101R-Group (Refresh)

Breathing/Focusing/Centering:

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

Turning/Rotation Refresh Comments/Quick Walk-Through:

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.

• Zero Stance Explosive Hip Rotation
• Fighting Stance Explosive Hip Rotation

Rotation Block Refresh Comments/Quick Walk-Through:

 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.

• Fighting Stance Rotation Block
• Recover

Zero-Stem Refresh Technique Comments/Quick Walk-Through:

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.

Short-Stem Refresh Technique Comments/Quick Walk-Through:

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.

Long-Stem Refresh Technique Comments/Quick Walk-Through:

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.

Combination Long-Stem/Zero-Stem 6-Shot Combination Maneuver Drill:

• Form Right beside your Buddy
• Open Formation
• Sword-length between ranks
• Compass-forward-right onside Long-stem
• Compass-forward-left offside long-stem
• Onside Zero-stem
• Offside Zero-stem
• Compass-backward-right onside Long-stem
• Compass-backward-left offside Long-stem
• Recover

101R-Buddies (Refresh)

Shield Blocking (Block/Block) Refresh Drill:

Buddies pair-off at the Inner Baseline.  Both buddies practice Block/Block shield rotation drills rotating onside/offside bringing the shield corner-up when the shoulders drop, observing each others' technique to offer direction.  Emphasis is on proper technique, form, and power generation.

• Flat Blocking Onside Head/Recover
• Flat Blocking Offside Head/Recover

Turning/Rotation (Turn-Strive/Turn-Evade) Buddy Drill:

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.

Zero-Stem Refresh Onside/Offside Head/Leg Buddy Drill:

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.

• Zero-Stem Onside Head/Recover
• Zero-Stem Offside Head/Recover
• Zero-Stem Onside Leg/Recover
• Zero-Stem Offside Leg/Recover
• Zero-Stem Combinations/Recover

Short-Stem Refresh Onside/Offside Head/Leg Buddy Drill:

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.

• Short-Stem Onside Head/Recover
• Short-Stem Offside Head/Recover
• Short-Stem Onside Leg/Recover
• Short-Stem Offside Leg/Recover
• Short-Stem Combinations/Recover

Long-Stem Refresh Onside/Offside Head/Leg Buddy Drill:

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.

• Long-Stem Onside Head/Recover
• Long-Stem Offside Head/Recover
• Long-Stem Onside Leg/Recover
• Long-Stem Offside Leg/Recover
• Zero-Stem Combinations/Recover

Inside Baseline Angle-Change (Onside) Zero-Pressure Combination Drill Refresh:

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
• Recover

101N (New Material)

 The Hanging-Guard and the Moulinet:

The hanging-guard is a defensive stance that is often over-applied and often mis-applied.  It is usually most effective in melee contexts, where it can add passive defense against sword-side opponents and face-thrusts from spears.  It can also be quite useful as a transitional stance between shots and movements, as a method for optioning shots, and as a position from which to fake or feint (particularly for thrusts).  However, many fighters tend to over-use the stance, believing it to provide greater defense than it actually does.  They also misapply the stance by bringing their arm too far forward or their elbows too far outwards, leaving their arms exposed.  The Hanging Guard stance is valuable defensively, and the hanging-guard drop-shot is valuable in that it not only provides us the most effective blow from the hanging-guard, but also introduces the elbow drop (the mirror of the elbow-flip of the offside-shot) which allows us to throw zero-stem shots at short-stem ranges.  The Moulinet takes the evolution of both the hanging-guard drop shot and the thumb-turn wraparound to their full conclusion by introducing the full wrist rotation (beyond the half-wrist rotation learned in the thumb-turn wraparound) into the basic mechanics of the hanging-guard drop-shot.

Hanging-Guard Drop-Shot:

When taking a hanging-guard stance, it is important to remember to keep your sword-arm passively defended with the elbow sufficiently high and back (towards the ear) and the sword towards the right-side of your center line in such a manner that it is not blocking your vision.

• Fighting stance facing your buddy (the defender)
• Pop your elbow up as if throwing an offside zero-stem, but instead of bringing your arm forward, bring the elbow backwards towards your ear and the sword towards centerline with the point towards the face of your opponent (basic hanging-guard stance).
• From basic hanging-guard stance, rotate the hips and turn on the balls-of-the-feet as if throwing an onside zero-stem.  As you rotate, pop your sword elbow downwards and in towards your centerline and rotate your wrist halfway (up-righting the soup).  You'll note that the tip of the sword does a small arc in front of you around the face of your opponent and strikes the opponent flat on the temple (do not swing downwards, but swing flat, with your palm facing upwards).
• Recover

Hanging-Guard Moulinet:

When taking a hanging-guard stance, it is important to remember to keep your sword-arm passively defended with the elbow sufficiently high and back (towards the ear) and the sword towards the right-side of your center line in such a manner that it is not blocking your vision.

• Fighting stance facing your buddy (the defender)
• Pop your elbow up as if throwing an offside zero-stem, but instead of bringing your arm forward, bring the elbow backwards towards your ear and the sword towards centerline with the point towards the face of your opponent (basic hanging-guard stance).
• From basic hanging-guard stance, rotate the hips and turn on the balls-of-the-feet as if throwing an offside zero-stem.  As you rotate, first drop the sword in towards your chest, beginning the rotation of your wrist (your palm will be facing away from you towards your sword side).  As the sword is dropping in towards your chest, bring your elbow downwards and in towards the center-line.  As the elbow reaches the center-line (your palm will be facing away from you towards your shield side), complete the full rotation of your wrist to bring your palm facing the ceiling (serve the soup) as you complete your hip rotation and balls-of-the-feet turn.
• Recover