Females and Fencing (Part 2)

Greetings,

Welcome to Part 2, this is the second part of my discussion on females and fencing based upon a lesson which I delivered at Swordplay '15 this year. It is designed to highlight the differences between the male and female combatant and bring these into the light so that both the trainer and student may realise that they are differences not problems. The previous part dealt with physical differences this one will start with the psychological ones. I would advise you, dear reader, that if you have not read the first part, that you should as it will give and explanation of my approach to the subjects which follow.

Psychological

After dealing with the physical differences we need to look deeper and have a look at some more mental differences. This means having a look at the psychological differences between males and females and seeing how this will affect them in training and also in a combative situation. These need to be taken into account as they are deeply embedded in our minds and are not easily dealt with.

To begin the so -called "feminine characteristics" portray the female as passive and shy. I know this not the case for everyone but it is the general outlook and for some it is true. Added on top of this is that from the beginning, for the most part, females are given nurturing roles. This means that they are not supposed to hit people, this idea is, in many cases driven from their make-up.

What is the result of this? It means that the female trainee and combatant will often have difficulty starting and often continuing with training as the idea of striking someone else with an object is foreign to their internal make-up. For the trainer this will take time to encourage them that it is fine for them to do this and it is actually what is expected of them. No trainee should be discouraged, male or female, because this is part of their make-up. More so, it should be emphasised not just by trainers but by other members of the class that it is okay to strike their opponent and partner at the right time and place.

Now we need to discuss the "jitters". That horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach that comes up during training, and especially at tournaments or examinations when the pressure is on. This is the feeling that you do not belong here, that all the training you have done has been a waste of time, that all the other combatants hit harder and are better than you, and that there is nothing you can do about it. First thing that I am going to say is that everyone has had this feeling, and that anyone who denies ever having had this feeling before a tournament or training session is either lying to other people, or lying to themselves which is worse. The question is how to deal with them.

Each person has their own way of dealing with this feeling, and you need to find a way for dealing with your own. I will give some suggestions that may help you, but it is a personal process that you must think through. First we will start with Pre-Tournament, then Tournament, and then Post-Tournament. Each one is slightly different to suit the different situation. In this I will be using the word "tournament" to signify what ever event is being discussed, be it a training session, examination or tournament.

Pre-Tournament

On the way to the location of the tournament I like to listen to music that either puts me in a good mood or music which is appropriate to the tournament. I am a bit of a metal-head but I have found that Iron Maiden's "Flash of the Blade" or "The Duellists" works for me. If you are looking for something a little slower Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms" also works. I have also found that anything classical with some "drive" behind it works, Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky for examples. 

Once I have arrived, I make a point of finding someone I know and saying "Hello." This is to realise that I am not there alone. If you are at an event for the first time, be sure that you are not the only one. Go and find someone to say "Hello" to. This is a great way to release some tension. Following this, go and do all the mundane things, signing in and all that business. Go find the Officials of the event and introduce yourself and thank them for being there, they will be happy about it, trust me on this one.

Unpack. Find a comfortable spot. This may be with others, it may not be. It needs to be comfortable for you. Have a good look at each piece of gear as you take it out. Get it all out and have a good look. Then walk away for a little while. Come back and in a relaxed fashion put your armour (safety gear on). Start internal and work external, start from the ground work up. Start from the body and work out to the arms. Gauntlets last, trust me on this one. Once you are in your armour, move about and get used to being in the armour, without your weapon. Next pick up your weapon and go through some simple solo drills, finally go find someone you know to warm-up with. By this time you should be suitably warm and much more comfortable.

Tournament

Regardless of the result of a round, examine how you fought and what you did in response to the opponent's actions. Have a look at you did well and be happy with this. Breathe. Next examine where you did not do so well, remember this because you can ask your trainer about it at your next training. Breathe. You should always look at crossing blades with an opponent as a chance to learn something about yourself and your opponent. Do not miss this chance. Breathe. Victories fade the lessons live on.

