I journeyed to the Half Moon Bay WCoS dojo today for some personal training. Kaiden’s Aaron and Brennan were also there and, after Gad went through steel parry with me, I did armored steel parry with Aaron and then sparred 5 matches with both Aaron and Brennan. Later, Gad worked with me on a few questions I had and some new techniques. I demonstrated four practiced moves that I have previously observed and he approved them: Casper, Lighting, Dragons Tail and Defense Cut. He reviewed Advanced Blocks, adding two low advanced blocks and the advanced head block and he also reviewed the six deflections. I asked about variances for one-handed technique and we covered the basics so that I will be prepared to pass on instruction for one handed students.
The steel combat today is my first as a Red Rope with the Western Circle of Swordfighters. It was exhausting and I was very slow, over-controlling my blade to avoid causing injury. I was also much more defensive and leary of my opponents blade, the heightened level of fear causing poor blocks and bad movement. I have much to learn and improve. As Kaiden Gad and the others said, moving to steel combat is in some ways like returning to square one again.