ANST - Martial Arts Survey Results

[SCOTT A WAGGONER]

Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to my informal survey.

It was interesting compiling the results.  Since you can't really assign
a number value to someone's personal experiences, I have rather made some
observations based on the information I received.  

First of all, Demographics:

I have received 20 responses from fighters and 2 from non-fighters.
 For the purpose of this survey I have not factored in the non-fighters,
though their responses were very enlightening. 

Of the 20 fighters:
	14 were Heavy/chivalric style only
	1 was Light/rapier only
	5 were both

of the 14 heavy only: 
	6 were Knights or higher
		4 had various levels of M/A up to Black belt
		2 had no M/A or other experience (though one was a Duke)
	8 were of various levels including centurions and squires
		5 had various M/A experience (some extensive)
		3 had no M/A or other experience

of the heavy&lights:
	2 were Knights (in fact one count, one duke)
		(the duke had no martial arts, the count had extensive
M/A experience)
	3 were of various levels of SCA fighting
		1 had some martial arts in various styles
		1 had a Black Belt in one style
		1 had US Army experience with no special M/A 
	0 were Dons

The one light fighter was new to the SCA but had previous fencing
experience.

Observations

The two Dukes in the survey have no Martial arts or other experience. 
The martial artist that studied only one or two styles were higher ranked
on the average than the ones who studied several styles. 
There is a higher percentage of martial arts experience in the
non-knighted fighters.

Conclusions and personal comments

While this by no means is doctrine, it seems that focus is the key in
whatever you are doing.  Whether you are doing martial arts or SCA, the
more concentrated your study, the better you do.  The best example of
this is the Count and Duke above.  The duke did ONLY SCA while the count
did SCA AND martial arts, spreading himself thinner.  Consensus seems to
be that the most important things a martial arts background gives you in
SCA fighting is a sense of balance and focus, along with possibly better
physical conditioning.  SCA fighting is a sport, martial art,
re-creation, or all three depending on how you approach it.  I view it as
all three, though hardly equal parts. Everyone will probably read
something different from the results of the survey.  From what I
interpret, it basically hold up my original idea that a background in
other types of fighting does not automatically mean that you will excel
in SCA fighting. This also translates backward into real life. Just
because you are a great SCA fighter does not automatically mean you will
be a good martial artist or street fighter.

Off on a tangent for a second.
 To prove my prior point,  I asked a friend of mine about a theoretical
fight between myself and Lord Namewithheld (who is about half my size and
half-again my age). First situation was "both of us sword and shield on
the SCa list field" . The response was more than likely  I would be
defeated since Lord Namewithheld is a very good fighter. Second situation
was "both of us street fighting in a back alley". The response was an
immediate "you would easily win". 
My friend felt that though his SCA skill was far greater than mine, his
actual size, age, and physical condition would make him cannon fodder for
me.  Beware though, even though this gave me a boost of ego, looking at
the survey results, you shouldn't pick on the Count in a back
alley.(Though that would give new meaning to being down for the count).
Any additional comments are welcome and please feel free to comment with
you own interpretations of these results. I have saved all the email I
have received on the subject. I am thinking about compiling a sort of TAO
of SCA FIGHTING based on the comments I have seen. 
Thanks again for participating..


Mayne de la Croix --- The original MiB
Gate's Edge Canton, Barony of  Stargate,  Ansteorra

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