40 years of martial arts training, a recurring theme
Published: Thu, 01/15/15
One benefit of getting older should be that you get the see the long view of things. This doesn’t do you much good if your attitude is. “In my day everything was so much better.. and people today have no idea how much worse things have got...” If you have stuck with something for more than 40 years then you will have seen some changes, some you will approve of, some you don’t. I also have to remember that I have changed too, some things I am definitely better at now than I was 30 years ago, certainly I understand some things much better than I did then. On the other hand I am not as resilient physically now as I was in my 20s so I have to be more careful with how I train and getting hurt has more serious consequences than it did when I was half the age I am now. The biggest danger is regretting that I didn’t know 30 years ago what I do know now and that I didn’t do a lot of things better or take opportunities I would grab now but
passed up then. Regretting is pointless of course, everything that did or did not happen over the past 55 years has brought me to where I am now and I willingly accept where I am now.
Also worth considering is that if you combined the passion and energy of youth with the accumulated knowledge of age then you would probably just be dangerous to those around you. So perhaps the ignorance and naivety of youth and the general slowing down of age are simply built in safety features for the benefit of the world at large.
Taking time getting to the point can be a feature of age too! So, if you are still with me, the point is that coming up in June this year on the 20th to 21st there is going to be held in Bristol a Martial Arts and Combat Exhibition. The idea is that it is going to be a national event of Martial Arts unity bringing together around 40 instructors from all kinds of martial arts disciplines to teach seminars and give demonstrations over two days. All monies being raised for a charity called “Just Give it a Though” What is even more interesting is that it seems that Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) will be getting a serious look in too. The event was conceived just before Christmas on a Facebook group I had just joined. I took the opportunity to jump in and offer to teach Stav and was accepted (I may be old but I am not that slow yet!) I also posted to the HEMA group associated with Fightcamp and some of the members there
offered their services too.
As part of the event a video documentary is being made including interviews and footage of the various instructors. Yesterday, Matt Roberts, who is making the video, had been to Liverpool and was raving about a day filming and training with Duncan McEvoy and his HEMA students and what a great time he had. It is my turn on Monday and it will be interesting to see what he makes of Stav, I think Stav counts as HEMA but we have a very different approach to training and what we are looking for through training.
We will have to see how the event itself actually pans out, although I think it will be a great weekend for anyone interested in Martial Arts. Looking back I can’t really imagine a time before the past couple of years when such a range of teachers and practitioners could come together and share their love of martial arts. Even the charity martial arts events which I participated in recent years organised by Charlie Wildish and Joan Connor didn’t quite have the same reach excellent though each event was.
The Martial Arts and Combat Website will be at http://mace.org.uk/ when it goes live this week, in the meantime you can find MACE on Facebook.
regards
Graham
PS I keep my foundation courses limited to 6 students so we can be sure of enough space and that everyone gets personal attention. Day course in Crewkerne 31st January at http://www.iceandfire.org.uk/train.html or if you are up for 3 days training, a good preparation for the Summer Camp, see http://www.stavcamp.org/addtrain.html