March 29. Pre practice.

At winter war HE Vik one shotted me, with a simple leg to head fake.  I was so ready for an awesome fight I reacted very strongly to the fake and could not recover.

In truth I am not a minimal movement shield guy, a weakness of mine.

I am going to work on using the heater with minimal moves to block heads and legs.  Also work on adding in crouches and rotational moves instead of just moving the shield.

February 2nd, 2012

Back to practice tonight!

Almost need a new sword.  Made the last one at the end of November.  Got a solid 2 months out of it, but it is starting to fray pretty badly now. 

Took me a little while to get around to decompressing last practice.  Had pretty good success with a 2 shot combo:  Head, leg.  Never been my strongest shot, but probably cause I don't throw it very much.  I will continue to work it into my routine.  I watched some of our very high echelon fighters throw it with fire.  The other aspect from last practice was to throw a shot into my opponents sword while closing to throw a deep wrap. 

Yes staying at range and defensive, and timing shots is certainly my strong suit, I should still be able to jump in and unload a salvo and jump out with a fair degree of certainty that I won't die.

Had an excellent degree of success against a left hander by faking up to their top shield side and then throwing a leg blow against their sword side.

Tonight working on more of the same thing. 

• Patience:  Range/timing
• Holding defense while attacking (Especially on wraps)
• Head to leg, same side throw.

Practice: January 26

As I suited up on Thursday, Sior Murchad, walked in.  I don't think he has been out to anything since about Ursulmas last year.  Making it a just about 1 year hiatus.

He suited up and the two of us opened practice with a sparring session for ~15 minutes before Amish started the drills. 

The man at arms showed up after we had finished the sparring and came over and said in a somewhat surprised voice, oh you have been fighting already?  To which another fighter said, yeah they were going at it hard for about 15 minutes.  I jockingly showed Donnan the color of Murchad's and my belts.

Somewhat jockingly anyhow.  The point is really if you like this game we play, come and do it.  Get as much out of practice as you can.  Stick with it and work at it.  Something he needs to remeber is how much time and effort both Murchad and myself have but into fighting, just how long we have been doing it.

In the end I won't bust his chops too much for not getting as much out of practice as he could.  He shows up consistently  and works on his game.  Lots of guys show up hap hazardly.  The only thing he could really use is more stamina.  He has the desire to fight and definetely wants to get better, but he simply lacks the conditioning to fight more than a couple of fights in a row.

My practice was pretty good.  Had some short sparring sessions with Donnan and another long session with Murchad, both of us being too stubborn to quit when we are tired or sore and then had a decent session with Amish.

Skill sessions this week were picked up by the baronial champion, Amish.  After he had watched some of what Raoukinn had posted he decided he wanted to work on some shield strengths and weaknesses as discussed by Count Gemini.

In total we had: Myself, Amish, Donnan, Murchad, and McDuff in armor fighting and a couple of others: Angus and Darien doing slow work due to injuries or broken armor.

I actually managed to video some of the practice as well, but the weekend was far too busy to really get anytime to watch it.

January 19, 2012

After some discussion with some of the members at practice, we have decided to redouble our efforts at having a skills segment at practice.

After adopting the ideas of a neighboring shire to some success, we again moved back into a sparring type practice.  I personally like to spar, but I feel we can improve our game by adding in some skill based exercises/drills.

To that end several of us think it is still feasible. We looked at what happened last time and are taking steps to try and fix it.

Main issues:

• Lack of volunteering

Ok.  I think that was it.  Several of us are not the most vocal.  In short if we want this we need to be willing to step in and make it happen.  Another solution I am trying is having a schedule lined up so we can all see what is happening in the coming practices. 

Tonight is our first night back with a format such as this.  I am taking the first go around.

Drills to look at tonight: Basic Snap and recovery while walking and Frozen Man.

Snap with recovery.
A) Start in defensive stance, sword leg back.
B) Step forward with sword leg and fire Snap.  Snap should land with your foot.
C) Step forward with shield leg, tear drop return sword.
D) Go to A

Typically done down the length of a hall.  Generally a drill to teach getting your footwork in time with your blows as well as teaching how the movement feels.  Done fairly slow to start.

Frozen Man: Slow work.
Designate one as Warm man and one as Frozen man.
A) Warm man starts throwing a shot
B) Frozen man man react to blow for one second, ie may defend based on the initial moments of the warm mans shot. 
C) Frozen man now FREEZES.
D) Warm man observes angles and opening and continues to select and throw a slow shot.
E) Repeat several times and then switch roles.

