Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Guy Throws a #1 Re-Up

I wrote a post back in June 2011.

I keep mentioning it of late, or reciting something similar in content, so here it is for those that missed it.

It explains a few things about why I'm annoyed by preset techniques and patterns, how I think about what I learned from Sonny, and why the most interesting, yet most ignored, part of the fight (in my opinion) happens before what Sonny called 'just technical'.

So, the guy throws a #1 ....
... Why did he throw it?
Because he thought he had a shot.
...Which means my left upper quadrant was open somewhere and in range I guess
Yeah
... Where was my defense? I mean the guy is only going to throw if the target is open, so it means my defense line is open.
Maybe you missed a shot and over committed?
.... So ... I take a shot at him because there is a target I think I can reach that is in range but I miss. I guess he evades?
Yeah, he evades.
.... That means he either must have the angle on me or he fades out of range?
I suppose.
... And my weapon must be off the center line and probably tip low as well then to leave my upper left undefended enough to make him try for it?
OK.
... And he must be to the left of my center, because the only target for a #1 on the other side would be my weapon arm which is not in range.
So he comes in and you block.
... How did that happen ...? If he already had the angle on me and my weapon was so far off the center line, there's no way I'd make it.
Your weapon was not that far off the center.
... Well that means that I was not really open, so why did he throw the strike?
He's not that smart
... So this is a defense against a stupid person ...?
OK, He faded back so had to step in which gave you time to cover
... So he's stepping in throwing a #1 and I have enough time to recover and block the strike. Why didn't I just step in and hit him, or evade, instead of wasting my weapon on a block?
You block. That's what happens next.
So if I can block a strike that was aimed at my head, it means we are both well in range .... Is he following up? I mean he's close, and he still has his left hand free.
No, you check his weapon hand with your live hand, pass it and cut behind it.
.... Well if I was him, I'd drop to jam the strike, pivot and spiral in, either way we both have hold of each other and we're both carrying swords, what happens now .....?
.....................................................

3 comments:

Jake said...

This is really interesting to me. It seems like a sword fighting version of the way Tony Blauer explains things with regard to self-defense.

I.e.

"What do I do if someone is choking me?"

"What happened that lead to the point where someone is choking you?"

(Obviously, a very summarized version).

Stickgrappler said...

Awesomeness! Much to mull over. Thank you!

considerphlebas said...

"When you play bridge with beginners- when you try to help them out- you give them some general rules to go by. Then they follow the rule and something goes wrong. But if you'd had their hand you wouldn't have played the thing you told them to play, because you'd have seen all the reasons the rule did not apply."