...for they are our future.

 

I personally hate the term "noob" but it's become such a part of our terminology along with "hold", "rhinohide" and "gimp". To some, a new member is fresh meat, a "willing" pell to be beaten on. To others, a new member is the grating, and at times annoying, person who is still trying to figure out where he fits in. And to some, a new fighter is a person with a lack of control, who swings excessively and headshots every person they fight. But they bring such boundless enthusiasm and driving willingness to learn. Ah, how quickly we forget that we were that noob once. And that's really what I'm getting at.

 

We all had to start somewhere. Look back on when you first started. Were you left to fend for yourself or did someone help you through the growing pains? I remember my first mentor in fighting, Sir Killian of Valdemar (no relation to the current Sir Killian). When I first started coming out, he epitomized what I thought a knight should be...hell on wheels with an undeniable presence on the field. When he commanded you, you followed without hesitation. But without him, I wonder if I would be where I am now. Time and time again, I hear stories of veterans who ended up staying in because of someone or perhaps a few people who saw their potential beneath the surface. Can you be that person?

 

Here are a few things you can do to keep your new members going:

 

1. Be mindful of the example you set. New fighters will pick up on the fighters who throw tantrums, storm off the field, blow off shots, or argue with the marshals. If a veteran gets away with it, why shouldn't they? Conversely, if the new members see veterans taking their hits, enjoying what they're doing, and being respectful to each other, they're going to see that too.

 

2. Take them under your wing. It's far easier to let them fend for themselves, to let them continuously be beaten down until they either step up or walk away. But oftentimes that leads to alienation and a person leaving the sport. For many of us, it's how we learned. Why should the fighters of today have it any easier? Teaching them takes work. Mentoring them takes work. However, it can be difficult to stick around when you're crushed on a regular basis and it seems like there's no one willing to help.

 

3. Be approachable and take the initiative to seek them out. Vets are often intimidating and sometimes outright terrifying to our new fighters. Don't make it any harder for them by making that expectation a reality.

 

4. Be patient. It can be difficult and frustrating especially when they keep making the same mistakes over and over. But, again, did you not go through that yourself?

 

5. Introduce them to opportunities outside of fighting. Do you know fighters who look at non-fighters with derision as if they are somehow less because they cannot or choose not to fight? That's a lousy attitude but it's one that can be easily propagated. Everyone contributes in their own way and fighting should NEVER be considered the only meaningful thing out there.

 

6. Hang out with them outside of practice. Make them feel welcome. Show them that the social interactions in Belegarth can be just as fulfilling as the fighting aspects.

 

7. At their first event, look out for them and introduce them to the people you know. Don't let them fend for themselves and end up doing something that may haunt them later.

 

8. Encourage them to make their own garb and weapons. That time and emotional investment is often the spark that keeps them interested in Belegarth.

 

9. Impress upon them how Belegarth MUST take a back seat to real life. If they're not doing well in school, then they need to focus on their studies. It's so easy to get caught up with hanging out with friends instead of studying or going to class, particularly in a college environment.

 

New members of Belegarth are the children of our community and you, the veterans and established members, have a direct effect on their growth and development. It's up to you whether you choose to embrace them with open arms or weed them out with indifference.

[...]

It's a common thread with any type of sport or activity- the "Oh, you should have been at this game/event/random happening!" or "When you go to a game/event/random happening, you'll really understand".

Well, I gotta say I do now.

 It had been the talk of most of the realm for quite some time. I mean, you really couldn't have a conversation thatdidn't involve Octoberfest, getting prepared, or how much of a freaking blast it was going to be. And truly, it was.

As a new fighter, it's hard to imagine an event, even with the most in depth descriptions from the veterans. I mean, yeah, it's easy to grasp that there is a field and the realms and units are in different camps around the campground. But, other than that, how do you describe the rest? I mean, no one told me how much of a kickass feast there would be. Turkey legs on Friday? My God! It was great, even if you disagreed with the turkey's taste (which there is always someone).

