In attendance Karen, Karl, Nico, Shannon, Matt, Rodney

I reviewed with Rodney and Matt basic linear footwork. This week I added in sloping footwork.
The CSG poste progression was reviewed as well as each posta individually.
Cutting was introducted in segments, each building upon the other:

• properly holding the sword and squeezing the grip to get that initial movement started.
• starting in a front weighted, left foot forward di donna, squeezing the grip
• beginning in a back weighted di donna and squeezing at the beginning of the volta stabile.
• beginning in a back weighted di donna, squeezing, punching out while pulling back on the pommel  during volta stabile, to get the blade out as a threat in a half cut to longa.
• beginning in a back weighted di donna, squeezing, punching, using pommel, performing volta stabile, and using passing footwork.
• lastly all of the above cutting to the boar's tooth.

That is a lot of information to take in!  Many body parts to work in synchronization.

Emphasis on good footwork, posture, cutting in a true time. 

The interconnectedness between the mandritto and manriverso fendente cuts with the rising false edge cuts was gone over and after some practice Matt and Rodney were cutting fendenti and falsi, dritto and riverso.
Set plays 1 & 2 were gone over several times from both sides.  Emphasis on proper hand, body, foot movement during the cut.

I explained that the set plays were written for partner practice purposes and were 'choreographed' by the numbers so that all players would know their role as Agent and Patient Agent.  At the end of practice Shannon and I did a quick demonstration of the LS set plays 1-9 from the book. so that Rodney and Matt could see what set plays looked like with a little more speed and with metal instead of wood.

Karl worked with Shannon and Nico on cutting drills (medicine) that are required in the novice manual.  In this case the CSG progression, Fiore Dance and the 8 cut drill.

A good time was had by all.

See everyone next Wednesday!

Karen

In attendance: 40 or so, woot!  Oscar led the group in some basic warm ups and medicine ball tossing.  There were a few newer folks around so the 40 lb medicine ball was left in reserve.

The day started with some basic falling and rolling.  Due to the blessing of such a large group the more experienced students helped the newer with the basics.  Oscar was Minister of Rolling and by the end of the session amazing progress had been made.  Students who had never rolled before were doing some very respectable work.

Dagger:

The dagger portion of class was lead by Greg with assistance from Oscar and Keith.  Jesse, Jen and a few other roving scholars helped tweaking.

Oscar started the class off with the basic triangle lock disarm.  Then, the Agent slipped the dagger so that the Patient effectively passed the dagger and performed an elbow push.

The main focus of this class was the many options the 1st Master of Dagger, the triangle lock disarm may provide.  Some key points that were common throughout most options were as follows:

Catch the incoming dagger at it's zero pressure point, rendering in as ineffective as possible.
Step off the line.
In a rear takedown virtually any upper body part may be used when applying the wave and spiral.
The upper body structure must be broken before stepping behind a leg for a throw.
Once a takedown is performed the Agent must be disarmed and controled.
Do not bend over the Agent during the takedown.....keep the body erect, or you may end up on top of the Agent and in a ground fight with an armed opponent.

The next option for the triangle lock disarm used the ligadure mezzana if the Patient shot through too far.  There were two options when using the ligadure mezzana:
1.  The customary ligadure mezzana in which the Patient compasses so that both opponents are facing the same direction during the lock.
2.  The patient 'pointed' across the Agent's center line, pulling their elbow across their own body having the same effect, just in a different direction.
Once either ligadure was complete the Patient did a volta stabile and performed a takedown by stepping behind the Agent's leg, spiraling them to the ground and disarming them.
The ligadura could be effected by merely pulling up on the elbow with the free hand.

LS

Sensitivity drill using thrust from incrosada at breve.

The point of this drill was to 'feel' the pressure of the Agent's sword and attempt to use the most effective defensive action.  The drill was a modified version of the scambiar or rompero della punta.

On the mandritto side the options were to utilize frontale (hard pressure) for parry and riposte, or scambiar della punta, and a modified finestra 'St George' (for soft pressure) for hanging guard return..

On the manriverso side the options were to utilize right frontale with true edge (hard pressure), right frontale with false edge (softer pressure) , and partial finestra 'St George (soft pressure) for hanging guard return'.

When frontale was used to parry and riposte without a step, the hips must do the work to power the parry.  In setting aside a thrust this way the toe on the side being attacked must be pointed outward to effect proper hip action.

Stocatta mandritto utilized the scambiar della punta.
Stocatta manriverso utilized the rompero della punta.

Karen ( with some help from Antoine below)

Concerning possible additions, we also explored the alterantive of
stepping back (and to side). Like when you are not able to make the
counter before your opponent gets to the strongest point of their
attack, wait till the force is decreasing. Then, grab their dagger
hand wrist and help them keep going forward. You can do the kneeling
thing to pull them, like we did with Roger, but there are also
options to keep yourself more surely off the ground. My training
partner Pete insisted in having my boney elbow in his chest (if you
can imagine!), which was one of the variety of things I did using my
other arm to help him fall subsequently.

