New Longsword sparring clips

[JeanryChandler]

I'm very pleased with this series of bouts. I won most of these because it was the first fight of the day and I was really wound up, but we are usually more even (more clips to come as I get to it, probably tonight). Skips skill is amazing now, his form is very elegant IMO.

http://www.iregames.com/jr/april2a-sj.wmv

JR vs Skip

JR-False edge cut to wrist
JR-Cut to Stomach
Mutual Death (cuts to head)
JR Cut to wrist
JR Cut to head
JR Cut to wrist

[M Wallgren]

Doesn´t work for me, can´t see it... Just starts in Winamp but theres no film.

[JeanryChandler]

Its a large file, are you sure it's not just buffering? Try downloading it to your desktop and then playing it. Also, try playing it with windows media player instead of winamp.

Jeanry

[M Wallgren]

It was me Im an Idiot with coputers. Wrong Browser!!!!

[JeanryChandler]

Dont be silly, I have a lot of trouble with media players and the various codecs etc. myself, who doesn't?

Any feedback on the clip? Helpful criticism is always appreciated.

Jeanry

[M Wallgren]

Good stuff:
Fast blows
Good Timing
Good Distanse control
JR good "Hengen"

Not as good stuff:
A little bit liear from both sides
Little bit static
Mutual Deaths, not a good thing
(In our studygroup MD means ten instant push-ups)
IMHO to many wristcuts, I would follow up that with a "killing".

[JeanryChandler]

Thanks for your comments,


Mutual deaths is something we have also been working on. It used to be a big problem and it used to happen a lot, we have learned to be much more cautious of this and the occurance has reduced from about as much as 50% of the time to probably about 5% - 10% now depending on the fighters.

I'd still like to improve this further. I think it helps that our wasters are rather painful, it discourages recklesness.

As for the wrist cuts, I have thought about this. Kills by wrist cuts are certainly not impressive to watch compared to a coup-de-grace, but it took us a long time to train everybody to quickly agknowlege any hit. I'd hate to undo that.

We have thought of going to 2 hits sometimes, or with some other forms such as even letting someone fight on one handed, but neither seems realistic to me. From the test cutting I have witnessed and seen online etc., a hard cut to the wrist, hand, or forearm would instantly disable and possibly kill most people.

Then again you could make the assumption that in a lot of judicial combats people might be wearing gauntlets.

It's a problem to ponder, I would like to see more dramatic and decisive conclusions sometimes of our bouts.

As for linear, certainly a valid criticsm, I must take blame for this I dont move that well on my feet due to being so fat and I think the others learned from me, same thing probably for "static" though I'm not certain what you mean by that.

How do you determine death or the end of a bout in your group?

Do you have any sparring clips available?

Jeanry

[M Wallgren]

As for linear, certainly a valid criticsm, I must take blame for this I dont move that well on my feet due to being so fat and I think the others learned from me, same thing probably for "static" though I'm not certain what you mean by that.

I Don´t think it depends on your big stature, more that you don´t step aside rather than step in. This is more of a personal preference and if it works for you just do it. Iwas acctuly thinking more on your opponent who may use his advatage of "nimble feet" to get aroud your quite good "feel for distance and upperbody speed.

The same thing goes for Static. You stand where you are due to your size, but your oppnent don´t use that fact.

No, I don´t personaly have a great deal of videos on myself. Video cam has not been a priorety yet <img src="/forum/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" />. My study group is just starting and I don´t think we will produce any valid clips before the summer.

Until this winter I have trained in Joachim Nilsson´s Studiegroup in Gimo, Sweden. We had the same problem of people ignoring hits but we tried to have the guys watching "judge" hits in cases of dispute. We started of with mabie 50% dubbel hits to, but after the "push-up rule" it droped dramaticly <img src="/forum/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" />.

[JeanryChandler]

I think the tendancy to not move laterally enough and to stand my ground is a personal style I have developed partially due to laziness and my girth, and partially due to having come to longsword fencing from sword and shield. Unfortunately since I've been teaching longsword to my colleauges they have picked up this habit, which makes it more vital that I try to break it.

Its vulgar to say so but I think I have a fairly effective counter-attack and sense of range which i like to exploit whenever my opponents come close. for this reason my sparring partners tend to hang back and force me to pursue them, and it has contributed to this fairly bad habit.

As for video clips, you may not want to embarass yourself as I often do by posting them online, but they are very, very helpful for private use as a training aid. All the guys in my group have learned a great deal from watching clips of our sparring bouts. I cant tell you how many things I was doing wrong that I didn't even know I was doing, and this continues to this very clip.

