0, let me know. I'm up in the Twin Cities and would be more than willing to bring a couple buddies down to join in for the day, especially if we had enough folks that costs could be split to a relatively lot amount since it sounds as though your efforts to have a 1.0 have tanked thus far.

Also, I'm trying to build a core group here at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis to try to get a student group to practice with, so there's that ulterior motive on my end, too...

[Jeremiah Backhaus]

Lucas, why don't you send me an e-mail and we can chat a bit more about getting you guys going.

-Jeremiah (GFS)