2012

Our last practice was before Christmas.  Our hall closes over the holidays.  Next practice is on the 5th.  I have people coming in that night in prep for heading to 12th night, so I can't make that one.  I strongly suspect I will have no time to do any fighting at 12th night.  Hopefully we are back Sunday night so I can make practice on Monday the 9th.

The holidays were spent sewing.  I got the step-up del mostly completed, although I know what I have left to do will still take some time: Final assembly, Finishing, cuffs and ties.  I finished a new hat as well.  I have a couple other A&S projects on the go as well, which I will detail later.

Still to do before the step-up in 2 months. 

• New coat
• New boots
• New bow case
• Spears

But what new years post wouldn't be complete without a "Things to do in 2012"

2011 has a pretty epic year when I look back on it:  Knight, Tanist, Jambe.  Looking through the order of precedence I noted that I had recieved over half of my awards over the last year (back to Nov 2010).  Sure it had a few hard spots, but really in the end they were for the best.

However the end of 2011 saw my diet and fitness take a back seat, so I will need to re-focus on that somewhat.  First thoughts are to join the school gym as alumni.  ~$150 a year includes a full weight room as well as a pool.  Should be able to get in in the morning most days, and it is on the way to work.

SCA wise I would like to continue fighting and work on my skills as a teacher and working on being a leader in our Barony.

More Pell work.

Fighting A&S projects:  Armor, helmet, gambeson
Non Fighting A&S Projects: General metal work, bone carving, wood work (primarily chests)

I am also going to get a simple wedge tent this year.  I believe them to be a good combination of period and portable.  Not a ger by any stretch of the imagination, but way better than a crappy dome.

Avacal November Coronet 2011....Cont

In the past couple of days more videos of the final rounds have come up.  I have most of the ones pertinent to me saved as "favorites" on my youtube channel.  Ogedei100

With the final blow struck I was shocked beyond belief that I had just won this tournament.  Wow.  What a rush.  After getting rid of my stuff and screaming my lungs out I found my knight and attempted to embrace my teacher.  No, that was not happening.  Albrecht and Vik both pick me up and give me my victory lap.  Quite a thrill.  Looking back at this moment I am reminded of words I spoke at Dragonslayer.  I now walk in the footsteps of giants.  The great warriors of our principality, of our Kingdom, of An Tir all walked these very steps and now two of our greatest have lifted me to victory.

Wow.

Once that was done there was a flurry of activity.  The guys put me down infront of Ifatayho, my inspiration.  I kneeled and we hugged.  Our inspiration/fighter relationship is new, I don't think either of us thought I would win the NEXT coronet after we started.

Next was a ton of well wishers offering congratulations.  Which are all appreciated.  I am always humbled by the support this principality gives me.

I did not fight in the Squires tourney.  There was approximately 1 hour between the end of the tourney and the start of Chiv Council.  Caterina and I had talked about taking a few cars back to the hotel and then all coming back in one so some of us could drink at the event.  She left right away and I gathered up Donnan and Philomena and we left shortly after.

After a quick shower I returned and got to Chiv a little late.  I sized the Tanist circlet and we got ready for feast.

HH Toryn suggested due to the large number of royals that the Tanist and Tanista not sit at the head table and that I should sit with Caterina and company as it was the last time I would get to for awhile.  I agreed that it was indeed a good plan.

The feast was pretty good, I ate and drank my share.  And then we rolled into court.  I knew I would be in the Principality court, not the Kingdom court so I was sitting at the back chatting with Vik when Their Majesties called me and me alone forward.  I approached.  An aside:  Being a Knight is cool.  Carrying a sword you have sword to protect the kingdom with is cool.  I kneel infront of their Majesties and their herald speaks their words.

They are giving me the An Tir grant level award for A&S.  The Jambe de Lion.  Very cool.  It has been a personal goal for awhile to be recognized as an artisan of An Tir.

I return to the back after giving the scroll to Donnan to put somewhere safe. 

Court finally gets to us.  If and myself approach and Toryn and Evjya invest us as Tanist and Tanista of Avacal.  Heirs to the Gryphon thrones.

