Houston 1.0

[kyle cook]

We still have space open for the 1.0 . E-mail me by Wednesday is you would like to attend. After Wednesday, Registration will be closed.
For all attending, please wear the ARMA uniform to the event. If you are a member, please wear your ARMA shirt with black work out pants. If you are not yet a member, please wear a plain white T-shirt with black work out pants.
We will be starting at 8am, so don't be late. For all who are coming in Friday night, we are going to get together for dinner. If Ya'll would like to do this with us, e-mail me and i will send you my contact info. My e-mail address is kylecook@armanorthhouston.org . See everyone on the 21st.

Kyle Cook
ARMA North Siders
Study Group Leader

[Erich Wagner]

Thanks again Stacy and Gene for a well done presentation of the new curriculum. I'm very curious to hear what folks who have not had prior experience to the new way of presenting the material have to say.

For those who have been to a 1.0 but have not seen the new presentation, think of the following analogy. You are asked to build a wall (the wall being your ability to defend yourself). In the previous 1.0, you are given individual bricks of knowledge; one brick for a particular guard, another brick for a certain cut, etc. Over time, you slowly build your wall until you are reasonably capable of defending yourself.

The new curriculum is the equivalent of a dump truck dropping a load of bricks at your feet. While it's not pretty, it is a functional wall. With time and practice you start arranging your bricks into even stronger configurations.

The point is that the new curriculum gives you the basics of the art in its entirety rather than small bits at a time.

Thanks,
Erich

[Randall Pleasant]

Gene and Stacy

It was indeed a great class. The two of you did a fantastic job as instructors. We should also express thanks to John Clements for developing the new Longsword 1.0 curriculum. What really stood out to me was the progress the beginning students made within this single class in acquiring actual fighting skills with the longsword. The simplicity and effectiveness of the new ARMA longsword curriculum just cannot be overstated.

As always Kyle and Kim Cook were great hosts.

[Chris Sonneborn]

I wanted to take a second to say thank you to Kyle Cook for opening up his house to us for the 1.0 It was a great space and setup for the class! Also, thank you to Gene and Stacy for the terrific instruction and one-on-one time to help me understand each of the techniques we practiced. Last, but not least, thank you to all of my fellow students for practicing with me as we worked our way through each of the techniques. Seeing something done is one thing, but practicing it with a partner instantly brings a much deeper and more thorough understanding which can not be obtained when practicing alone.

This was the first 1.0 that I have ever attended, and thought it was great. Starting practice going to kron, then moving on to counters and mastercuts, quickly illustrated to me the importance of footwork, timing and of properly closing with your opponent. Though there was a tremendous amount of information that we covered, I found it easy to grasp the progression as we enhanced with each new lesson.

Coming away from the 1.0, I feel that I have a much better appreciation for the incredible versatility of the longsword as a weapon, much better insight into some of the core principles of wielding this weapon, and a humble recognition of how much there is to practice to earn basic proficiency with it. Coming away from the 1.0, I now have many techniques to understand, explore, refine, and internalize.

Again, thanks to both of our instructors, my practice partners, and Kyle for hosting us.

Chris Sonneborn

[Gene Tausk]

Thanks again Stacy and Gene for a well done presentation of the new curriculum. I'm very curious to hear what folks who have not had prior experience to the new way of presenting the material have to say.

For those who have been to a 1.0 but have not seen the new presentation, think of the following analogy. You are asked to build a wall (the wall being your ability to defend yourself). In the previous 1.0, you are given individual bricks of knowledge; one brick for a particular guard, another brick for a certain cut, etc. Over time, you slowly build your wall until you are reasonably capable of defending yourself.

The new curriculum is the equivalent of a dump truck dropping a load of bricks at your feet. While it's not pretty, it is a functional wall. With time and practice you start arranging your bricks into even stronger configurations.

The point is that the new curriculum gives you the basics of the art in its entirety rather than small bits at a time.

Thanks,
Erich

My thanx for the kudos. I think I speak for Stacy as well when I say we had a great time and think this new 1.0 curriculum really puts it all together. Since John's 1.0 "re-review" a few weeks ago, I can only say that my own understanding of the principles of historical fencing has shot through the roof. Hopefully Stacy and I were able to convey the same principles as did John in the same clear manner.

It was great seeing ARMA and non-ARMA individuals training together and the beauty of this approach is that the amount of information a person can absorb really is increased, so there is no one left behind.

My thanx as well to Kyle for letting us use his outstanding ring and backyard.

[Stacy Clifford]

I completely agree with Gene, I had a lot of fun teaching this weekend and I really think this new format will bring a greater understanding of what we do as a complete fighting art much faster than the way we have done things before. Thanks to Gene for teaching alongside me, to Kyle and Kim once again for being our excellent hosts, and to everyone who came out to learn and share. We definitely made some new friends this weekend. I'm also looking forward to more comments on this new approach from everybody. I certainly believe it has improved my understanding and set it off evolving in new directions, and many thanks to John's hard work and dedicated research for that. Give us your feedback and we'll make sure the next 1.0 we do will be even better.

[Sal Bertucci]

Well I had a blast. I was successfully taught more than I will ever be able to remember, but I walk away a much better longswordsman than I walked in. If it hadn't have rained I would have loved to get some free sparring in to try and put some of the things I used into practice. I'm out of victims here, and my poor pell has been taken over by wasps. I think I've found a replacement though.

Question: I've noticed that my right arm is more sore than my left arm after doing cutting drills. I've been thinling about doing some "cross-training" and leading with my left arm. Has anyone else done this, or see any cons?

Lastly, I just want to thank everyone for coming. I enjoyed learning from everyone. I also want to reiterate the thanks to Kyle for opening his home to us, and tell Greg congratulations on his GFS again.