Also, we have received clarification concerning how to disarm the
dagger of your opponent, once he is on the ground. For example, you
can still do the triangle-lock disarm. You can also do the one where
if you grab the flat of the dagger blade (keeping thumb with other
fingers) and push it towards the opponent's elbow from either side,
he will suffer a great pain :-).

Best,
Antonie

Agent begins two steps out of measure. Agent has the option of advancing or retreating. Patient has the option of following Agent's action or else stopping, and of closing the line or not. If Patient stops, agent lunges, with a straight line attack if the line is open, with an attack by cavazione if line is closed. Patient responds with a parry and a riposte. Since Patient is controlling which kind of attack Agent will provide, Patient should be able to predict in which line to parry.

Points to note: both Agent and Patient need to recover into guard. Parries should be done from the elbow, not the wrist. These are stronger, the point will move first, and they have the advantage of getting the body into it, especially in quarta, and preventing overparrying. Also, the straighter the sword is kept (i.e., the more horizontal), not only is less of an opening presented, but you're also forcing your opponent to encounter your forte as they attack through your debole.

I worked with Rodney on a review of footwork from last week and
added  some new footwork this week.
I put a sword in Rodney's hands and we went through all twelve
poste and even walked slowly through the CSG poste progression!

Yes, Rodney is a coordinated, athletic fellow who is an serious and
enthusiastic beginner. I see a lot of potential in him!

Specifically, we went through the LS set plays, working right and
left side versions of each set play. We did at least three
repetitions of each, and usually double that on the left-side
versions.

We worked at least two techniques from each of the first five Masters
of the Dagger, both right and left side versions.

In techniques using the bent-arm version of an arm bar, we worked on
maintaining that 90 degree bend to keep control, especially when
transitioning to a single arm to free the other hand to strip the
dagger. I showed a single-arm variation on this, but cautioned that
we needed to work on the two-arm version with transition first.

For the Fifth Master, we worked pretty intensively on keeping the
agent's hand pinned to the body, hooking the outside of the aggent's
hand with your fingers, and keeping the thumb-side of the Agent's
hand in contact with the body as you do a volta stabile. At first, my
explanation had been incomplete, and Shannon's focus had been on the
upper portion of the body. After breaking the technique down and
looking at the bottom half of the body as well, Shannon's performance
of the technique immediately improved.

For the first master, we covered the importance of stepping forward
and just slightly offline as contrasted with stepping straight
forward and stepping forward at a 45 degree slope. We covered the
importance of making cover with the arms in a good Posta Frontale
instead of an unarmed version of Posta Longa. We also covered using
the inside hand to perform a Ferire while making the cover and saw
how that affected the Agent's balance and body structure.

For the last technique of the night, we applied the principle of the
first master in the Fifth Master. Shannon demonstrated the difference
between a good hammerfist strike and a modern boxing-style raking
punch. We observed that wearing leathder gloves during abrazare &
daga practice is probably a good idea.

Karl

In attendance:
Karl, Karen, Shannon and Rodney.

Welcome Rodney!

Karl worked with Rodney on the basics of footwork, body mechanics and
abrazare poste. They spent quite some time moving all around the
floor getting Rodney familiar with being a haughty Italian nobleman.

Shannon and I did the CSG poste progression, Fiore dance, and
moulinet drill. Then worked on all set plays and some very slow free
play using a set play type format, moving in from out of distance.
We worked the 'oh shite' drill using left and right frontale and
stopped at intervals to see what action could be performed from the
position one found one's self in.

Shannon and I engaged in a bit of abrazare so Shannon could throw
someone around who wasn't Karl sized :)

A good time was had by all.

Karen

In attendance:
Karen, Shannon, Karl

LS
Shannon and I arrived early and had a good amount of time working all set plays in LS.

I ramped up the set play a bit by whilst being Agent I moved in and out of distance and changed direction frequently.  I would call the set play while out of distance and then approach with the play.  It was Shannon's job to remember and respond correctly.
Some tweaks were made here and there in technique, but Shannon stayed pretty composed and remembered the set plays pretty well over all.

I also had us play a distance game in which we started well out of distance and walked toward each other.  When the person performing the drill thought they were in distance for a strike they called 'stop' and then tested their judgement.  As Shannon is a more skilled student I did not walk straight in, but weaved back and forth and circled.  Same drill, but one must ascertain their distance using a mandritto or manriverso strike.  It does make a bit of difference.

When Karl arrived we played a memory game.  Kind of like 'Simon says" in Italian.  It goes like this:  Simon says 'from the guard of the woman, with a passing step cut down from right to left, then with no step cut with the false edge back up and to the left, then with a backward passing step cut back down from left to right'.  As Simon became Italian it sounded more like:  colpi fendente mandritto with passare, falso sottano riverso with nonpasssare (I just made that up......really we said 'no step), then fendente riverso with tornare'.  Our first couple of attempts at getting the Italian to flow smoothly was less than eloquent.  That is something for me to work on.  We will play with that some more as it made us feel quite like Italian nobility, only not so haughty at that moment.

