Singlesticks in the Park

Just got back from Singlesticks session at Toa Payoh Park, which the Singlesticks Group was checking out as a wet-weather location. Ironically the weather is beautiful today - glorious sunshine and a lovely breeze as well.

Turnout was limited - essentially the hard core of the group showed up, ie. Anthony, Tome and yours truly. Perhaps because of that though, it was both intense and fun. If you weren't actually bouting, you were marshaling/kibitzing.

So we did a round-robin of singlesticks. A bit of rust showed at first, but Anthony quickly shook his off; Tome seemed a little off the pace today, maybe a bit tired but also suffering some effects of RSI. As usual we nagged him about getting it treated properly. Aren't we mother hens! Didn't stop him from being a slippery customer though.

I'm pleased with own progress. I went into today's session with two particular training goals:

1. Be more aggressive, take the initiative; and
2. Make good use of lateral footwork.

The first was evident from the get-go and it paid dividends. I wasn't merely reacting to moves, but initiating them, and this allowed some of my natural aggression to come to the fore, leading to a couple of good hits. More importantly, I felt much more confident and in control, rather than being a passive counterpuncher - which is not a good strategy when your opponent knows what he's doing, and especially not when he has the psychological freedom to pick his spots. Once he has to be wary of your threat to him, he's constrained in what he can do, and what he dares to do. In addition, if he tries to get cute, an aggressive move can really wreck his plans.

Footwork wise, I was conscious about keeping my feet under me, and really picking them up to control distance. I started moving well laterally but did slip back into retreating straight back under stress - this is something I really have to work on. It was a great learning experience though, to see how the lines open and close as you circle around and work the guard positions. It's very dynamic, and a good exercise even if you don't actually do contact work. Much like some of the Open Session exercises that Greg uses to train maintenance of distance.

Credit has to go to both Anthony and Tome for being very observant and analytical. They're excellent teachers and I'm learning a lot from them.

After singlesticks, we did a bit of study and experimentation with Bolognese swordplay. No, it doesn't involve meat sauce, unless you're talking about what you try to turn your opponent into. We tried out one of the plays, working out kinks in the interpretation, and I'm happy to say I was able to contribute to understanding it and making it work.

Following which, we turned our hands (and feet) to abrazare freeplay. This was interesting. I have a tendency to head straight into a grapple, more often than not in body-to-body range - or in Greg's words, "You fight like a bull". More than once I was caught reverting to power moves that would have ended badly against larger, stronger opponents. As it is I went to ground several times, particularly against Tome, who's very smooth in executing his takedowns.

Still and all, there were good points for me. I managed to get in a couple of leg takedowns, which is tremendously satisfying. Especially fun when your opponent thinks he's got you and you're going down, only to feel you straighten up with his knee in your hand, his balance all shot and nowhere to go but down. Also, remembering to post the hand to the head in a close grapple - managed this with Anthony a couple of times with gratifying results.

Other fun things that happened:

1. Anthony and I ending up doing a pretty fair imitation of a waltz as we jockeyed for position;
2. Tome and I having a Rhett Butler moment during an interrupted takedown;
3. Tome getting into position to take me down, then realising that I was pretty much deadlifting him off the ground;
4. Me completely negating Tome's use of taichi through pure ignorance - I didn't even know enough to figure he was doing anything really different, so I did my own thing and it worked out. (Lesson learnt there too!)
5. Tome getting his own back with a total-pwnage TKD feint-and-kick.

All in all, a good workout and an entertaining and very fun hour and a half, capped off by kopi and nasi lemak at Toa Payoh Central.

At some point we may expand into a singlestick league, with challenges and a ladder/ranking system. Even as it is now though, it's great stuff. Hopefully more of the longsword guys will take the opportunity to join us. It's a wonderful change of pace and, once again, loads of fun.