On tournaments and competition fighting
May. 30th, 2016 04:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lonemagpieDavid A McIntee
3 hrs ·
So... tournaments and competition fighting.
Not my thing, traditionally. I'm not interested in playing for ranks or titles because to me the martial arts are about self-improvement. Can I get more kills on you today than I did last time I fought you? That kind of thing. It's not, for me, a sport, or about winning. That's why I'm in it for the sparring. (Well, and coaching and stuff that I do.) However...
I was talking to Mike Prendergast on Saturday night, who, understanding all of this, and understanding why I haven't fought competition for, er, nearly 20 years, recommended that I do enter tournaments. He said that what I get out of it is something that I would get better out of tournaments, because everyone (self included) is doing their best there, not playing per se, which means my sense of how well I'm doing will be more accurate feedback than from normal and relaxed sparring. And, thinking about this, he's totally right, of course. Sometimes I've found in sparring (be it SCA, HEMA, or traditional martial arts like Taekwondo) that you sometimes find both yourself and your opponent laughing too much to do it properly. And that's fun, and I love it, cos this is a hobby, but it does affect the feedback.
He also reassured me that the judging and suchlike has changed a lot in the past 20 years (Look, I'm 47, I started before the name HEMA really existed!) And some stuff that happened back then was the main reason I stopped fighting competition, so... Even the SCA tournament I went in at Yule, after getting out of the hospital, has reassured me on that ... issue.
So I guess I'm saying that, while I still have no aim to win tournaments, nor acquire prizes, I will go back to entering tounaments, to test myself. For the most part we were talking HEMA here, but it will be a while for the reason that I need to get up to speed, train myself back out of SCA style, and fund new gear (cos anything I have left from back in the day no longer fits – I'm a lot slimmer now than then.), but, yeah. I'm not looking to win, because let's face it, my aim is internal, and I'm 47 now (and competition fighting is a youngster's game), but I will fight tournament again.
In the meantime, I guess I'll do more SCA fencing tournaments, for the same reason: Testing myself when we're being more serious. So, I have Master Cernac to thank or blame.
As for SCA Heavy... Watching Lesley do Coronet, I'm thinking every fighter should fight Coronet at least once. More importantly... How can I put this? Over the past year almost everything I give a shit about has been been being taken away from me, and after that bleeding to death thing, I just... I just can't think of a more appropirate “fuck you” and finger-flip to the Reaper, or whatever powers that be which have tried to get me so many times lately. That which does not kill me makes me very pissed off with it. So, yeah, I will do that, as and when appropriate, depending on getting authed and feeling confident that I have what it takes to do so. Which will not be until at least November 2017, whatever happens, because I'd also need to get some bits of armour sorted, and even if I was miraculously up for it in February, I have other commitments next February. But yes, I will get authed, get good, and fight Coronet sometime after Autumn 2017, if nobody minds...
No, I won't be taking up Taekwondo competitive fighting though! Everybody will think I'm an idiot about to be slaughtered everywhere anyway, so one has to draw a line somewhere....
3 hrs ·
So... tournaments and competition fighting.
Not my thing, traditionally. I'm not interested in playing for ranks or titles because to me the martial arts are about self-improvement. Can I get more kills on you today than I did last time I fought you? That kind of thing. It's not, for me, a sport, or about winning. That's why I'm in it for the sparring. (Well, and coaching and stuff that I do.) However...
I was talking to Mike Prendergast on Saturday night, who, understanding all of this, and understanding why I haven't fought competition for, er, nearly 20 years, recommended that I do enter tournaments. He said that what I get out of it is something that I would get better out of tournaments, because everyone (self included) is doing their best there, not playing per se, which means my sense of how well I'm doing will be more accurate feedback than from normal and relaxed sparring. And, thinking about this, he's totally right, of course. Sometimes I've found in sparring (be it SCA, HEMA, or traditional martial arts like Taekwondo) that you sometimes find both yourself and your opponent laughing too much to do it properly. And that's fun, and I love it, cos this is a hobby, but it does affect the feedback.
He also reassured me that the judging and suchlike has changed a lot in the past 20 years (Look, I'm 47, I started before the name HEMA really existed!) And some stuff that happened back then was the main reason I stopped fighting competition, so... Even the SCA tournament I went in at Yule, after getting out of the hospital, has reassured me on that ... issue.
So I guess I'm saying that, while I still have no aim to win tournaments, nor acquire prizes, I will go back to entering tounaments, to test myself. For the most part we were talking HEMA here, but it will be a while for the reason that I need to get up to speed, train myself back out of SCA style, and fund new gear (cos anything I have left from back in the day no longer fits – I'm a lot slimmer now than then.), but, yeah. I'm not looking to win, because let's face it, my aim is internal, and I'm 47 now (and competition fighting is a youngster's game), but I will fight tournament again.
In the meantime, I guess I'll do more SCA fencing tournaments, for the same reason: Testing myself when we're being more serious. So, I have Master Cernac to thank or blame.
As for SCA Heavy... Watching Lesley do Coronet, I'm thinking every fighter should fight Coronet at least once. More importantly... How can I put this? Over the past year almost everything I give a shit about has been been being taken away from me, and after that bleeding to death thing, I just... I just can't think of a more appropirate “fuck you” and finger-flip to the Reaper, or whatever powers that be which have tried to get me so many times lately. That which does not kill me makes me very pissed off with it. So, yeah, I will do that, as and when appropriate, depending on getting authed and feeling confident that I have what it takes to do so. Which will not be until at least November 2017, whatever happens, because I'd also need to get some bits of armour sorted, and even if I was miraculously up for it in February, I have other commitments next February. But yes, I will get authed, get good, and fight Coronet sometime after Autumn 2017, if nobody minds...
No, I won't be taking up Taekwondo competitive fighting though! Everybody will think I'm an idiot about to be slaughtered everywhere anyway, so one has to draw a line somewhere....