Once court was done we wrapped up at the hall, loaded back into the car and went back to the hotel.  The party on Saturday was much calmer.  We had a metting room set aside for us where we hung out and chatted most of the night.  A much more subdued and adult party.  Finally the party "ended".  Final location was Myself, Kashie, Vik, Albrecht and his nephew hanging out in their room shooting the shit.

The rest of the event was sleeping and business meetings and then a 3 hour drive home on clear roads with hurricane force winds.  Wow.

This event is easily within my top 5. 
The party on Friday.
Semi finals with 2 brothers.
Victory in the lists.
Time with family, almost everyone was there.
Good feast
recognition for A&S
The party on Saturday.

It was AMAZING.

Avacal November Coronet 2011

Pre-Coronet:
Tuesday before coronet I took some time and got a hilt carved into a new piece of rattan.  Opted to take it to Tavern and finish it there the next day.  I ran into a slight hiccup when doing the final assebly at tavern.  I could not fit my trigger into the basket hilt with the rattan.  I opted to just use a lanyard at Coronet and not worry about it.

Didn't practice as per my plan on Thursday and just relaxed and recovered.

Coronet:
Arrived in town early with the man at arms.  We were about an hour ahead of the squire brother.  So we dropped our stuff off and ran to the grocery store to grab some fruit juices for mixing the evenings Stargazer. For those of you not familiar this is an alcoholic fruit punch.  A batch requires 52oz of alcohol and 4 litres of juice and sprite.

By the time we got back Shaverson was on site and Fenrik was not far behind.  And then about half hour later Caterina and crew rolled into the hotel.  We went for dinner which ended with a tonne of us ordering pizza to the restraurant lounge and drinking vodka and OJ.  By the time we got back to the room many of us were already pretty happy.  Stargazer was mixed and the we were off to the pool.

The pool party of the event consisted of a water slide, a hot tub and a general awesome time with some great people.  It was without a doubt one of the events major highlights.

The party made it back to hotel rooms and we continued to drink.  A bottle of gosling was shared as well as some Guinness.  Not really sure what time we managed to get back to the room.  Caterina went to bed at a reasonable time, smarter than most of us it seems.  Donnan and I probably got back around 2.  He tasked himself despite me telling him otherwise to go and find Caterina.  After that A few other people managed to find their way to our room.  Cassia was off looking for one of her friends.  Donnan ever helpful, but COMPLETELY trashed, was told to go to bed. 

I left the room and chatted with Cassia for awhile.  I will soon run out of fingers to count the number of times her and I close out the party.  And then DISASTER.  I got back to the room and discovered Donnan has managed to lock me out.  After much pounding on the door and waking everyone else up but him, the front desk gave me a key to 261 where I slept, sorta, from 4:00 till 9:00 or so.

E P I C night.

The Coronet Tournament broke down like this for me. 
Round 1: Fergus - Win
Round 2: Markus - Win
Round 3: Kirk - Loss
Round 4: Bye (Duke Davin and Sir Tim) - Loss
Round 5: Fenrik - Win
Round 6: Raoul - Win
Round 7: Bye - (Duke Davin and Sir Tim) - Win
Finals: Fenrik - Win

Kirk defeated me handily, his wrap caught be off guard and pegged me in the head.  I suspect I was almost out of the way, but not quite.

Round 6 was an interesting point in the tournament.  There was six fighters left, each of us with a single loss.  After round 6 3 remained.  Myself, Eric and Fenrik.  It was exceptionally cool to be the last three guys together. 

The bye had initially gone to Eric.  Both Fen and myself had recieved byes earlier.  Eric was adamant that he didn't want to bye into the finals and cited that and the fact Fenrik and I had already fought earlier.  His Highness came back and gave me the bye and Fenrick and Eric faced off for the final position.  I was happy to fight either of them, although Eric is direct family sharing the same knight.  Either way Albrecht has had a hand in shaping all three of us on and off the field.

The final rounds with Fenrik were not easy.  His defense was tight and I couldn't put a stick on him despite my best efforts.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Tozetre#p/a/u/0/WjWc5pcd-Wo

The video is a flurry of shots and blocks from both sides.  Neither of us are standing still, even on our knees we are not stationary.  I finally managed to put one on his head and win the first round.  Round 2 was much the same, but less long.  Both of us were tired, his defense dropped slightly and I landed a sword on his head.

A link to the finals shot from the back of the hall.  Consider this a language warning.

To be continued.