ANST - Martial Arts

[Michael F. Gunter]

Okay, background.

Assorted traditional martial arts for about 15 years.

1st Degree black belt - Tae Kwon Do
1st Degree black belt - Shaolin Black Tiger Kung Fu
Instructor Certification - Kendo
Various and assorted training - Gojo Ryu, Jujitsu, Judo
Boxing and Full-Contact Karate
US Army Ranger Training
Armed Forces Counterterrorist Team member

SCA ranks. Knight, sundry and assorted Championships.
Did a bit of rapier for a while.

Favorite weapon styles: Sword & Shield, Glaive, single sword and for
dirty work a pump action shotgun or sniper rifle depending on the situation.

Timo, you forgot "Doobie doobie Do".

Guess I've always been the violent sort but I'm much better
now.

> 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?
> 

It certainly helps. I still utilize all of the body movement and footwork
that I've learned over the years. I also teach fighters to use anything
they have learned and to convert it to combat.


> 2.  Can we "officially" label what we do a martial art in the modern sense?

Actually I place a qualifier on that. Boxing is considered a sport yet is
more "martial" than many of the martial arts I've studied. I think that
whether or not you consider SCA combat a "sport" or "martial art" is on
the general outlook that is taught. If you are trained to fight only
within the confines of the rules and disallow any changes or any use
of the techniques outside of the rules then it is a sport. But if the
teaching uses the rules as a springboard to become comfortable using
the techniques with any weapon or situation, or even as life lessons
then it is a martial art. IMHO "true" martial arts are lessons in change
and life wheras a sport is constrained by the rules that create it.

> 
> 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.)

Good, but mental discipline is just as important. The ability to adapt
and work through the heat, pain, and general discomfort of combat and
not be distracted is a skill that needs learned.

> 
> 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?

When I discovered chivalric combat I felt that I'd finally found what I'd
been looking for all my life. There was no comparison.

> 
> 
> Alaric Drake

Yers,

Gunthar
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