 And what can I say about realm battles? Nothing is better than your realm whipping someone else's ass. I mean, for the previous two months, we had never fought as a realm before. I mean, practice was always the realm divied up, so you never actually saw your realm whomping the crap outta soeone else collectively. I mean, it was really quite awesome to work together as a whole with the folks you know, and to take down them. I mean, sure, people criticize the "us and them" motif, but you must admit, when your with "us" and whomping the living bejeezus out of "them", it's really quite intense. Even folks who don't fight as much came out to fight with the realm. Although, that's the other side of events- I'm not really sure if we won or not... It really wasn't made clear. But that's no matter, I have to say it was fun to see Wolfpack fight Numenor. For those of you not aware of each realms collegiate affiliations- Wolfpack of the High Plains draws from Illinois State University whereas Numenor draws from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (they're unofficial rivals. While ISU doesn't really play U of I, both schools compete against each other/ compare themselves to the other in terms of...well, everything. ISU is sort of the underdog though). ESPN loves to cover college game days- the Big 10, Notre Dame versus whoever, etc. Who would have ever thought that it would be schools competing against each other in terms of foam sword fighting. What's better is that it wasn't just ISU and U of I representing. The University of Wisconsin at Madison, the different Iowa schools, Eastern Illinois University and so on. While Belegarth is by no means all college students, for us, I would say it's fun to test ISU's mettle against our Champaign rivals.

But that aside, it's the night life that adds another key component to an event. The medieval nature of the sport lends itself dramatically to a camping environment. There is something that screams of a different time with thumping drums, bellydancers (quite lovely bellydancers too, I might add...) and a Wolfpack favorite- Fun with Fire (a special shoutout to Trigger, Lock, Momma Sorcia, Tobin and I think Lysis or Illian (I'm still hazy with the members of Wolfpack that we don't see on a regular basis, so I apologise for any confusion) for showing us how playing with fire is really done!). The nightlife is amazing- and I have to say that the Brotherhood has some good taste in singalongs, especially for Flogging Molly.

As a side note, Sir Fox had told us (meaning the new fighters) to go to the main fire. I have to stress this: it's absolutely worth it. Sir Thorn was going around and trying to get people to go, and if you can go, I would do so, if only for a little while. People started dissing on it, saying that it wasn't what it once was and I think I know why- the more people you have, the more jumping the party is. If no one goes, then no one parties, it's that simple.

The only bad parts of Octoberfest is that of the weather (Hotoberfest- especially on Saturday during the day) and the fact that new fighters, while being told by the older fighters what we should bring- we inevitably don't bring something/think of something that would be especially useful. But, seeing as those two little "issues" are small, insignificant, and largely out of the control of mortal men, all is good.

I loved Octoberfest, and I have to say- bring on Springwars (of course, after Wolfpack Opener!). I've already got plans for Springwars and now I'm one event wiser, it should be even more of a blast.

 

[...]

It is really too bad that people are so judgemental and make decisions based on those judgements even though they are totally off base.  Sometimes things are not at all what they seem.  Many people can and are injured by incorrect judgements.  I only hope that those who are so quick to judge others are not themselves judged so harshly and with only partial evidence. 

[...]

It is amazing how quickly your whole life can change over one stupid thing happening.  I know now that there is a reason for everything.  I am just not always sure what that reason may be for any given circumstance. 

Ah, initiation.

A time honored tradition, to be sure. As a freshman college student, I see initiation everywhere. Fraternaties are the first to pop up, sports teams following up close behind. 

What about a Belegarth initiation?

 For the most part, the Gauntlet is an impractical means of breaking someone in. It's very nature is one of "violence" (I usequotes, because technically speaking- it is violent). You can't really have a new football player get bodyslammed by every member of the team in such quick succession- the results wouldn't really be all that great.

 But Belegarth is a different beast. The very nature of the sport is one of simulated "violence". So, it naturally follows that initiation take the form of the Gauntlet. 

I won't lie- it sounds intimidating, especially for a guy (the warning cry was "Grab the boys, boys!"). But, in reality, it's quite appropriate for what we do. 