Watching this one the lateral movement issue is just one thing i want to work on, as well as further improving the precision of plow guard and certain other aspects of my footwork.

I reccomend it to everybody.

Jeanry

[M Wallgren]

Filming is a good thing. In my days as Iaidoka we had mirrors in the dojo that had the same purpose.

During summer I will return to Gimo from my exile in my new northern home. Joachim and I will work alot with video for our new project and hopefully you will be able to watch us within a year.

I know there is a very cool clip on JN and me doning a halfsword sparring. Hopefully I will get hold of it soon and I we will most sertenaly post it.

[Zach Palfreyman]

I liked watching that. Not sure what those windmill slashes are, but they look pretty cool. I also saw a few times that an attack turned into a parry. I like that, shows skill.

Maybe I'm not just seeing them cause of the shortened clips, but I'd like to see some more relentless attacks. One thing I know about fighting is amateurs tend to go in, exchange a few blows, then pull out to regroup. The truely skilled fighter will go in and throw down 5 or more attacks, not including any blocks or dodging he might have to do. Reading your opponent is obviously one of the most important skills of fighting, both personal combat and large-scale battles. The longer of combo you string together, the harder it becomes for your opponent to read you, and you have a much better chance of getting that killing blow through. This is of course harder in practice then it sounds, but that is what I would recommend working toward.

[M Wallgren]

Maybe I'm not just seeing them cause of the shortened clips, but I'd like to see some more relentless attacks. One thing I know about fighting is amateurs tend to go in, exchange a few blows, then pull out to regroup. The truely skilled fighter will go in and throw down 5 or more attacks, not including any blocks or dodging he might have to do. Reading your opponent is obviously one of the most important skills of fighting, both personal combat and large-scale battles. The longer of combo you string together, the harder it becomes for your opponent to read you, and you have a much better chance of getting that killing blow through. This is of course harder in practice then it sounds, but that is what I would recommend working toward.

I agree that more "relentless" attacks could be a good thing, and yes it´s good to follow up the attack. But to rely on a "pre-programed" combo is not something I would recomend.

[JeanryChandler]

Yeah, this is an issue which is very related to the 'mutual death' thing. You want to press home the attack, but you have to be aware of when you are becomming vulnerable, especially with a weapon like a longsword which is less arguably defensive than say, sword and shield or sword and buckler where you will naturaly tend to see more parries that aren't counters, and more strikes in a series to maintain initiative.

Balancing this is very difficult, but when you are in doubt, it is better to back away even though it doesn't look as impressive <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />. We are trying to fight as much as possible as if it were with real blades, to have a healthy "fear of the blade" as critics of padded weapon sparring would say, so we err a bit perhaps on the side of caution.

There is a balance, I think Meyer suggests going in for no more than 4-6 strikes and then backing out again. I think the other thing taking place here is that our defense isn't good enough, and often two or three strikes is often enough to get a hit on the opponent. Ultimately I would like to see us get good enough offensively and defensively to be able to push an attack home all the time to at least 4-6 strikes before breaking off, but I'd rather be where we are now than getting constant mutual death.

As for those windmill strikes, I think you what are describing are just oberhow (sp?) from the plow or fool guard. i have seen ARMA members do this in some of the prizing clips.


Jeanry

P.S. Sometimes we do have more intense exchanges with more strikes, I'll try to post some more clips when I get time...

[Zach Palfreyman]

I think a "pre-programed" would have its advantages (and disadvatages), but by combo I just meant a lot of moves strung together. A preset combo means you would get really good at it, just as practicing a certain swing over and does, but the downside is that if your opponent figures it out or already knows it, then it would hurt you more than help (cause they are now reading you many moves ahead instead of just one or two). So the combo is usually best if more random, but a preset combo could still be useful to help learn how you string moves together and get you used to doing them. I could get into more detail, but I don't really feel like it ATM.

I think you could figure out a lot about combos from video games and strategy-based games. I'm sure everyone has heard or read that some people thought chess had a practical application in teaching the mind to read your opponent, although I am uncertain if that such practice would directly aid the sort of thinking you need for personal combat. But I am sure that it at least provides a good, easy way to explain/study all the merits and flaws of combos. But for the time being, I think its enough to know that stringing together lots of attacks, rather than exchanging a few blows and pulling out, is going to make you a better fighter.

[Alfred Wong]

Dear Jeaney,

I admire your skills and speed. There had been a lot of improvement. The clips are much better to see now too! Good hangen - I never success in good hangen yet.

By the way... how heavy is the longsword?

Also:

Did you bend your arms in the first bout is Alber? Or are they straight out?

Warmest regards,
Alfred <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />