The second day dawned and we returned to the gladitorial hay arena at Aratas Farms. This day we had 5 ranked steel fighters in attendance and I obtained another 30 matches between melees and one on one sparring.
Tag: steel
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Today I began steel fighting in earnest. I arrived at the Arata’s Farm in Half Moon Bay with plenty of time to spare. I have failed to upgrade my armor for steel fighting as yet, so Kaiden Gad loaned me torso armor and Martin was very kind to loan me his metal gauntlets. The day proceeded with a total of 8 ranked steel fighters (plus a few lower ranks to die in pre-arranged methods for the audiences benefit). I fought approximately 50 steel matches all totaled (log to be included later), of which around 35 were one one one sparring. All matches were with my two handed steel sword.
After the event, I worked with Kaiden Gad a bit. We reviewed the six deflections, which in brief are: right dash, left dash, stepping forward right bash, stepping forward left bash, catch left stepping forward toss right, catch right stepping forward toss left. We also reviewed practiced moves. One of my previous 13th move concepts, The Phantom, is getting some use, so I will keep that one. We also covered The Samurai (cross forward as pull back right, cross forward with chop to mid section, turning counter clockwise with draw, reorient and chop to back (neck) to finish opponent swiftly). Last we looked briefly at The Femoral, but Gad would like to see me get The Samurai strong first. I also got some clarification on a few items in regard to lefties vs righties for my own class instruction.
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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. -
This evening I tested for and earned the rank of Red Rope with the Western Circle of Swordfighters. Upon receiving my new rank, I requested the right to start my own WCoS dojo in Redding and was granted a limited Kaidenship to train a maximum of five students up to the rank of White Rope.