Positioning your feet in what we will refer to as a Zero Stance, feet shoulder width apart, toes pointed forward and knees slightly bent with your weight on the balls of your feet and your pelvis thrust slightly upwards and forward, the objective is to concentrate on your breathing, focus your attention and center yourself:
1. Breathe in, raising your arms slowly up over head, bringing your air into your diaphragm and raising your ribcage
2. Breathe out, lowering your arms slowly to torso level, feeling a slight tightening in your stomach as your breathe out your air
3. Breathe in, bringing your arms in to the center of you torso (almost like giving someone a loose hug), bringing your air into your diaphragm and raising your ribcage.
4. Breathe out, bring your arms out to torso level as described in step 2
5. Repeat steps 1-4 until you are focused, centered and in control of your breathing
Killing force in SCA blows are primarily generate from putting the weight of the body behind the blow by rotating (or turning) into a blow around the hips.
As the Zero-Stem shows that hip-rotation turning movement is all that is necessary to kill on opponent, the Rotation Block shows that the same type of hip-rotation turning movement is all that is necessary to block shots. The rotation block is a shield-block defense that is fully integrated with the turning/rotation component of movement.
The Zero-Stem is the offensive sword shot thrown from the inside baseline at extreme close range from an opponent with only a hip rotation for force generation and no arm movement at all associated with the blow. It is the ultimate expression of the fact that force generation comes from body movement, as to kill with a Zero-Stem is to kill solely with body rotation.
The Short-Stem is the offensive sword shot thrown from short ranges at an opponent using both hip rotation and small arm movements. It differs from the Zero-Stem in that there is some arm extension and from the Long-Stem in that we are not fully extending our arms.
The Long-Stem is the offensive sword shot thrown from range at an opponent using both hip rotation and large arm movement. It differs from the Zero-Stem and the Short-Stem in that we are fully extending our arms.
The same hip rotation that forms the basis of our killing force and the rotation block can also be used as the basis for movement to increase or decrease the range to opponents and to strike or evade blows
Turn-Strike/Turn-Evade Drill - From Fighter Stance gauge the distance to your opponent by measuring the distance from your sword's sweetspot to their temple from a hip rotation when you rotate into the blow on the balls of your feet. Notice that you will be out of range in a simple rotation around the hips, but in-range as your turn into the blow putting your weight onto your front foot and rotating on the balls of your feet. After striking your opponent (in a "flat" snap with a follow-through striking diagonally across the opponent's face), rotate on your hips clockwise, turning out on the balls of your feet and recovering your sword back to your shoulder, turning your body clockwise and outwards so that your right shoulder faces the back wall opposite the opponent. This will be an evade maneuver that should bring your head out of range of the opponent's weapon. Once you have evaded the oponent's swing, rotate back into the Turn-Strike, rotating yourself back for an onside shot as per the original strike as the opponent Turn-Evades to avoid your shot. Continue the drill with each opponent Turn-Striking and Turn-Evading.
Buddies pair-off at the Inner Baseline. One buddy is the offender, one the defender. The defender practices Block/Block shield rotation drills. The offender practices zero-stem technique. Emphasis is on proper technique, form, and power generation. Switch when complete.
Buddies pair-off in the Dead-Zone. One buddy is the offender, one the defender. The defender practices Block/Block shield rotation drills. The offender practices short-stem technique. Emphasis is on proper technique, form, and power generation. Switch when complete.
Buddies pair-off at the Outer Baseline. One buddy is the offender, one the defender. The defender practices Block/Block shield rotation drills. The offender practices long-stem technique. Emphasis is on proper technique, form, and power generation. Switch when complete.
Buddies pair-off at the Outer Baseline. One buddy is the offender, one the defender. The offender practices the zero-pressure drill, the defender practices rotation block defense and provides direction to the buddy. Offender makes certain to change the angle of the Inner Baseline on the Zero-Pressure and to end in a position of least weapon risk. Emphasis is on proper technique, form, and power generation. Switch when complete.