In between rounds, if you have time, make sure that you take off your gauntlets, mask/helm and gorget. This will let a lot of the heat out. Breathe. Drink liquid. People say drink water, I say liquid as you should also be concerned about your sugar levels dropping too low. Go for a little walk if you need to, but not too far. Breathe Watch the other opponents for what they are doing and learn from what they are and are not doing. This is a prime time to learn. Listen to what other combatants are saying. Breathe. Do not think about the next round until it is announced, and even then do not focus on it unless you have seen the opponent and learnt something useful about the way they fight. Did I mention Breathe? You need to stay analytical about the process, this will help you calm yourself. Remember all the things you did right and celebrate them.

Post-Tournament

Why? The tournament is over, why would this be the case that you get jitters? This would be the case that you still have a lot of adrenaline running through your system and also probably endorphins as well. Once again it is a matter of settling yourself. Breathe. Take your time. Have a drink. Get rid of the mask/helm, gorget and gauntlets as before. Put the weapons down with your gear. Go for a little walk. Breathe. Have a chat to some of the other combatants. Breathe. The most important thing here is to relax. If there is a presentation made after the tournament and you have placed high enough to be a part of this enjoy the experience, you deserve it.

Well, this has turned out to be a lot longer than I expected it to be. I only planned for this to be two posts at most, but I think that keeping them relatively short is important for better absorbing of the information which I have presented. Once again, if the information presented has continued to interest and inform you, be prepared as there is a third, and final, installment of this subject.

Cheers,

Henry.

Females and Fencing (Part 1)

Greetings,

The following post is based on a lesson I delivered this year at a "local" event and I use the word "local" very loosely as it is becoming recognised as a national one. That event was Swordplay '15. Essentially it was designed to get all of the female combatants together and have a chat about Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA), tournaments and the whole gambit of things and the simple thing that they are not alone and that they needed to talk more to one another to share their experiences, more on this later.

While at the event in the position of Safety Marshal I was in a great position to see a lot of fighting at the event and see how everybody was doing. One of the things that I noticed was that the female combatants were attempting to fight like the male ones, with some achievement it has to be said. The obvious problems associated related directly and indirectly to the method and approach to the fighting is what sparked the idea for the lesson.

Before I go into much detail there are a couple of things that I have to say. Firstly, I apologise to those people who have been waiting since the event for this post to come out, part of this has been slackness and part of this is other factors. Secondly, I know that this post is possibly going to cause some issues that I am talking about females in fencing and I am a male, but this is all from my point of view and based upon my training and my experiences training females. I hope that this post will help rather than hinder women in HEMA. Thirdly, I know it is a little arrogant to be speaking on the subject, but please bear with me. Finally, this is probably going to be a pretty hefty sort of post so get ready for a solid sort of a read.

So we have the situation that women most often taught by men and men most often do not know how women work physically and mentally. This is simply because most of the more experienced members of the community are male. This presents problems in training for the women who are participating in the training and, for the most part, these problems are kept to themselves. I would like to highlight these "problems" and demonstrate them not as "problems" but as "differences" and differences which trainers need to take into account. The following will be divided up into various sections so that areas can be highlighted for discussion.

Physical

So men and women are different physically. Well done, Captain Obvious! Tell us something we don't know. This simple fact is something we need to take into account when training. It is something which I have indicated before in a previous post (http://afencersramblings.blogspot.com.au/2009/10/bio-mechanics-and-effect-of-body-shape.html). This post was mostly indicated at different body shapes as in short versus tall, broad versus thin and so forth, for this discussion we need to go more deeply into the discussion and examine how the male and female form differ and how they move differently.

To start with we need to examine hip shape, the hips control the centre of mass and also control the legs which makes them essential for movement. If you do not have free movement through this you are bound to have problems. Well, males and females are markedly different here, especially the way that the legs join up with the hips. The way that the leg joints are positioned in men and women are different and this can be seen in the on guard position. Let us take the generic terza (third) guard.

