Postby JeanryChandler » Thu Sep 11, 2003 6:41 pm
Yeah, in light of the ARMA policy barring association by ARMA members with members of even an informal group such as my own, it won't be possible for me to join ARMA in the very near future after all. I am interested in and sympathetic to ARMA but choosing between joining a martial arts organization and continuing to associate and ocasioanlly spar with, people who are in some cases friends for more than 20 years, is simply not a choice. We've been sparring together on and off since we were barely teenagers, and more than that, some of these guys are people who I trust with my life. I can't see just cutting that off!
I mean, I woudln't do it if someone put a gun to my head.
On the other hand if I can steer these core people to a further interest in ARMA, maybe I can eventually get them to all join at the same time. I think association with a larger, more organized outside group would prevent us from having to re-invent the wheel, bring us in contact with a larger community of like minded individuals, and frankly support us where we are weak in our understanding, and give us some guidance on things we don't have time to work out for ourselves. Personally I want to do this more seriously but I have neither the interest, nor the tempermenet to go it my own and run my own school. Like you said, we'll have to see how things develop.
As for drill, I'm not certain what you mean by the term. Part of our sparring usually includes practicing blocks or specific attacks or counter attacks over and over, so I guess that might qualify. We don't do a lot of structured footwork or stance practice, because frankly at this point all the old guys have pretty good footwork.
I do intend to get some wasters ASAP.
As for an evnet with John C., John mentioned the possibility of a Gulf Coast event, and I think this would be a good idea. I could certainly still help find a venue in New Orleans, I have contacts at four Universities here including Tulane, Loyola and UNO, any one of which would probably be willing to host an event. I could also find smaller forums.
I'll see how things go when we start getting together more as the fall weather breaks. Right now it's hard to talk to people about all this stuff, they get more interested when the excitement of sparring and of seeing new techniques stimulates them. I'm certain that more and more interest in the fechtbuchs will continue to grow.
To convince some of the 'old salts' especially about the value of ARMA in particular, I think it would help a lot to see an event with John, and even more so, to have a really good fighter from ARMA come out and spar with some of our members, or maybe we could take a road trip to Houston, which isn't far, and spar with someone there, perhaps during some ARMA event which was open to the public. I think if they saw someone in ARMA who was as good or better at no holds-barred sparring than our best guys, then it would definately draw them into a deeper interest in the organization.
JR
"We can't all be saints"
John Dillinger