 As a novice taking that slow walk down the beating row, I realized that this was my realm, that these were the people with which I would be fighting with. There was no real hatred or malice in thier faces and eyes- but one of welcome. The fact that they bellow your name as you walk down is a major boost too. 

It's really a good way to be initiated, to be sure. There is symbolism mixed with a healthy dose of meaning. Bashing through the shields at the end is a fitting end for the walk, not to mention a fitting symbol of transititioning from a total newbie to a somewhat newbie. At the very least, we're members of a realm.

 I have to say, a realm beltflag isn't all that much. It's a piece of simple black fabric with red trim and a Wolfpack of the High Plains insignia on it. But for someone who has fought for the last six or so weeks with the pack, learning the customs and the culture, learning as much as one can, it's a big deal.

I've always valued loyalty and unity, and to be accepted puts one in a state of welcome indebtedness. By the group accepting you, you owe something to the group to represent it, to work with it, to be a part of it. It may seem like natural due course- but it always stands out when one person doesn't due his/her part of being part of the realm. It's quite appropriate that the Wolfpack's motto is that "The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the wolf is the strength of the pack". A realm draws it's strength through it's members- unity through strength and strength through unity (and as always, England prevails!- sorry, had to throw that in there). 

I may be a new person, I may not know all of Wolfpacks intricacies, but dammit, this is my realm now. I will gladly bellow "WOOT WOOT" when someone calls "Wooollllfpack!". I will gladly step up with my weapons and fight with my realm when it comes time to. I will gladly take my shots if it means that my realm prevails (both in real life and BeleLife). 

It's basic sociological fact that symbols draw people together under a common ideal or a theory. The flag draws people together as a member of that nation-state. A chaos star or a falcon's shillouette draws together people as a member of House Hellhammer or the Brotherhood of the Falcon.

Now, it's red wolf's head on a black field that draws together the members of the Wolfpack of the High Plains.

 Wolfpack! WOOT WOOT!

[...]

I had a very strange conversation at Equinox with another knight.  He seemed genuinely distressed to have been called a "service knight".   He felt he had been demeaned by being called a service knight. Perhaps in his eyes, and the eyes of many others, he had been.

 

I am about to vent one of my major philosophical differences.  I consider myself as a service knight. I happen to be decent at fighting, but that is in my mind of secondary importance to the service I put in as a squire, and more importantly, continue to put in, regardless of whatever title I may have received. 

 

There are many brilliant fighters on the field who are not knights, including such monstrosities as Bhakdar and Peter the Quick.  They may not have the title of "knight" to show for it, but they certainly have the fighting skills.  In my mind, they are still knights.

 

Yet, I think the contributions of the so-called "service knights" who continue to serve after their knighting is at least equal to the contribution of the "fighting knights".  The knights who continue to give up their time, money, and effort to help the entire sport, deserve more than to be looked down upon as a second-class knight.  They are often the ones who are the first ones to set up your event, check you into the event, check your weapons, run your field, cook your food, clean up your trash, and take down your event. They don't have to do everything, but odds are, they gave up at a pretty significant portion of their time to help you have fun.

 

Just like there are some people who I recognize as fighting knights who have not been knighted, I recognize some people as service knights.  It isn't about the title, it is about who they are and what they do. 

 

In my mind, the people who are "service knights" should be proud of what they do, as difficult as it may be.  Service knight certainly should not be taken as an insult, nor used as one.

 

At this point, I watch more to see which squires are the ones helping, not which ones are the ones killing.  I watch to see which squire is willing to do their share of the work, and who is shirking their burden onto others.  My true knight's challenge is service, not combat. That challenge is always in effect, not just when you challenge me.  At the end of the day, if something needs to be done and there are no squires available, I'll do it myself. 

 

I'm not perfect. Some days I don't want to help.  Service knight does not mean serving b!tch. However, I certainly don't view my contributions to Belegarth as any less than those fighting abominations. 

 

Yeah, I'm a service knight. Lots of emphasis on "service", not so much emphasis on "knight".  If you want to use it as an insult, I'll be the first one to nod my head and say, "That's me!"  So, to the unnamed knight in my story, don't take being called a "service knight" as an insult.  Take it as a compliment, and to hell with how it was intended.

