For the second day of the event, the morning melees were 10 steel and 10 boken, and the afternoon was 10 steel after which we had some one-on-one boken since there was only one boken-only fighter remaining.
Tag: sword
-
I travelled down to Redding for Kaiden Sal's public exhibition event at the Shasta Renaissance Faire. For the morning melees, we had 5 steel, 5 boken, 5 steel, and 5 boken. For the afternoon we had 10 steel and 10 boken. In the evening, after the feast, Head Kaiden Gad gathered many of us to play Hide the Belt.
-
Class with Bryce. Stretch followed by both our requirements. While doing my upper practiced moves, I had him repeat just his two new ones. Took a break, then did 100 full circle cuts (me with steel) followed by a couple rounds of Refined Strikes. We then did some Balance 1 for a bit and finally finished with a few rounds of Add-On.
-
Class with Bryce. Stretch and once through his requirements. Instructed him on The Illusion and Akira. Finished with some light armor parry (3 attack, Switch).
-
Class with Bryce. Stretch and 50 full circle cuts, then he took his Green Braid evaluation, earning his rank. We then covered Basic Strikes, adding the two chop cuts and advanced thrust to his techniques, spending some time on repetition (during which I practiced all my cuts with steel), as well as covering Warrior Stance. We also spent time reviewing Kata Ich. After a break, we did armored parry (1 attack, 3 attack, and one round of Switch). I finished with a couple time through synchronous Kata Ich.
-
Class with Bryce. Stretch and full requirements (his and my full silver chain reqs). Focus session on Jumping tiger 2 and the Mantis. 100 full circle cuts (mine, steel). Unarmored parry (3 attack).
-
Class with Bryce. Stretch and requirements, etc
-
I participatedin the 2018 Best of the Best tournament today. With 14 competitors, it was the largest tournament to date. My personal performance was erratic. I found myself too often falling back on old (bad) habbits, thinking too much, not applying the strategies I have been working out over the past several weeks. Over all, I had compliments on my quality of form and technique, but I ranked only middling, with both my former students Kaiden Sal and Steven doing better than I (which is both good and bad).
I did finally have my new steel helm, though unfortunately this was its inaugural debute,and I had some issues with the chain skirt binding on my neck and/or body armor and the visor binding on the bevor. However, I barely felt the head strikes, the padding work well, as did the four point harness mostly, though I may need to adjust the webbing toward the back of the head to make certain the helmet doesn't fall forward quite so much (which was contributing to the binding on the bevor). I also want to get some help bending the chin of the visor out further as I was only able to make minor improvement, and that would help with the binding, too. Head Kaiden Gad pointed out that I still need metal elbow and knee cops, so I can make that a goal for next year. -
Class with Bryce. Stretch and full requirements for both of us. 100 full circle cuts (boken), refined strikes, etc.
-
Class with Bryce. Stretch and requirements, etc
-
Class with Bryce. Stretch and requirements. 100 full circle cuts (me 150 with steel), and 2 minutes of continuous offensive defense shadow boxing. Etc.
-
Class with Bryce. Stretch and once through Green Braid requirements. 100 full circle cuts (me with steel), and 2 minutes of continuous offensive defense shadow boxing. Took a break and got on armor, then had 15 one on one matches.
-
Class with Bryce. Stretch, relooked at Sword Salute, requirements, stance and movement, 100 cuts (me with steel), refined strikes, sequence building.
-
Class with Bryce. Stretch, requirements, refined strikes, unarmored parry
-
Special combined Portland and Seattle class at my place with guest Kaiden Brennan, Bryce, and Patrick. Stretch and requirements, pairing Bryce and Patrick to go through a couple times plus spend additional time on cutting pattern and specific practiced moves while Brennan and I went through our requirements using steel. Refined strikes. Break to armor up, then 60 one-on-one matches and 5 multi-opponent matches.
-
Class with Bryce, held at my own backyard today as a precursor to this weekend, trying out the space. Stretch and requirements. Refined strikes, balance 1 & 2.
-
Class with Bryce. Stretch, requirements, sparring
-
Class with Bryce
-
Class with Bryce. Stretch and once through his green braid requirements. Reviewed kata ich. Got in armor and had 15 matches (me all two handed).
-
Class with Bryce. Stretch and once through our requirements (his green, my silver). Spent a little extra time looking at Dragons Tail and the various forms of followup after the initial cut if it is unsuccessful. Instructed Bryce on Kata Ich. Finished with Balance 1 & 2.
-
Class withy Bryce. Stretch and his green braid requirements once through (me doing Green braid reqs, too). Study on Jumping Tiger 1 with focus on movement, reducing telegraphing, ensuring clean cut. Went through several Add-On drills (two attacks each), then moved into unarmored parry, first doing three-attack and then switch parry. Finished with some discussion on how to train good technique flow.
-
No students, so I worked solo on WCoS kata's 1 – 3, did 100 full circle cuts (boken), experimeted with some one handed sword offensive defense techniques, and reviewed Myu SIm standing iai 1 – 5.
-
Class with Bryce, and Cat observed. Stretch and green braid requirements which I joined him on. Focus session on The Mantis. Short break followed by a few rounds of Add-On. We then got full armor on and did a few sets of advanced response training, followed by one attack parry, three attack parry, and ended with 27 one on one sparring matches (first 10 and last 7 i was one handed).
-
Class with Bryce. Stretch and we both went through the Green Braid requirements, him leading. Spent some focus time on Thorn, working on improving the footwork, synchronization, and speed, as well as a digression into facing a righty vs a lefty and how best to defend from counter attack. We then spent some time on Advanced Response training, taking turns as the aggressor, and finished with some 1-attack light armored parry.
-
Class with Bryce. Stretch and his requirements. Did a couple lengths of the training space doing standing long jump / high jump to get our blood going (cold, sub-freezing night!). Spent some time doing a four rounds of Add-On, with me changing from two to one handed for the second half of the rounds. Put on helmets and gloves and did one-attack light armor parry, then moved onto the curb moulds for three-attack parry while doing Balance 1. Moved us to a barked area that still had light snow cover (inch at most) and did switch-parry. Returned to the regular training space for several rounds of advanced response training with boken (me always the agressor, him responding).