Abrazare
I left Shannon and Karl working on the remedy master and contination plays.  Last week the gambarola was worked on.  I had Shannon throw me a couple of times to see how it worked on someone a bit smaller than Karl.  She did great.  I was on the floor in no time.  A good time was had by all.

Karen

In attendance:
Karl, Karen, Shannon

Karen and Shannon warmed up informally before starting some sword
work.

LS
As with last week we worked the set plays for the thrust counters.
Shannon got to be the Patient Agent for the majority of the evening
whilst Karl and I tweaked footwork, timing, etc. Shannon was much
more fluid in comparison to last week's practice. Luckily for Karl
and I, there was nobody tweaking and criticizing our every nuance.
That is nerve wracking in the best of times. And if he and I can't
be fluid by now, we should both be flogged and flayed.

Abrazare
When I left, Karl and Shannon were working on abrazare poste. Karl
and I very briefly discussed the first several plays as a starting
place for review.

If either of you have anything to add put it here and I'll clean it
up and post it for real.

Karen

ps: Karen and Shannon have paid their CSG North semester dues.
That's $30 I'll be hounding you all about very soon.

Shannon and I arrived early and did some basic warm ups.

Shannon and I began working on thrust counters 1-4 from the novice
handbook 7.0. Emphasis on doing the set play as written for purposes
of drilling, but more importantly on proper body mechanics, foot
placement, weight shift, and fluidity.
When doing the scambiar della punta we compared ourselves to Fiore's
rendering of the players. Noting the low placement of the hands and
the high, on target tip of the sword.

As with all things sword, fluidity and intuitive movement isn't learned
overnight. We will concentrate on the thrust counters over the next
few weeks.

To gives the arms a break from the sword we took the opportunity to
have Karl critique our abrazare posta and weight shift during
movement. We can never get enough tweaking of body mechanics!

We concluded the class with several run throughs of the CSG poste
progression and the Fiore Dance. We all did each at our own pace and
then, following Oscar's excellent instruction, I concentrated and
corrected some of the basics like wrist breaking, foot placement, and
fluid sword movement.

We will be doing the poste progression, Fiore dance, and the moulinet
drill as a warm up at the beginning of each class. I encourage
everyone to do it at home frequently. Use a hammer in the living room
if the weather is bad. The only way to become fluid in our movements
is to do it over and over and over. Then over again.

Hope to see some faces Saturday!

Karen

In advancing and retreating, don't keep the non-weight bearing foot suspended in the air longer than necessary. (My own observation is that it lengthens the tempo involved in the action.) In retreating, there is no reason for any heel-toe action; the foot should land flat. The back foot should land flat when advancing.

Keep the front foot in line with the heel. This is the optimal position for lunging, and is not too bad for passing (since one often steps slightly offline in the pass, having to move the back foot slightly around the front foot is OK). Keeping the front foot in line with the middle of the back foot makes it harder to pass. In the pass, the back foot is kept perpendicular to the plane of motion.

The lunge, pass and girata all continue with a forward inclination of the torso and a weight shift over the front leg, after the arm initiates the action, and before the leg moves. John observed that we all had a tendency at some point to continue lunging after the front foot had landed. I observed that I continued to move forward in the deliberate attempt to extend the lunge, to get a few extra inches out of it, instead of stopping when the foot lands (agreement of hand and foot). I found that the easiest way not to continue the lunge after the foot lands is simply to stop moving the torso forward at that point. [John added: Yet another reason why arm and torso should be in (extended) position before the foot moves.]

John said don't thump the front foot down on the lunge; there is no need. It can land softly. [John expanded on this, as follows.] This really is a matter of focusing the energy of the lunge *forward*. Just as excessive lateral motion of the arm will disrupt the force of the lunge, so will the upward motion of the foot and knee, as well as an upward push with the back leg. The back leg should extend forward, and the front foot only needs to skim the ground in its forward motion.

All this emphasis on Platonic form puts me in mind of this, from Alexander L. Co, Five Ancestors Fist Kung-Fu: The Way of Ngo Cho Kun (Tuttle, 1996), Ch. 4, Fundamentals of Practice, the section entitled Proper Form. "... Beng's primary emphasis was on form (_sze_). Without proper form the practitioner is believed to be like a puppet, pulled and controlled by a string. Lacking proper form, the practitioner, while moving forward and backward, will lack the grace and posture of the style. In ngo cho kun, proper form is not only necessary but essential." (p. 39)

Closing the line and finding the sword in attacking is to attack just over the top of the hilt. (During the first practice of the year, on January 2nd, John said that, when thrusting, focus on thrusting on top of the opponent's hilt, on one side of the quillon or the other.)

Practice continued with the stringere game, employing the fundamentals we'd been working on earlier, and closed with some paired lunging drills.