Fighting Ramble

As I may have mentioned previously in some of my posts, I have decided to become more serious in how I look at Heavy Weapons Combat in the SCA.

A short history of my SCA fighting: I authorized in 1984 and had fun fighting but did not take it seriously until approx. 1990. Previously I had been happy to put on armor and play the game but did not care how I did. I was not out to win or get better at fighting but more simply hang out with my friends and since they fought, I fought. As my friends and co-belligerents began to improve and advance as fighters I ended up asking myself what I wanted to accomplish as a fighter. In effect was I happy being a nail or did I want to be the hammer. So after 1990 I started putting together a nicer kit, paying more attention and trying to learn how to fight better. Almost immediately I was doing better and pulled myself out of the bottom of the pack of fighters in the Kingdom to somewhere in the middle. By 1996 I was doing well enough to be in the quarter finals of some tourneys but seldom won. In retrospect I had been unhappy at looking stupid on the list field and had worked enough to become average but did not try to progress beyond that point. I didn’t want to put the effort in to win, I simply did not want to embarrass myself.

At this time however my mundane job changed and I found myself both working a lot of overtime and most weekends. I was also in effect on call and found myself unable to schedule my event participation very well. So from 1997 to 2003 I did not regularly pursue fighting practices and attended mostly local (about 60-90 minute drive) events. I kept my authorization current but made no real progress fighting. I would attend the local Stormvale practice held outdoors from May to September with some consistency. I was no longer trying to improve, I was simply attending out of habit and for stress relief. So I went through the motions locally and fought the same people over and over but no longer had any kind of a plan or direction for fighting.
In 2004 my job changed again and I began to have more free time again but had gotten into such a rut SCA wise that none of my habits changed. I continued to attend only close local events and fighting without a real purpose or plan. It was probably a year or longer before I decompressed from my IT job enough that I started looking around and taking stock in my hobbies again.
By 2006 I had increased my event participation and had been upgrading my kit again but was back to my original fighting attitude or lack of one. I was showing up more but really just phoning in the effort. It did not help that by now my family was only peripherally interested in the SCA and many of my long time friends had again retired, moved or had begun phoning in their own effort.

I hit a point in late 2006 and took stock of my SCA participation. Was I going to be serious about the SCA or just a fringe member. I decided that I did like and enjoy the SCA enough to devote the required time and effort to become a good fighter again and to step up my efforts in other SCA avenues as well. At the same time I was going through this decision process my local group started having troubles of their own and it seemed that I would have to go a bit further afield to realize my SCA goals.

After deciding I was in for the long haul SCA wise it was apparent I would need to repair and improve my fighting kit. I had also let my desk job creep up on me and I would need to improve my physical shape as well. Less Pear shaped would be a good start and I needed to work on my stamina, upper body strength and speed if I was going to take up fighting again with any degree of seriousness. So in 2007 I put together a physical workout schedule and a list of fighter goals. The physical workout schedule includes some strength training, Cardio and Yoga/stretching. I have been following the physical workout for a year now with fair results. My stamina is improving and my strength is increasing but not as fast as I had originally planned. I believe I will have to take this up to a higher level and join a gym or other venue to progress any farther on this front.

As far as progressing on my fighting plan I have generally done better. I have reworked much of my fighter kit and like how it is now working. My legs do need work still. My right leg armor will occasionally shift and get in my way. I have not been able to find the cause so I may have to make one change at a time until the problem goes away. I am now attending one practice a week at a minimum and have the first signature for my Marshal paperwork. By May 1st I will be working in a second practice per week with events taking place of the second practice when I attend an event. I have also tried to spread my practices around so as to not only fight the same people over and over. So far I have been to Northwoods and Fearann na Criche and soon hope to attend Roaring Wastes and Sarnia practices. There is talk of starting up Stormvale practices again for the summer so that may become my second practice.