Changes to practice

For as long as I can remeber practice has consisted of sparring.

I started in the Shire of Cold Keep, in An Tir and for us practice consisted of a more exprienced fighter teaching us basic shots and sparring.

I moved to the Barony of Montengarde in 2001.  I was not hugely active initially, but as I became more active and started attending practices I saw largely the same thing.

This works to some degree.  I got some skill out of sparring and event fighting.  However some of us here obviously wanted more and discussions occured and we spoke with Knights who were involved in a more structured practice.

After these discussions we adopted a slow work portion to practice where we would step through some combination, or practuce basics.  These additions were excellent, as simple as they were.  They engaged people who were interested in practice but hadn't had the opportunity. 

Recently we held a workshop with His Grace Owain Ap Einar and His Excellency Alden Ap Owain.  We did two classes, one on psychology and one on how they organize practice.  Day two of the workshop was a practice using much of what they brought to the table.

The workshops were in my opinion pretty successful, I know I took home a fair bit from both classes.  The group as a whole was anxious to try out the new concepts for practice that they had shown us.