ES - fighting in the West

Matthew Saroff saroff at poseidon.vs.lmco.com
Thu Apr 15 15:44:26 PDT 1999


On Apr 15,  5:30pm, Todd Marsh wrote:
> Subject: ES - fighting in the West
> I went to a fighter practice in Santa Clara, CA on Tuesday.  It was very
> interesting to watch the fighters from the West practice.  They usually
> practice "slow work", walking through a fight at one quarter speed.  The
> people I saw practicing were evenly divided between slow work without armor,
> slow work in armor, and sparring.
>
> The usual style was much more open and flowing than you see in Ansteorra.
> Shields were much smaller, and moved around more.  The basic stance seemed
> to be with the shield under the chin and the bottom of the shield at a 45
> degree angle to the body.  The sword was held with the hand near the ear,
> and the blade hanging down the back.  It looked very strange.
Hi,
	That is what I was originally taught.  It is Paul of Bellatrix's style
and training technique.  (I was at a seminar he gave in 1981) It helps a lot
with newbies, as they can get their feet wet (the slow work) without dropping a
couple of "C" notes on armor.
	The hand position comes from (I've been told) Escrima, a Philippine
stick fighting style (very effective, ask Megallan), the Ansteorran stance is
more of a boxing stance.
	I find the Bellatrix style allows one a bit more power, but I found off
side shots to be MUCH more difficult.
	I believe that they have limits on shield size in the West (I know that
they do in An Tir (Oregon and Washington)).  I really enjoy fighting with a
small shield, but I am much less effective.
	Do they do more passing shots out there?

-- 
Matthew Saroff
Do not reply directly to this message.  Reply to
msaroff at pobox.com
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