The training this morning was a very good session. I’ve had myself videoed executing the Syllabus Form, and now I know how much I suck. That depressing thought out of the way, I also now know what I should work on. And so this trip has shown it’s benefits, even before the seminar has started.
The afternoon was spent on a grocery run into town, and we stopped by the market at the harbour for lunch. We also dropped by the JT Pälikkö showroom and saw the beautiful paintings and the even more beautiful swords. Very expensive, these damascus bades.
The training at night was the beginner’s course, which culminated in going through the steps of the First Drill. However, the surprising twist was that while we’ve been practicing the drill as a set piece, the defences will work against not just the fendente mandritto as is designed, but also against an initial fendente roverso or high thrust as well, and the defender’s response DOES NOT HAVE TO CHANGE. Food for thought.
As a bonus, I managed toget some rapier training from Guy after the class, and after a few false starts I think I’ve gotten the basics down. The highlight was probably when Guy got tired of telling me not to step off the line as I’m used to in Fiore, once too many times ~ so we started practicing the Stringere on a bench. I guess it must have been like a scene from the movies, with two guys duelling with rapiers while balancing on a narrow beam!
