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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Drifter Bob" data-source="post: 1679739" data-attributes="member: 17723">Here's a bit of background on Ole Drifter Bob and his WMA training...I'm not ARMA but I'm on friendly terms with several senior ARMA members, as well as some members of some other U.S. Schools.  I even hosted an ARMA event here in New Orleans earlier this year.  I am relatively free of the "ARMA-taint" however because I can proudly say that John Clements hates my guts. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />My background is unusual for WMA'ers.  I did full-contact stickfighting from the early 80's until the mid 90's.  This was a combination of a sort of local variant on "extreme sports" and a semi serious martial art wihch we called "sham battles", which was part of the local punk rock subculture.  We had no historical training in those days but it was full speed, full contact and no-holds barred, so we eventually learned a few things from the constant sparring.  We welcomed all comers as well which included everything from sport fencers with flexifoils and schlager practice swords to kendo fighters with shanai, to arnis / escrima fighters with unpadded rataan sticks, and just about everything in between.  This way we picked up a lot of influences from various sources.  The local SCA thought we were a dangerous menace.Over time I got quite good at sword and shield, though I think sword and shield, while effective, is ultimately fairly limited.  It is this long experience incidentaly, as well as related 'unregulated' experiences in the streets and alleys of New Orleans growing up here, that lead me to arrogantly think of myself as a good fighter, rather than any ARMA affilation. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Since around 1998 when I discovered Sydney Anglo's "Martial Arts of Reniassance Europe" I've been studying real WMA.  Our current local training group consists of about 10 people, a couple of whom are hard core and meet every week and the rest who show up to largrer monthly get togethers.  Our  group includes a few of my old sham battle buddies, some ARMA members who are basically beginners and / or sword collectors, another more senior ARMA member who is a pretty good cut-and-thrust fencer (who lives rather far away so can't make regular practice), an ex-SCA guy who is seriously studying Marrozo, and these kids in this sparring group from a nearby suburb who combine something like WMA or SCA stickfighting with kickboxing.  They come by to pick up advanced techniques to use in their tournaments.They are nice kids, you can see their website here:<a href="http://www.ordoprocinctus.com/" target="_blank">http://www.ordoprocinctus.com/</a>I think the longsword is one of the most interesting and sophisticated weapons ever invented.My primary interest right now is German longsword, though I'd like to eventually study Italain longsword, (I'm interested in Fiore in particular) I'm concentrating on German fencing now because I'm on pretty friendly terms with Jake Norwood of ARMA, who is probably (arguably) the premier expert on Meyer in the world and without a doubt the best longsword fencer I have ever seen; and also because there are such good German longsword translations currently available.  I also maintain contact with a kind of sister group (an ARMA group) in south Florida which is fronted by another ex-punk rocker who is a friend of mine, and they are also studying Longsword, primarily meyer.  They are a bit more advanced than our group in terms of pure technique(you can see their website here)<a href="http://arma-sfl.com/" target="_blank">http://arma-sfl.com/</a>We are making some headway though, I have 4 guys trained to be pretty challenging longsword opponents now <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />.  Currently we are alternating between Italian cut-and-thrust (Marrozo) with German Longsword training (Meyer and Ringeck) and throwing in some rapier, sword and shield, spear / bill fighting, and dagger work.  We do a lot of sparring, mostly full contact with flexirapiers and padded weapons, but also half speed with wooden wasters and steel blunts.I'd like to get more into ringen (grappling) but haven't learned enough yet.The primary sparring weapons we use are special padded weapons and those schlager steel training blades, which we use full force (sometimes steel against padded).  We use fencing masks and modified lacrosse helmets, and hockey gloves as minimum gear, though most of the other guys wear neck, groin, and torso protection, and some wear almost full pads (wimps!)A couple of our guys have full harness but I don't yet.The padded weapons we use are my own make, I call them "padded wasters".  Though they have a PVC core, I use a special extra rigid PVC and special orthopedic foam  They are flat, have edge geometry about the same as a wooden waster, correct (perfect) balance and weight, are not 'whippy" and do not bend.  They do hurt quite a bit and cause bruises sometimes but no broken bones so far <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />In the 'old days' I used to make the weapons for our old "sham battle" group 'the slum fu stompers' so I got pretty good at it.  I actually sold padded weapons on Ebay for a while to raise money to buy WMA equipment and books.You can see my old (now defunct) catalog here.... (these are a mix of WMA and larp stuff... I'm not into larp or anything but that was where the money was in terms of padded weapons...)<a href="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/e/deodand23/Weapons3.htm" target="_blank">http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/e/deodand23/Weapons3.htm</a>You can see some photos of some newer more 'WMA correct' weapons here...<a href="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/e/deodand23/Pwswords.jpg" target="_blank">http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/e/deodand23/Pwswords.jpg</a>Here is a photo of yours truly posing with some sparring gear<a href="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/e/deodand23/SafetyFlail.jpg" target="_blank">http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/e/deodand23/SafetyFlail.jpg</a>DB <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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