The right foot is forward the left is to the rear, many guards in HEMA will begin like this. Many will actually be a little more broad with the rear foot a little further outward and a little more forward. This will immediately put the hips in a diagonal position if this position is adopted, which for a male suits them perfectly, due to the way their leg joints are shaped. For the female she will have all sorts of trouble keeping her front foot pointing at the opponent, this is because her hips do not want to do this. So what we need to do here is make a change in position to make it more comfortable and more moveable for the female. It is not radical it is a change in position from diagonal to horizontal, from the male position to the female position.

In the case of the image above it is from the lower image to the upper image. In the first instance you do this you may need to physically move your hip into this position. In the case of a trainer you may need to move the student's hip into the correct position, make sure you ask permission to do so first. The change in position may require a broadening of the stance, and a slight withdrawal of the foot, that is fine. The ease of movement will have its own reward.

While we are on movement, we might as well stay there for a while. The female combatant will also move differently from the male combatant. This you will see in their actions with the weapon, but also in their movement across the ground. The woman can also access a lot more mobility in their hips and waist than the male can for the movement of their body for voiding and other actions than most men will be able to and this is a great advantage, and one that should be used.

As a female, in general, you will simply not be able to compete with the raw power of the male, so you should not try to. However there are different ways to approach the combat through movement and being lighter on your feet. Against the stronger opponent use their strength against them, slip off their attacks, redirect their power to other directions. Use the lightness that you have to simply avoid the power that your opponent possesses, and with the extra movement indicated already, this will be even easier.

Now we come to one final attribute of the female form which most trainers often forget to take into account in their training, the female breast. The Parry of Fourth, the Parry to the High Inside Line, any time your arms have to cross your body close they get in the road, and the trainer often will not take it into account because he doesn't have them.

Parry of 4th

Breast protection just doesn't help the situation, in fact it even often makes it worse. How do I know? First, I listen. Second, I wear a chest plate myself. How do we get around this particular problem? We look at the assets again and see what we can use to our advantage. Once again it comes down to the hips and waist. In the case of the Parry of Fourth, or High Inside Line, turn your body at the same time you make the parry. This will give you some more clearance for the parry and also some more room. In fact, as far as this "problem" goes this is the primary way around it, use the other attributes of mobility to get around it.

So, this is the end of Part 1, if I have not insulted or bored you too much, Part 2 will start with a look at some of the psychological aspects which have to be dealt with and go from there, depending on how things go and how deep it gets will see how long it goes for.

Cheers,

Henry.

A Question of Ethics

Greetings,

This entire posting is based upon a post made by Guy Windsor which can be found here: http://guywindsor.net/blog/2015/06/ethics/. In this blog he asks some seven questions about the ethics of swordsmanship which I feel are significant and that each and every individual who picks up a sword or any other weapon should consider, regardless of purpose. Had I been a little more prompt, the answers to these questions and this post would have appeared earlier.

The Questions:

1) When is it ok to stab someone in the face with a sword?

I have found two answers to this question, firstly in self-defence. This would, of course, be a rare situation where I would find myself defending my life or the lives of those whom I care about. The second would be in the practice of martial arts where the stab to the face is an essential part of the practice presented in many of the period manuals, and I would make sure that my partner is suitably armoured to ensure the safe practice of such an attack.

2) What is the one thing you find most useful about swordsmanship training outside the salle?

It is difficult to nail down a single thing which is most useful, as there are multiple; tactics, awareness, or the simple health benefits such as muscle strength and cardio-vascular fitness. For myself the essential comes from the ability to problem-solve by looking at things from different angles attributed to reading my opponents.

3) How important is history to you in your practice of swordsmanship

The study of history is essential to the practice of swordsmanship as the texts must be placed in the background in which they are placed if they are to be completely understood. From the simplest point ...

The rest of this article can be found in Un-Blogged: A Fencer's Ramblings by Henry Walker, which is available in paperback from:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Blogged-Ramblings-Henry-Leigh-Walker/dp/098764470X
Booktopia: https://www.booktopia.com.au/un-blogged-henry-leigh-walker/book/9780987644701.html
Among other places...