[...]

I have noticed that many fighters, especially newer fighters, have no real concept of range. They assume that if their opponent can hit them, they can hit their opponent.

 

Range is perhaps one of the most important elements of fighting.

Roughly speaking, there are perhaps four types of range.

 

1. Nobody can hit each other.

2. You can hit him.

3. He can hit you.

4. You can hit him, and he can hit you.

 

The difference between 1-2-3-4 and 1-3-2-4 is often the difference between winning and losing. If the order is 1-2-3-4, and you kill him at 2, the fight is over. Similarly, if the order is 1-3-2-4, and he kills you at 3, the fight is over.

 

Yet, unaware fighters frequently like to fight at 1, 3, and 4.

Fighting when nobody can hit each other (1), and when you can hit him and he can hit you (4), while not ideal, is not that bad. Fighting when he can hit you and you can't hit him (3) is a killer.

 

In the simplest terms possible, if he has a longer reach than you, you have to fight where both of you can hit each other. If you have a longer reach than him, you have the option of fighting outside of his reach, but you can also fight where both of you can hit each other. You should never fight when he can hit you, and you can't hit him.

 

The first step is to figure out your own reach. Many fighters use weapons of roughly the same length. It is a fairly simple process to determine how long your reach is. Reach out and touch something at "shoulder", "waist", and "leg" height. That's your maximum reach. Odds are, your opponent will dodge out of that reach. You should almost never take real swings when you're outside of that reach unless you have a darn good reason to. Memorize that distance!!!

 

The second step is to figure out how long the other guy's reach is. There are a couple main things to look at, and I'll list them in roughly their order of importance.

 

1. How long his weapon is.

2. How long his arms are.

3. How close his feet are together.

4. How long his legs are.

 

As you fight, you will slowly learn to approximate how long a opponent's reach is. After that, figure out who has the longer reach. If you have the longer reach, you have the option of fighting inside or outside of his reach. If you have the shorter reach, your only real option is to fight inside of his reach.

 

Personally, I move as little as possible to stay outside of somebody's reach. A minimal amount of movement is all you often need to stay outside of somebody's reach. A garb or light hit is still a garb or light hit.  Sweeping your leg back, tucking in your tummy, or swaying your chest just a tiny bit often is enough to remove most of the force, changing a killing blow to a  light hit.  The closer you can make it look to them being able to hit you, the more likely they will make an error by swinging when you are truly out of their reach, or are able to move out of their reach. You are faking them into making an error just by standing where they think they can hit you. After that, you can step in and capitalize on their error.

 

*******

 

On a more advanced note, there are actually 3 more ranges that come easily to my mind.

 

5. You're so close he can't hit you.

6. You're so close you can't hit him.

7. You're so close neither of you can hit each other.

 

A fighter who has developed close ranged shots has an extra option available to him…fighting so close to their opponent that their opponent can't swing, but they can. Actually, many fighters absolutely hate somebody who can stand right in front of them. If you are significantly shorter than your opponent, I highly recommend learning how to fight at extremely close ranges unless you are using a very long weapon.

[...]

There are some people who focus more on the social aspects of Belegarth. If they fight at all, their participation is relatively limited. Most of this post is not for those people. Instead, this post is for those who aspire to become better fighters in some way, either as a newbie aspiring to be mediocre, a mediocre aspiring to be a veteran, or a veteran aspiring to be an elite.

 

I believe it is possible for almost every fighter to become veteran fighters, if not one of the lower elite. Now before you laugh, please hear me out. The key is your mindset.

 

When I first started, I was one of the most unhealthy, uncoordinated, clumsy, non-athletic and useless fighters on the field. An abundance of one thing, and a lack of another thing lead me to become at least one of the veteran fighters. I had an abundance of enthusiasm, and a complete lack of shame. It didn't matter who they were, if they were good, I wanted to fight them. I would get completely humiliated over and over, but I would always ask what I was doing wrong, and what I could do better. I was sparring people I theoretically had no business fighting. There were some fighters who could beat me ten, twenty, even thirty times in a row. From them, I slowly learned how to fight until I stood where I am at today. I have had many teachers who have given up much of their time and energy to train me, and I would like to return some of the kindness that was shown to me when I was new.

