Monday, June 2, 2014

Many Things to Ponder

Chaos @ the Castle
This weekend had me pondering many things about the SCA and fighting. many left me puzzled and others left me feeling rather proud of myself.  My long term goal in SCA Heavy fighting is to become a knight. That goal is one of the many things that keeps me from giving up on fighting.
So because I have a few aspects I would like to cover this blog maybe longer then the others.



First I would like to cover something every SCAdian must think about all the time and that is "What event do I go to next?" for me it has always been "whichever event has fighting and food and merchants of course!" That was when I had just newly authed in rapier and wanted to expierence everything about fighting. As I have gotten older I have realized there is more to the SCA then fighting. Just recently I started paying more attention to the merchants, bards, and A&S activities. I am slowly starting to expand my SCA experience. But Alas I cannot attend every event! there are so many good ones its often hard to choose. Then there is work in real life you must plan around. As is often the case it winds up being " Does the event has something for everyone? WHat are you most interested in with the event?, How much will the event cost?, Is it a camping event?,will you be able to car pool with someone? And finally how far are YOU willing to go for an event?" Ultimately the choice is yours on where you want to go. Go to an event that you KNOW you will have fun at either rain or shine. Do what makes you most comfortable no matter what.

Me at chaos (I just realized one of my pantlegs was pulled up)


The next point I would like to bring up in the blog is something that happened to me this weekend, Something that has opened my eyes to how people can be that i had ignored for ages. I think in a way it changed me as a person and helped me grow as a fighter.
This past Weekend (may 30th) I had the opportunity to go to Chaos @ the Castle with one of my friends from our barony. We spent Friday night at a friends house and we headed to the event on saturday morning. Upon arrival to the event site I saw my sister and her group of fighters who I had practiced with earlier in the year. I was happy to see my sister again. Then I went and trolled in. After we trolled in we started unloading stuff when my friend realized that he had left some essential equipment at our friends house including his tabbards. I quickly offered for him to use mine but he said no and he probably wouldn't fight. I quietly listened to him vent his frustrations feleling sad things had turned out this way. After he ran to walmart he came back and found his midrealm tabbard. All was good once more! We geared up and got ready for battle. The first battle was a long trail battle in the woods with something to do with getting crates from one point to the next. I was a shield person so in a way it was the least of my worries. I wound up tripping backwards (while defending off 3 guys) down hill and my shoulder landed on a tree root. it hurt but not bad enough to take me out of the fight. then later I got a wrapshot that left a lovely bruise. (I forgot to mention we were on team bacon with clovenshield and some others :D) I think team bacon won the trail battle. Then there was a half hour break til field battles. The field battles were interesting and hot. at one point there was a shield charge and i some how got through the other teams line and flipped around trying to get back to my team. At that point someone from team mustache came up and said mustache? at which point I was like "What??.... Oh crap" and 2 others joined him so i started running backwards to where I was hearing Bacon being yelled. That was an interesting experience!                                                                                      
SO after a few field battles my friend and I had to step out because we were overheating. My friend went to go do the town battle but came back a few minutes later and said he couldn't do it because he wasn't cooling off. I sat out the town battle and rested so I could do the castle battle. While I was getting ready my friend came and offered me words of encouragement and told me not to push myself to hard and if i started getting too hot to step out. When I returned to the rest of the clovenshield group my sister asked me what he said so I told her and said he would not be joining us as he was overheating. Upon hearing what he told me she started laughing and went up to her CO and said " Her CO just came up to her and said....." and told him everything I had told her. While she was telling him I kept saying hes just looking out for me and trying to make sure I will be ok. When my sister finished he said "He has no right to be tired. The only people who should be tired are that guy whos 3 x your age, this guy who has been training less then 6 days and just authed today and me who is 4x your age" Upon hearing that I gathered up most of my stuff and took it back to the day camp. Whe i went to get the last of my gear he asked " what are you not fighting the castle?" At which point I turned and said " If you cannot respect my friend, my people and my group, you have no right to fight with me." then I turned and left. I could hear them making fun of me and my friend but I ignored it and took off my armor.

My sister and I at Chaos


The reason this is important to me is because it helped me see what kind of person I really am. I am a fierce fighter and loyal to my barony. I believe these past few months has really helped me see this. My barony and other SCAdian friends are my second family. I know they will try to be there for me if I need them and I will be there for them if they need me. I look forward to many more adventures and learnings in heavy fighting.

Me and Ack fighting pick ups @ chaos

Which brings me to another point. One of my more frustrating fights occurred this weekend as well. I fought a few pick ups against my sisters CO and the way they have been trained is no matter what you only stop when a hold is called. I have always backed out of range to take a quick break and look things over. If i tried to back up he would always follow me back in range and often killing me and frustrating the heck out of me. I only got a few shots in but he was always immediately back up in my range giving me no chance or very little chance to evaluate the situation. It didnt get better when he went to 2 stick either. I was almost in tears I was so frustrated but I worked on channeling that into some attacks and was able to hit him a few times. I have learned when faced with this situation the best thing to do is not to give up and just go all in for it. Fighting Ack helped me realize that every fighter is trained different and you cant bring the same game to every fight all the time. I have realized that being a new fighter is an excuse that I can still use in a new situation but I cant use it as much as I did in march. I am growing as a fighter and I continue to look forward to this growth. I am working harder to bring a better game to my opponents and I can already feel a difference in my hits as have a lot of fighters I have fought before. I feel different in a way. I hope to bring everyone the best game I can each time i meet them and I hope to get better each time too.

Aiden (white and red tabbard) and I on break after a field battle


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