It is also available in electronic format (pdf) from: https://buy.stripe.com/fZecP419c7CB9VKeUV

... or direct from the author.

Of Wasters

Greetings,

The subject of wasters is something which I have been meaning to write about for a while. I have certain opinions which I believe I need to share with regard to them and the change in attitude with regard to them. What needs to be noted throughout this discussion is that I am not decrying the use of wasters completely and utterly at all, merely that they are being used incorrectly in their current form.

Wasters have been a part of Western Martial Arts for many years, indeed their use can be documented as far back as the Roman period where wooden swords (rudius) were used by both legionaries and gladiators for practice. These weapons were used both against the Palus or pell, a standing stake and also in mock combats. Wooden weapons were used in these instances to ensure that no permanent injuries came to the combatants. This idea of using wooden weapons flowed through to the medieval and Renaissance periods and has been adopted in our modern period.

In the first instances the waster in the modern period was only available in wood, this made for a hard, not very forgiving item meaning that they were best designed for practice with another with control exercised on both sides, and of course use at the pell. The SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) took this one step further and used weapons made out of rattan in their melee combatants as a standard weapon for fighting in armour and so it has continued to this day.

More recently nylon and other forms of plastic waster have been introduced, these were, in the beginning, much more forgiving and thus allowed more free-play between the combatants so long as a level of control was shown. Indeed with regard to nylon wasters, back in 2011, I participated in some combats using nylon waster longswords in very minimal armour, and thanks to the control of my opponents and myself the worst the combatants walked away with was a welt here and there. You can follow the following link to have a look at some of those combats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9PoU_i--20

Due to this particular outing it gave me the idea that if you needed lots of armour to use wasters with an opponent you're doing something wrong. This idea is quite contrary to what I have seen most recently where combatants fighting with wasters are having to armour up to the point where they might as well be using steel, as there is not much difference in the armour requirements. Further, in stark contrast to ...

The rest of this article can be found in Un-Blogged: A Fencer's Ramblings by Henry Walker, which is available in paperback from:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Blogged-Ramblings-Henry-Leigh-Walker/dp/098764470X
Booktopia: https://www.booktopia.com.au/un-blogged-henry-leigh-walker/book/9780987644701.html
Among other places...

It is also available in electronic format (pdf) from: https://buy.stripe.com/fZecP419c7CB9VKeUV

... or direct from the author.

On Winning

Greetings,

Sorry about the lack of a post last month, I had an event on which I help run every year and then I moved.

Everyone likes to win. Everyone likes the feeling of defeating an opponent and feeling the sense of victory. This is a positive feeling that surpasses many. It is highly addictive as many will attest to. What needs to be noted, and will be demonstrated in this post is that there are really two paths to victory and greatness, and these two paths result in two different results. We should all consider what path we are on and whether or not we are willing to live with the consequences of this choice.

Two Paths to Greatness

To describe these two paths to greatness I will use the philosophies and use the names and headings of two great writers of the Renaissance. The first is Niccolo Machiavelli, and in this I will focus on his famous book The Prince. The other is Baldassare Castiglione, the writer of the famous book of etiquette The Book of the Courtier. Each one will be used to present a different set of principles and a different approach to victory.

1) Machiavelli

"Lisa: ... Ralph Wiggum lost his shin guard! Hack the bone! Hack the bone."

("Lisa on Ice" - Episode 6, Season 6 - "The Simpsons")

The general reading of Machiavelli's The Prince is about a sanguine individual who will do anything to keep his principality alive. Machiavelli is a very practical man and for the most part is about survival. I would encourage all to read his insightful book. However, using the generally accepted view, this discusses anything for a win. The Machiavellian combatant will find the opponent's weakness any way that he can and use it against him regardless of what it is. This combatant is often brutal in his attacks and will exploit weaknesses in armour as well as in defences.