 

Now that I am on the other side of the fence, so to speak, I understand the perspective of those dominating fighters a little bit better. It is difficult to constantly go up to new people and ask to fight them when you have no idea whether they will stay in the game, or whether they will leave shortly. You can't easily identify those who want to improve from those who want to hang out. You don't know whether whoever you fight will appreciate what you have to teach, or if they will think you are patronizing them or merely showing off by beating on the newbies. Having somebody come up to you and ask for help solves most of those problems, and lets the veteran fighter know this is somebody who is interested, and has a better than normal chance of sticking around.

 

That is why the mindset of the newer fighter is so important. Go up to every good fighter you can, and ask to fight. Ask them to teach you, not just beat you. Don't spar the same people at events that you spar in your own practices, because you can spar them at any other time. Ask to spar the fighters who look like they are slaughtering everybody else who stands in front of them. In return for you initiating, the veteran fighter passes on what tips and tricks he may know. Better yet, many veterans are like the dispensers who keep dispensing. Every time you see them, you can ask to fight them and for them to help you out in any way they can. That's not a bad trade at all.

 

In my time, I have assisted in the training of many veteran fighters. By the standards of most people, they never had any business becoming more than mediocre fighters. Instead, many of them are now veterans simply by their effort to improve. The gap between mediocre and veteran is really not that large. It consists mostly of basic tips and tricks for improvement.

 

The difference between many mediocre and veteran fighters is mindset, not athleticism. Sitting on the sidelines and sparring your friends, or just fooling around with them is fine. However, I've got to say, you can take an awful lot of satisfaction in watching your own steady improvement in skills. The earlier you start trying to learn from other people, the fewer bad habits you have to unlearn from self-training.

 

There is a saying that goes something like this--"He who teaches himself has a fool for a teacher, but I must tell you that he who does not teach himself has no teachers at all."

 

Go out. Leave your pride and fears at the door. Learn. There is a good chance you will have more fun. It is not just about beating people. You can watch yourself improve. Heck, you can even meet more people this way because you are sharing an activity more personal than you dying in the middle of a mass melee. It is about your mindset.

When you're a veteran...maybe...just maybe...remember what an awkward clumsy newbie you were, and return the favor to the next generation of awkward clumsy newbies.  

--Kenneth

[...]

The day was both exhausting and utterly exhilarating since I came to the realization of how much I enjoy teaching especially Belegarth-related subjects.

 It started first with our third training  session. My thanks to Squire Cyric for helping with the class since Sir Fox just started a second shift job and has to work on Sundays 8(. We started with everyone stretching and then reviewing the subjects from the previous training  session.

The first topic we went over was about how to mesh defense and attacks. You can't kill your opponent if you just block all of his shots but you won't survive if you don't defend yourself. We did a drill in pairs where a person would block a shot and then immediately lead into a two-hit combo. Then the two fighters would switch roles.

After that, we discussed range using the terms "close", "medium", "far", and "outside". "Close" is when you're close enough to touch your opponent while "medium" is where your weapon can hit your opponent. "Far" is where you can hit your opponent once you take one step while "outside" is where it takes more than one step to reach your opponent. We had the pairs work at visualizing their ranges.

The next topic we introduced was footwork. After we covered the major points about trying to avoid crossing your feet--(if your opponent bashes you when your feet are crossed, you're probably going to fall over)--trying to move your feet in concentric circles to face your opponent, and stepping in at an angle to your opponent, we went into the drills. We had the fighters form two parallel lines facing each other. We had one line move forward while the other line moved backward to maintain the same distance. Once it looked like people got a feel for this, we had them do the same thing going left and right. We split the fighters back into their pairs and then had them practicing shifting around their opponent in a circle. One fighter would basically be in the middle shifting only slightly to face his opponent while the other was shifting around him while being careful not to cross their feet.

