Sambo Session

Chris, Dave, Matt and I today...

2 rounds shadow boxing

3 rounds boxing, mainly close quarters work.

1 round all against all, gang boxing...brutal!

3 rounds partnered footwork drill

Dave, Matt and I then gave Chris 3 rounds of cover drill against the wall. We ended out striking section with some Russian fisticuff drills working on dealing with getting the arms out of the way, pushing, pulling and chopping to clear a path for a straight blow.

On with the kurtka for some sambo...

We went over last weeks session: hip throw to ankle pick to inside leg hook. Also the low, low single. We also did some work from the Russian 2 on 1 tie up.

We ended on time this week (2 hour session) due to the weather...at my house it was near 40 F when we started, ten minutes in it looked like a scene from "The Thing". I was half expecting to see a helicopter chasing a dog across the yard. better t finish early and get everyone home safe.

Slung-Shots by the historian John Evangelist Walsh

I just started reading a true-crime book called Moonlight, by the historian John Evangelist Walsh. It is about a notorious 1857 murder case which took place in Illinois. The defendant's lawyer, a young fellow named Abraham Lincoln, won a spectacular "Perry Mason" victory. (This case, highly fictionalized, is a highlight of John Ford's film Young Mr. Lincoln.)

One thing that interested me was that the murder weapon was "a certain hard metallic substance commonly called a slung-shot (a lead ball encased in leather with a cord attached for swinging.)" It also turns out that Lincoln, as a young man, was an enthusiastic belt-wrestler. One of the decisive moments in Lincoln's early career came when he defeated Jack Armstrong, the champion of New Salem. The match got a bit rough towards the end, with both men resorting to foul tactics. The crowd, fearing for the safety of their local hero, threatened to riot. All turned out well in the end, however. Lincoln managed to stare down the crowd. Armstrong was so impressed by Lincoln's stamina and courage that the two men became lifelong friends. The rough-hewn folks of New Salem formed the core of Lincoln's Illinois constituency. 

Incredibly cool stuff; and I'm only on chapter two. I'm from ILL originally. There are many stories of Lincoln, but I didn't know about his wrestling. In England the policeman’s truncheon became known as a ‘life-preserver’ but in fact before that people carried a ‘self-defence’ weapon which was nicknamed the ‘life-preserver’. This consisted of a small (possibly lead) ball attached by cord/chain to a short stick. It was like a miniature mace which was small enough to be carried inside a coat pocket and was intended for use against footpads and suchlike. I wonder if this was similar/identical to the slung-shot?

the Fitzsimmons shift

Chris, Matt and I today...

2 rounds shadow boxing

2 rounds three count cadence drill

1 round heavy bag

2 rounds boxing

We then went over the Fitzsimmons shift. We have done it before but it has been a while and I realized that this was something new to Chris so it seemed like a good subject for the day. We also worked in Biddle's Killing shift and a few variations of our own on the concept. Once we had this ingrained a bit we geared up again and each boxed two more rounds with an emphasis on landing the shift.

Next up shillelagh working through the Footpad and the Cane article: http://adf.ly/3l0ua

We had a good bit of fun working with this short text. It is short but has a good deal of useful and interesting material. We ended the session working through some basic attack and defense with the shillelagh followed up with two bout each shillelagh vs shillelagh. Always the most violent of all.

What's the difference between Biddle's shift and Fitz's? I think Biddle was a student of Fitz, or am I imagining things?