ANST - Martial Arts

[donato at mail.stlnet.com]

At 06:36 PM 4/20/98 EDT, you wrote:
>Hmm... this is question I have long pondered.  It does seem that many (but
>certainly not all) of the more successful fighters I have known throughout the
>known world were also martial artists.  How about some further questions:
>
>
>1.   Did the fighter excell in chivalric/rapier combat due to prior training
>in stance, balance, footwork, striking another human, etc... OR does the
>inborn physicallity and   mindset of ANY person who might engage in a
>traditional martial art lead to excellence in our martial art?

As a child/teen, I was the most clumsy, slow moving and awkward.  Mundane
martial arts, which I began at the same time as SCA, and dancing (in college
I took ballet, folk dance and ballroom dance) have made me much, much more
physically able.  My point is that while there may be a genetic mindset and
physical aptitiude, the physical arts will enhance anyone's skills.


>2.  Can we "officially" label what we do a martial art in the modern sense?
>
>(BTW...I would answer this an unquallified yes-  I would say that the fact
>that we are one of the very few full-contact fighting genres far outbalances
>the sport-type label we might be stuck with due to our inability to strike ANY
>area of the body (ie. the knees and below).

I believe that what we do is a martial art in the sense that boxing, tae
kwon do or any other art which has competitions and rules is a martial art.
I do not believe it is a self-defense because frankly I don't tend to carry
a three-foot stick with me.  However, as the man once said, if you want self
defense, buy a gun.  It doesn't make sense to train a life time for an
encounter that may or may not ever occur.  If you want spiritual and
physical enlightment, study a martial art.


>3.   What are the most valuable items, both mental and physical, a martial
>artist can  bring with him/her when starting an SCA fighting career?
>
>(I would submit-  the ability to take/give a hit, training regimen and
>technique, balance, foot speed, and stance.

Open mindedness.  Seeing principals rather than techniques. Knowing when to
get out of the way.

>4.   Doesn't it seem odd that a lot of die-hard martial artists seem to move
>away from their traditional martial arts and devote most, if not all, of their
>training time to our Chivalric/Rapier fighting?  Why might that be?

>(personally, the adversarial nature of the training in most dojos can't come
>near to comparing with the comeraderie, honor, and espirit de corps that we
>can take for granted in the SCA.)


My aikido teacher moved, and then I moved away from my other teachers, and I
have never been able to recapture the magic of those years.  The SCA is the
same way, but I've never moved so far that I couldn't find its light.

Donato el Lobo
____________________________________________________________________
The miracle is that in loving them, we are loving God.  
Look with wonder at the ones you love, for they are the face of God.
----Dudley from "The Preacher's Wife."

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