After footwork, we moved into the basics of wraps. We told the new fighters that you can do wraps at essentially three heights: high (also known as the scorpion since it goes over the opponent's shoulder like a scorpion's tail), medium targeting the lower back, and the low wrap which either hits the back of the leg or the buttocks. We focused mainly on the medium and low angles since it's very easy to hit someone in the head with a high wrap shot unless you have good control. We talked about good form-rotating the wrist the full 180 degrees to prevent flatting and adding that additional wrist snap at the end-and trying to hit with the top third of the weapon instead of closer to the hand. We referenced the range exercise to emphasize how this is a type of attack that tends to be most effective at close range as well as stepping in as a means for generating power for the wrap. After the instruction, we had the pairs stepping to close the distance while executing a wrap and then switching roles.

The last subject of the day was grappling. We talked about what you could do, how armor affects grappling, as well as some of the things you can't do, i.e., strikes, joint locks, etc. when grappling. Then we did two drills. In hindsight, the first drill was pretty useless since it assumed that a person has no weapons with which to attack. We will most likely not repeat it in future training sessions. In the drill, one person wielding a sword attempted the number one attack to their opponent's left shoulder. The defender would step in and grasp the attacker's sword hand with both of his hands. After that, we discussed options such as attempting to disarm the attacker or holding him in place until help could arrive. The second drill had both fighters armed with a single sword. The attacker would attempt the number one strike while the defender would block with his sword, check or grapple the attacker's hand, possibly pulling the attacker off balance, and then the defender would follow up with a couple of strikes. After the drill we released the fighters to go do regular practice.

The session ran very long and we'll probably have to shift a couple of topics to other sessions to shorten this one. At the very least, we'll shift the grappling section over to Session IV.

A little while later, I helped one of our brand new fighters learn archery. We had started the previous week and picked up where we had left off. I had her learning using two basic techniques. One is the "group of five" while the other is individual feedback/replaying the shot. In doing the "group of five" a person has to complete five perfect iterations of whatever he's learning before he can move onto the next milestone. In starting out, I first had her just focus on bringing up the bow and drawing the bow with no arrow. After she completed that group of five, I introduced the arrow in and had her release it, not concentrating on trying to hit a specific target. After that, she had to hit a large shield. Once she was able to hit the shield five times in a row, I had her tighten it to a specific section of the shield. When she wasn't able to do something properly or if she missed the target, I'd ask her what went wrong and to try and visualize the events leading up to the shot. The iteration count would be reset back to zero and she would again start working on doing five in a row. It can be a tedious process that requires a lot of patience but I think she's making solid progress.

Towards the end of the day, I helped one of our fighters on Florentine. At several times during the training, I could see the light bulb go on and the look of realization after showing him a particular approach or technique. I went over some of the blocking techniques-pivoting from the elbow, swinging down, dropping the pommel-as well as using the bounciness of our weapons and shields for redirecting attacks. I showed him how to do the concurrent block and counter swing to the sword arm as well as a technique for dealing with a spear: Sweep the spear up with the right sword, check the spear with the left sword, and then immediately follow up with attacks with the right sword. I explained that I preferred to send the spear up since if you hit it down, the spear fighter can bounce the spear off the ground and into your legs or groin. He had mentioned that he was having some issues with footwork and I showed him some drills he could do with his swords. I had him lay his swords at his feet in a vee pattern while standing at the point. I then had him step at an angle to one end of the vee, back to the point, and then on to the other end. Then we flipped the vee over so that we were standing at the point of an upside down vee. Again, we stepped not directly back but at an angle to the side, returned to the starting point, and then to the other end. With regards to the spear technique, I illustrated how this same technique could be applied to both single sword (use the open hand as the check) as well as when using a sword and shield. One of the last things we did was a variation of a Sinawali ("weaving" in Tagalog) drill.  Here's a video showing some sinawali drills: http://youtube.com/watch?v=jFuwLhXNgmA.

While I didn't get to fight all that much, it was a very busy and fulfilling day.

[...]

yoooo im new and i like making weapons 2 bucks a sword etc. etc.