new member to arma but an swordsman of long time

[Guest]

greetings and salutation
my name is justin ekback and though i have many friends in the east coast who are actively involved members of arma i am new to your group but have read the right honorable professor clements books rennasaince swordsmanship and medieval swordsmanship... I was just about to get involved when my mother contracted terminal cancer and i had to move to moorpark ca. I was wondering ( and I pray I aam not making a faux paux by using this forum to find out), adn I presume there must be... are there any members out here? Id be willing to travel up to two hours to attend any classes or group studies. My history is about ten years of SCA fighting, a black belt in arnis de mano, a black in judo, black in kendjitsu, a black in aikijitsu, several years in steel fighting froups and unfortunately only about three years with the ARMA ( although they were known as HACA then) swordsman. I am truly impressed with your goals, training,and theroies of swordsmanship and would greatly appreciate any information that you could send me towards the ends of loacting a group nearby
Thank You all and may the training contnue

[Shane Smith]

Welcome to the forum Justin.

I'm not sure that we have any guys in CA ,however,you can contact John at ARMAdirector@aol.com and he can put you in touch with them via email if there are any there . Best regards <img src="http://www.thearma.org/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

[Guest]

Greetings Justin,
I am a new ARMA also in southern Cal.; I am in Orange (Orange County).Thus far Ihave not found any ARMA practioners in this area either.I have little martial arts training but find ARMA the best that I have heard of.
I will let you know if I find any others and perhaps organize a So. Cal. study group.Take care,David.

[Matt Shields]

I have been studying the Longsword for about a year now and have also read John Clements book. I am quite interested in joining an Orange County study group,(being in Irvine California) though I cannot join The ARMA as a member yet being under eighteen years of age. And I am far from interested in ARMA youth. I'll contact you guys next year...

[Randall Pleasant]

Matt

How old are you? The age limit for the ARMA-Youth program is 12 years of age.

[joelthompson1]

Hey, I know this guy! I've sparred with him many times over the years. Boy, what a pushover. This guy's an easy win.
Just kidding, of course. Beware california. This guy is a warrior. He's done a lot of cross-training both eastern and Western. Once he gets trained up, stand by for some punishment. Good luck, Justin. Looking forward to some serious sparring if you get back to the East Coast. Look us up at ARMA Virginia beach. Or maybe we'll run across each other at an ARMA event somewhere. Learn the touch drills really well. I think they'll be good for you, knowing how you like in-fighting. Looking forward to hearing how your training is going. Are you a paid member yet? If not, get with it and get on the ARMA e-list. See ya, pal.


Joel Thompson

[Matt Shields]

In response to your inquiry Randall; I was born August of 1987, so as of now I am sixteen. Without boasting or insulting the program, I would like to say that I have indeed looked over ARMA-Youth, and decided that I would have little (or nothing) to learn by joining it.

[Karen Webb]

I am also a new member and am a total novice living in Ridgecrest, CA. After starting the process to get back into shape last year, I decided I was interested in some form of Martial Arts for the physical, mental, and spiritual benefits. I thought about SCA but wasn't really interested in developing a persona, etc.; thought about some of the Eastern Martial Arts but options are rather limited here; and then I found the ARMA web site. The intent and goals of this group just seemed to jump out at me. So here I am. I am currently making my way through "Medieval Swordsmanship" and have a waster on order. I would like to attend the New Orleans event at the end of February but can't commit to it yet due to possible family commitments. I've emailed the ARMA Director inquiring about others in SoCal, so perhaps I will hear something via that route.

In my Internet wanderings, I came across two possible groups that indicate there may be others training in SoCal: http://www.scholasolis.com (though this website seems long out-of-date and I've received no email response back from an inquiry) and http://www.tattershall.org/locs.html. I have no idea if these groups are compatible with ARMA and it's philosophy.

Looking forward to learning a lot from this group!

Karen

[Guest]

I am also located in southern california, Orange County in fact. I am more than interested in getting together to practice and explore. For those of you who are interested in cross training there is a Kali seminar i can highly recommend.
http://www.intmartialarts.com/events/index.html

[Jake_Norwood]

I can't speak for Schola Solis, but Tattershall is a mostly-rapier group in Arizona, with a heavy SCA-constituency. I wouldn't guess that our two groups have very compatible philosophies.

Jake

[Stuart McDermid]

Hi Guys,

Tattershall may have a few members who are either active or ex-SCA but their research is top notch.

William Wilson and Roger Siggs (to name only two of them) are two of the biggest names in WMA. They do have an Italo-rapier focus but they also work with sidesword and other weapons. If I was in their area, I know who I would be training with.
Cheers,
Stu.

[Jake_Norwood]

Hi, Stu.

Tattershall's SCA links are pretty tight, I think. Bill Wilson, their founder/head guy, is pretty high up in the SCA, and he is putting a lot of energy into getting a sidesword program into their fighting lists.

I can't say much on their research, except that I did find Bill's book to be a very useful introduction to the rapier. I'm not trying to discredit tattershall! I think it's true that ARMA and Tattershall have different philosophies of training and approach, though. That could be a good thing for some students, and bad for others.

Jake