Compass-forward-right onside Long-stem head (starting from the Outside Baseline into the Dead-Zone) [the set-up shot]
Compass-forward-left offside long-stem leg (crossing out-of the Dead-Zone to the Inside Baseline)
Compass-forward-right angle-change short-stem onside head (rotating around the opponent and striking onside behind the defensive cone of the shield) [This is the technique, the rest is drill]
Offside zero-stem head
Compass-backward-right onside long-stem head
Compass-backward-left offside long-stem leg
Reocver
101N (New Material)
Inside Baseline Angle-Change (Offside) Jam Drill:
At its most basic, the Jam is a movement (to an advantageous position at an opportune timing) at the Inner Baseline that interrupts the offense and/or defense of the opponent. There are thus weapon Jams that interrupt the offensive shots of the opponent and shield Jams that interrupt the defensive efforts of the opponent. The opposite of a Zero Pressure, where you are moving out of the maximum effectiveness of the offense and defense of the opponent, a Jam is a movement into the area of your opponent's maximum shot or defensive power so that you can place your blows or your defense into the way of their formation. The goal is to close through the distance to the Inner Baseline, change the angle of the Inner Baseline on the offside, and jam the shield and/or sword of the opponent so that they are unable to generate sufficient shot or defensive power:
Fighting stance facing your buddy
Compass-forward-left offside Long-stem head (starting from the Outside Baseline into the Dead-Zone)
Compass-forward-right onside long-stem leg (crossing out-of the Dead-Zone to the Inside Baseline)
Compass-forward-left angle-change zero-stem onside head (rotating around the opponent, Jamming your shield into theirs and striking offside head behind the defensive cone of their shield) [This is the technique, rest is drill]
Onside zero-stem head
Compass-backward-right offside long-stem head
Compass-backward-left onside long-stem leg
Recover
Fighting Stance Zero-Stem Swordblock:
Along with defensive movement (positioning, evading) and shield blocking, blocking with a weapon -- both actively where the weapon blocks an opponent's shot in motion either as an intentional parry or as part of an ongoing blow or combination of blows, and passively where the weapon blocks an opponent's shot in defensive blocking stance -- is a vital component in our integrated holistic framework of fighting. Without integrating swordblocking into your fighting regimen, your onside will be significantly underdefended and your weapon-work will be incomplete. Basic (novicius-level) swordblocks are passive swordblocks where the sword is held in a defensive stance whose coverage blocks the area of interest. These passive swordblocks include the Zero-Stem swordblock, where the sword is held on the onside around hip level, and the Hanging-Guard, where the sword is held high on the onside as if one had just thrown an offside blow. Active swordblocks are more advanced and will be covered in later stages of the training. The keys to the Zero-Stem Swordblock is locking the arm into the side of the body like the zero-stem onside (but with a lower arm position), and rotating the arm outward and inward and upward and downwards around the elbow to block shots depending upon their positioning; and to Riposte off the block into a Zero-Stem Onside or Zero-Stem Offside killing blow from the hip-held sword stance.
Fighting stance facing your buddy (the offender)
From your traditional shoulder-hold guard, bring your sword ninety-degrees downward towards your hip so that your arm is "locked" into the side of your body and the sword is pointed towards the ceiling and roughly facing the same direction as your right leg (left leg for lefties).
The offender throws a Compass-Step Onside Long-Stem towards the defender
The defender blocks the shot by rotating the "locked" sword-arm slightly inward, outward, upwards, or downwards as necessary to optimally block the blow.
Once blocked, the defender will "Riposte" by rotating their hips counter-clockwise, and striking the offender with a Zero-Stem Onside (leg/body/head)
The defender can throw a combination Zero-Stem offside to follow-up on the Riposte, rotating their hips clockwise, and bringing their shield across in a rotation block (offside)
Recover
Outside-Baseline Long-Stem Thumb-Turn Wraparound:
The Deep-Wraparound had us striking with the back-edge of the sword through the use of an arm-turning movement that accompanied the compass-step leg-swing. However many shots rely on the partial or complete rotation of the wrist. The first shot that will utilize a partial rotation of the wrist is the Thumb-Turn Wraparound which uses a counter-clockwise rotation of the wrist to "wrap" the end of the sword around the edge of the opponent's body to change the angle of the sword's striking surface past the defensive "cone" of the opponent so that as a result of the rotation, your offensive will subsequently be beyond their defense.
Fighting stance facing your buddy
Offender rotates their hip explosively counter-clockwise in a full onside blow, letting the arm extend fully in a very slight arc.
As the arm reaches full extension, the wrist rotates partially (180 degrees) so that the back-edge of the sword is facing the opponent and the thumb is leading.
At the end of the shot, the elbow can be "popped" and the wrist can be "snapped" for additional forcefulness.
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