The Machiavellian combatant will be noted for his practical manner of his fighting rather than finesse. While having skill in his method, there will be a lack of flair in his method, and there will be little satisfaction fighting this combatant as his methods will always be focussed on the gaining of victory rather than the pleasure of crossing swords with an opponent. This combatant will be respected for his ability to win, and his fighting prowess, but not respected as an honourable combatant, thus for the most ...

The rest of this article can be found in Un-Blogged: A Fencer's Ramblings by Henry Walker, which is available in paperback from:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Blogged-Ramblings-Henry-Leigh-Walker/dp/098764470X
Booktopia: https://www.booktopia.com.au/un-blogged-henry-leigh-walker/book/9780987644701.html
Among other places...

It is also available in electronic format (pdf) from: https://buy.stripe.com/fZecP419c7CB9VKeUV

... or direct from the author.

How Many Times This Week? A Question of Practice

Greetings,

Practice is something which has been mentioned time and again to us all in many different activities. I have no doubt that if you were to go back through the posts that I have made on this blog that I will have mentioned it many times. For the most part these articles have been focused more upon how a persons should practice and what they should practice. This post will focus on a different point of view on the same subject, frequency.

Frequency
The first thing that must be said about the frequency of practice is that regular practice is great. It gets your body and mind into a pattern that it can work with and work to. This enables the body and the mind to prepare for the practice and thus be prepared to learn and enhance skills which have already been attained. However regularity is not the only key, there is the question of frequency.

Regularity
Regularity of practice is only the first step, frequency is also important. Some will decide that only one session a week is all that they can do. This will result in a truly slow rate of progression unless they are doing some substantial work at home. In reality three sessions are required to really improve, more sessions after that are only improving on that. For the most part, many schools run two sessions a week which students are expected to attend. One of these will focus on the learning aspects while the other will focus on the more practical aspects. The third session, the students are expected to make up in solo drills on their own at home.

What you will find is that if you attend one session a week and do no work at home, you will often have to do repeats of skills to truly learn them. If you do one session a week and then go home and do some sort of solo practice on the new skill this will establish this new skill in a rudimentary form in your skill-set. To really establish a skill you will need three sessions and one of these being drills with a responsive partner to find action and reaction. If your school does not have the sessions in the week to do this then it is up to you do make the time.

Homework
We all get homework from school and other learning institutions, this is to encourage us to practice what we have learnt so that it will make connections in our brains. Fencing is no different. You need to ...

The rest of this article can be found in Un-Blogged: A Fencer's Ramblings by Henry Walker, which is available in paperback from:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Blogged-Ramblings-Henry-Leigh-Walker/dp/098764470X
Booktopia: https://www.booktopia.com.au/un-blogged-henry-leigh-walker/book/9780987644701.html
Among other places...

It is also available in electronic format (pdf) from: https://buy.stripe.com/fZecP419c7CB9VKeUV

... or direct from the author.

What's In A Name?

Greetings,

We need to be careful about our naming conventions in order that we do not misname our sources. This can become more difficult when we are dealing with foreign names, be they of a different nationality, from a different time period, or even both. This particular issue can result in a misnaming of a source over a long period of time. There are two examples I would like to cite a this point in time, one French, and the other Spanish.

The first is an author who is often referred to as "Liancour". His name is Andre Wernesson, Sieur de Liancour. Someone has taken the last part of his name and thought that this was his surname or family name, because it was the last bit of his name. Incorrect. Liancour, or Liancourt, is a geographical location. Andre Wernesson is the Lord of Liancour. So the author should be referred to in the text as "Wernesson", sometimes spelt "Vernesson".

The second author is often referred to as "Narvaez". His name is Don Luis Pacheco de Narvaez. Once ...

The rest of this article can be found in Un-Blogged: A Fencer's Ramblings by Henry Walker, which is available in paperback from:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Blogged-Ramblings-Henry-Leigh-Walker/dp/098764470X
Booktopia: https://www.booktopia.com.au/un-blogged-henry-leigh-walker/book/9780987644701.html
Among other places...

It is also available in electronic format (pdf) from: https://buy.stripe.com/fZecP419c7CB9VKeUV

... or direct from the author.