I did say that I would try to write something each Tuesday after training at what is now The Sword, London, so here we go.
More work on stepping and footwork last night, and it feels like it is starting to come together, although I must say it only feels natural to me with a sword in hand.
More relevantly I sparred briefly with TinyTim last night, the first free sparring in almost a year, and with long sword to boot. To my surprise I didn’t suck as much as I expected. Which isn’t to say I was not soundly trounced and now have some embarrassing bruises, and am so out of shape it felt like a marathon. But I did start to relax and get the flow back, and toward the end was not letting him get away with the easy shots and delivered some satisfying strikes.
Apart from the obvious – being out of shape and still coming to grips with long sword – I noticed that I am suffering from two problems to resolve:
1. I have been conditioned to telegraph hits and to strike outside the body
2. I am forgetting to keep mobile and maintain distance.
More sparring please. Bruises are a sword’s way of telling me I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.