I was asked to be a guest "Teacher"

[Despairbear]

Greetings all,

I am visiting some family and was getting in touch with some people in the area when I happened across a group of people who "sparr" with shinai (sp? the wooden kendo swords). Any way I worked with the "leader" of this group and a few other and discovered that what they do has absolutely NO martial value. They are playing some sort of tag game with sticks and very limited target areas. After I showed them some WMA stuff they where rather excited about it and have asked me to meet with their entire group and be a "Guest Teacher" and show them some WMA sword fighting skills. So anyway what shold I work on with these people? I only have one night to work with them and I also do not want to step on any toes if possable. I was thinking about dealing with movment, timing and some basic strikes and parrys and then do a little sparring with them. Any suggestions or comments?


Despair Bear

 

[Jay Bell]

Hrm..that's a toughy. Back when I was part of the SCA, most "shinai fighters" swung shinai like baseball bats, so they were incredibly easy to take apart. I remember one perticular person that I beat in a round robin tourny saying after our match, "Those Japanese sword styles don't work worth a sh!t"

"What do you think just beat you?"

I personally would try and get the "western" out of them. Instead of fighting like big dumb oafs, I'd focus on the strategy of shinai fighting instead of "swinging a club" around.

 

[Cthulhu]

I'd say work on movement, timing, strikes, and parries, like you mentioned, but also work on distance. Lots of people are lousy with distance, particularly with a weapon.

On a similar note, I may have the opportunity to do something similar. The instructor of the college credit martial arts class at my old school is supposed to be on vacation for the first week of classes and has asked me to substitute for him. I really hope I can do it, but we have to deal with the bureaucracy of the school, which can be more than a bit daunting. I was deeply honored that he asked me, even if they don't let me do it.

Cthulhu
(hey, I would be able to say I was a college professor! Kidding, kidding )

 

[Gama]

>>I personally would try and get the "western" out of them. Instead of fighting like big dumb oafs, I'd focus on the strategy of shinai fighting instead of "swinging a club" around.<<

If that's what you think western swordsmanship is all about, you have never done any western swordsmanship. Check out the following links to see how wrong that statement is :


http://thehaca.com/

http://swordforum.com/

http://vikingsword.com/

http://www.the-exiles.org/

http://www.aemma.org/index2.htm

http://www.netsword.com/

http://www.schola-solis.com/

Comparing what the SCA does to real western swordsmanship, is like comparing TaeBo to martial arts.

 

[Jay Bell]

Gary,

Maybe I wasn't clear in my post. Western Swordsmanship isn't swinging like big dumb oafs. Yet, untrained people with shinai in their hands tend to take the "big oaf" approach and muscle through techniques....ie "the western in them"

To attempt to say that I've never done western swordsmanship outside of the SCA would also be in error.