Expensive metal sticks
Published: Sat, 08/24/19
Last weekend I was at Fightcamp. I didn’t go last year and I had been warned that the demographic was now younger and only interested in tournaments. Yes, there is a good range of ages with quite a lot of younger men (and some women) but there are older people there too, some seemed to be as old as me! Or maybe they just looked it. There was plenty of interest in the tournaments but the classes and seminars were well supported too. I think very few sessions had less than ten people attending and, from what I could see, most were double that, especially if swords were involved. All the tournaments involve sword fighting of some kind, rapier, sabre, long sword or sword and buckler.
I have to admit that I don’t really get this fetishistic obsession with swords. Yes, they can be interesting and even beautiful objects but you can’t do very much with real sharp ones apart from a bit of test cutting. So, all the ones used for training and competing are going to be ‘safe’ versions of some kind which are essentially expensive metal (or even nylon) sticks. It all seems a bit anachronistic to me, but each to their own. I am happy to go to Fightcamp for the other opportunities it presents.
The first session on the Friday was a pollaxe lesson based on a manuscript by Peitro Monte. The teacher was a Dubliner by the name of Mike Prendergast who had obviously done a lot of research and practice. It was interesting although an 8 or 9 foot long weapon is pretty cumbersome. Later in the day there was another staff and pole arms workshop drawn from a different manual, this time by an Andre Paurnfeyndt. This time we were using more sensibly sized weapons there seemed to be a reasonable collection of drills there, although when training in the pouring rain it is less easy to concentrate than in good weather. In both cases my experience of training with a staff made it easy for me to use the weapons but I felt that the lack of understanding of really basic principles was apparent in both seminars.
Saturday morning started with Jennifer Garside teaching Jujitsu as found in books from the Edwardian period. Jenifer does a fun workshop and it was a good opportunity to work on body mechanics. Next came a WW2 combatives with Susan Kirk which focused on gun and knife disarms. This drew on Allied manuals such as the well know Fairbairn and another one less familiar. Susan had also found a wartime German manual written to counter the ‘gangster methods’ being employed by Allied forces, especially commandos and SOE personel. Another fun session but would those techniques actually work? Apparently Fairbairn stated that there was about a one in ten chance of overcoming an enemy soldier with knife or pistol if you were unarmed. On the other hand if you are just going to be handed over to the Gestapo to be tortured and then killed anyway why not take the odds? What was particularly interesting was that the Allied manuals had quite
detailed instructions on how to disarm the knife or gun. The German manual said to just ignore the weapon and focus on taking out the person holding it. I suspect that the German who wrote that manual was actually giving the better advice.
The Saturday afternoon presented the most interesting session of the weekend which was advertised as ‘an an introduction to Indian swordsmanship’. The session was taught by a Jamaican chap called Asante Lawla who trains and teaches in Brixton, South London. There is a training system from the Punjab known as Sanatan Shastar Vidiya which is now taught outside of India as a martial art. Asante did his best to explain the principles of movement and tactics used in this art and I admit I found it quite challenging. On the other hand, something must have stuck as I will explain below. Also, link to the relevant website below.
Sunday morning involved a Medieval German Wrestling seminar with my old friend Pedrag Nikolic. Wrestling isn’t really my thing but Pedrag is just amazing to work with. We spent most of the session exploring how an opponent can be dealt with just by working with different heights in your posture, almost no need to move the feet once you can work at different levels. The human body is an amazing thing and I love martial arts because that is where I get the chance to discover just how remarkable.
The last session was looking at using the dagger against various other weapons. We started with using the dagger against an unarmed opponent and worked up to dealing with an opponent with a spear. It isn’t easy to attack someone with a spear if you just have a dagger. However, having got caught by the spear the first time I tried applying the unpredictable and deceptive movements which Asante had showed me the previous day. I was able to take out the spearman three times in a row after that, definitely something to share at my next seminar (see below for details).
The Grange, where Fightcamp is held is also a great location to camp and they have a bar where everyone gets together in the evenings and has a good time. So, that is my report for this year.
regards
Graham
PS More on Sanatan Shastar Vidiya here https://www.shastarvidiya.org/
PPS My programme of teaching for the next couple of months
7th September in Beverley, East Yorkshire: A morning training with the Staff and other two handed weapons http://iceandfire.org.uk/train.html
5th and 6th October in Uckfield, Sussex: Galdre and Seid Seminar with Maddy Elruna and Graham Butcher https://www.maddyelruna.co.uk/stav-gathering?fbclid=IwAR1Jg_7cQuKUxrWeUPlQLSv40jbfZHc_L_RYfJ7Ff641Wx4l28I408_9m7E
2nd November in Beverley, East Yorkshire: Introduction to HEMA event with Chris Halpin, Lauren Ireland and Graham Butcher http://beverleystav.uk/hema02112019.html
16th November in Salisbury, Wiltshire: Stav training seminar with Graham Butcher http://www.iceandfire.org.uk/salisbury161119.html