Monday 24th July 2017
I feel exhausted. I feel so exhausted that I have a tiredness that goes beyond just wanting to sleep and can be felt all the way to my bones.
I’d thought about taking the night off training tonight given how exhausted I felt, but then Matt announced we were running a mini single rapier tournament and… well… it’s only a couple of weeks until Fightcamp and there was chocolate on offer for the prize. So I turned up and was grumpy with Stewart’s reffing decisions, and then decided this didn’t count for anything other than chocolate so I might as well experiment.
I can see Astolat has caused a load of fighters to level up. There’s a confidence in Kasten that hasn’t been there before. And Stephen isn’t seen as a beginner any more. There’s a sense that the intensity has stepped up but rather than feeling like I need to follow suit or be left behind, I feel I’m moving with the pack.
I came comfortably second tonight. And that was by going more aggressive. I think there’s a fine line between assertive fencing and reckless, and I’m still not sure where that line is… but assertive fencing suits me, and the fact I only came second to Stewart (who is probably strongest in single weapons) when Matt and new more intense Kasten were also fencing, pleases me a lot.
I seem to have the ability to go from 0 to100 instantaneously. I watched as a guy who must be at least 6 foot 9 inches, physically flinched as I sprung at him without warning at Astolat. He didn’t have time to react. Likewise, on some of my attacks on Matt tonight, he just didn’t stand a chance. You know it’s good when you beat someone and they still compliment you on how you fought.
Despite still feeling annoyed by my Sword & Buckler performance yesterday, I feel like I’m in the pack of fencers who are seeing medal wins. Maybe this will bite me in the arse, but I see no reason why, after today’s performance, I couldn’t make the finals of the Fightcamp rapier competition. Doesn’t mean I will, but I feel I’m in with as much of a shot as anyone.
But thinking about my Sword & Buckler has got me thinking about what I need to train, and has sparked a lot of ideas of how I want to teach. We have a set way to do things in the school based on experience and I largely follow that, but thinking about it today, I came to the conclusion that maybe I could do a few things slightly differently.
For example: I really need to work on chaining attacks together, so I thought about a lesson where I get people to pair up and spend the entire lesson working on a 10 stage flow drill. I like to be as hands off as possible when I teach because I think getting students to think for themselves is ultimately going to give the most benefit rather than having someone force their opinion on them.
But I also thought about coming up with training plans for each of the students, so that they could take ownership of their growth and map progress out for themselves. I think that could be very helpful but need to do a bit of research how to make it work.
Likewise, I really think the school is missing some sports psychology and I’ve taken an action to see if we can get a seminar on it.
And if I didn’t have enough to do already, I’ve been asked to create the website for the new Wessex League. I’m going to keep it simple and easy to update so it doesn’t become a time sink but I think I can knock it up pretty quickly.
At some stage I need to get back to the novel. I probably need a couple of days to recover first though. My leg has a bruise the size of a small continent on it, my middle knuckle is bruised and swollen, and my thumb hurts if I bend it too much.
In many ways, Astolat broke me. I gave a lot, but I think I got a lot out in return. I think I’ll look back at it as the birth of a more aggressive fighter (just as Swordfish last year saw the birth of me being able to focus). That fighter is already getting results and I just need to figure how far I can take it before it all starts to get a bit sloppy.
If you want to follow more of my journey, then be sure to check me on my social channels. Likewise, if you’d like me to expand on any point mentioned above, please say so in the comments.
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