Why do Stav? New video may answer this question
Published: Tue, 03/25/14
The Monday night class is giving me a chance to teach advanced
weapons to a level that hasn't been possible since I was
teaching in Horspath. That must be seven or eight years ago and
just one person got most of the benefit at the time. It is good to
be teaching a bigger group and the past few weeks we have been
focusing on nine guards with the spear. Last night in particular
we were working with high right and high left guards and high
centre. To some extent these are techniques but the important
thing is seeing which principle is most relevant to each guard and
the application which flows from that specific position. The high
right and high left guards work best as a Jarl response and the
high centre can only really be a Konge application.
However I am realising that as you learn Stav you gain the ability
to express one principle after another with ongoing practice. So
the group who are currently training on the Monday night session
are really learning how to operate on a Karl level, that is, they
can defend space effectively and that is no small achievement. The
foundation training is basically Trel level training which is
learning how to manage your own body and if necessary move it out
of harms way.
Of course the ultimate objective of Stav is to be able to choose
which principle to express at will. To be able to choose between
Trel or Konge response or each of the other three requires a
several years of training and practice but it is good to see the
process happening in the weekly classes, in fact it is quite
amazing really.
I have made another video which I will be embedding on the Somerset
Stav web page. It shows Ivar, the master himself, demonstrating
two versions on the five principles with the spear. Then it goes
on to give an idea of how Stav training actually works. You can
see the video at http://www.screencast.com/t/keu03M6TB If you want
to leave me a comment when you have seen it I will be interested to
know what you think.
regards
Graham