OK, I admit that I've been negligent about posting training reports lately. That probably won't change but I'll try to do better. :) Last night had a new guy + Doug.
Don't know if the new guy will become a permanent fixture; he had some very specific interest for a very specific purpose and I wanted to focus on that for his first session.
He is primarily interested in a hiking staff of about 5' or so. He picked up one at a local festival/fair and brought it to train with. We managed to break it with 15 min. :( The good news is it sheared along the grain about 2' down from the top so I think he can just chop out the busted part and end up with an 18" truncheon and a 3' cane.
We started with variations of instant movements for defensive strikes from a standard hiking hammer-fist grip, held about arm-pit level on the staff. Most of these are pretty intuitive. They stared with a single hand grip but then we included adding a second hand "power assist" grip. The three basic strikes from this position I tought are all reminiscent of the Bonafont cane system and include a rising strike to the groin/chin, horizontal strike to the ribs, hand, or side of head, and a looping downward strike to the clavicle or top of the head. (ref: http://savateaustralia.wordpress.com/essays/nuevos-modos-de-defenderse-en-la-calle-con-un-baston/). Again, two hand, "power strike" versions of these were also taught.
We then explored some more traditional two-handed work. Started with the three basic ways to add the second hand onto the shaft. Moved on to bayonet and "punyo" thrusting, as well as a lead and rear hand single-handed thrust with lunge step and passing step. Finished off longstick work with powerstriking from a full-chambered, wrists crossed, rear position (a "zornhau" for you Longsword guys starting with the point forward and the hilt rear and over the right shoulder). I actually brought this in from Fiore spear work specifically because after the power-bash, I showed Fiore's thrust from Posta di Finestra, which is really, really sneaky if you've set it up by zornhau-ing once or twice from this position. I showed it as both a setup and as a way to cover more range and still strike home.
Following the longstick work I wanted to try to transmit three of the cooler elements I brought home from James Loriega's la Canne classes at ISMAC so I spent the last 30 min. doing a quick overview of the hand-switchs (which I referred to as "frisking the stick" in honor of Cpt. F.C. Laing's reference). Then rising/crossing cuts to the lower leg (Croisé Bas and Enlevé) as these are particularly useful in our saber work. There was a lot more from the la canne stuff but we were just out of time. Next week. And we didn't even get a chance to work with Navaja material.
Peace favor your sword
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