Capoferro and a Blog Resurrection

Hello again. The past several months have been rough, both personally and globally, but I haven't forgotten this blog exists. My fencing status for the past few months has been stagnant but not non-existent. I've been regularly attending practices and taking notes, but haven't pushed for new learning or continued my drills and exercises at home. I've felt disheartened and unable to devote the time and energy necessary to do more than tread water in my learning. 

But I've been fighting through most of that, and occasionally going to an SCA event and fighting folks manages to boost my enthusiasm and confidence enough to kick me out of such cycles and ruts. Pennsic did that work this year, and I'm going to build on that momentum as much as I can throughout the fall. So to that end, I'm going to return to taking notes on Capoferro and push forward into the plates. The previous disclaimers all apply: I'm basing my reading off of Tom Leoni's translation, which can be found here, and these notes are personal observations for me to look back on and to hold me accountable, they are not a walk through or interpretation of the text.

I'm skipping the various plates devoted to guards and stance, at least for the purposes of this blog, and moving directly to plays. I may try to add pictures later, but in this draft at least, there will only be text.

Plate 7: "This Illustration and the Following Show Various Ways to Strike to the Outside, After You Have Gained the Opponent's Blade to the Inside and He Performs a Thrusting Attack by Cavazione"

• It's nice to get back to Capoferro's wordiness. 
• It's actually interesting that the first set of plays are titled "ways to strike to the outside," given that that's a particular weakness of mine. I'd missed that on the first read-through, and will pay even more particular attention now.

Sequence A:

1. Fencer A gains B's sword on the inside.
2. Fencer B performs a cavazione to the outside and thrusts to A's chest.
3. Fencer A parries to seconda and counterthrusts.

Sequence B:

1. Fencer A gains B's sword on the inside.
2. Fencer B performs a feint to the outside, but stays withdrawn.
3. Fencer A falls for the feint and performs and counterthrust.
4. Fencer B parries, either mandritto to face or imbroccata to chest, recover in quarta.

• Sequence A is familiar to me, because it's part of a four part hierarchy drill some folks at my practice do, based on these plays. Sequence B goes a step further, obviously, and is already starting the "people will assume you're doing this, so pretend to be and take advantage" chess philosophy that I've heard about.
• I think going through these plays relatively quickly and then assembling them all into the full series of options and responses will currently be more helpful to me than lingering over individual plates.
• The note to recover is important, and something I need to work on.
• On a formatting note: The plates themselves are only so helpful, and the descriptions aren't always easy for me to follow, particularly as I forget the Italian words constantly, but the "Practical Synopsis" portion is immediately helpful and allows the other two to provide insight and detail.

I don't have a lot more to say here, but I wanted to get words moving again. I'll go over another couple of plates later this week, and I'll see if I can make it fully through the text by the end of September.

In the mean time, exercise and practice goals for the week:

 - Morning drills: Single sword lunges and footwork, and trying to suss out the two voids I've been shown.

 - Reading and research: More plate work, and dig up basic duello videos for single sword footwork and guards to be more critical during morning drills.

 - At practice: Focus on the concepts of attacking on the outside if my sword is gained. Single sword only for the time being, with some left-handed practice for balance.

 - Exercise: Running Tuesday and Friday, at home exercises Monday and Wednesday, evaluate over the weekend.

Hiatus Observations

After time away during the holidays and some time spent fighting a nasty chest cold, it's been a few weeks of diminished fencing activity for me. Certainly now is a good time to say that I'm ramping up again and that you should expect another Capoferro post next Tuesday, etc. etc. But more interesting to me right now is to see what I can learn from this hiatus.

Along those lines, some thoughts and observations:
 
Given a few weeks away from fencing, I don't "forget how to fence." My movements get sloppier, and my muscles are weaker, but that's it. This is perhaps a no brainer to some, but it's good for me to know and account for. 2016 was filled with similar hiatuses for me, and every time I returned from them I decided I needed to focus on the basics again, and I stopped learning. Given the previous point, this is a ridiculous thought and I should simply move forward to the next thing. Drilling and exercise will fix the hiatus issues without having to devote all of my time and mental energy to them. This is good, because I enjoy fencing more when I'm moving forward and not constantly stalling or backtracking, and more enjoyment = more momentum = more progress, in general.
 
Fencing helps my posture. I already knew that, but over the past couple weeks I've caught my shoulders clenching up due to stress, anxiety, or habit. For years, I had knots and tense muscles all through my neck and shoulders, and that definitely lessened over 2015/2016, but it's returned full force already. Fencing will bring that back to the front of my mind and make me correct my posture throughout the day, and regular stretching will help as well.

My environment makes a big difference on how often I exercise and/or drill. One day maybe I'll have a devoted space for these sorts of things so that I don't have to wrestle discarded bed frames out of the way to make room for footwork.

Going to practice once a week is not enough to break me out of a hiatus mindset. I need to be Working On A Thing (Or Things). I'm also more likely to drill if I'm doing it to achieve a specific result rather than general habit/improvement. At least when starting back up from zero.

Capoferro: Week Four (A Partial Update)

I've made progress on my two main goals from last week -- walking through the notes I was less clear on and starting to put things into an organization scheme -- but not enough to warrant a full update.

So instead some initial observations and notes from the last week of practices and tournaments:

The Issues With Specificity
I noted earlier that as early as I am in the text, Capoferro is waffling back and forth between broad, general theory and very specific action-reaction descriptions. I assume when I get into the actual plates and plays, there will be even more of the specifics. And that's great on the one hand, because that level of specificity makes it easy to walk through, test, and pull apart. But to pull everything together for actual fighting I need something broader.

I can't remember a vast collection of (currently) disparate potential events. I can at best remember one or two, and other than that I run best off generalities and re-deriving what I should be doing on the fly according to base principles. At least, that's true for everything I've learned other than fencing, and I have no reason to expect fencing to be any different.

So! All the more reason to start pulling together the generalized theory from these specific plays. First step: groupings for similar actions. Eventual end goal: flow charts for days, and enough generalities that I can figure out what to do against folks not playing the Italian game.

I know people have made flow charts off of Capoferro already, but theoretically the point of my read through is to generate my own conclusions. So I'll avoid looking at those for the time being.


Tournament Mindspace and Warm Ups
The last two tournaments I've been in have gone roughly the same way. I start the day feeling bad and doing poorly, improve over the course of things, and by the end of the day feel comfortable and fight well. That's not really ideal. I clearly need some kind of warm up, but so far all I've got for a plan there is "Spar or slow fence with someone who fights like an Italian." That usually reminds me that I do have at least some idea of what I'm doing, and kicks my brain back into thinking about my fight in the right way. Otherwise the gears turn so slowly that I've barely developed a plan before I'm dead.

I'm not fond of this as a plan, since it relies on someone else wanting to warm up with me, but I don't think solo drills will knock me out of my sluggish anxiety state.

Weekly status:

 - Only drilled sporadically.
 - Restarted running! Back to the beginning.

Practice notes:
   - Elbow has started drooping consistently.
   - Keep an eye on footwork.
   - Withdraw, turn hand, pivot elbow. Practice.
   - Be better about turning my hand when gaining the blade.
   - At least four drills/sparring sessions/whathaveyou per fencing practice.
   - Knee started to get upset from lack of stretching. Stretch!
   - Lunges.

Weekly goals:

 - Keep up running. Add in other exercises.

 - Work on practice notes.
 - Work on generalized Capoferro structure.

Capoferro: Week Three (Missed One)

I should have posted this last week (I haven't actually read any further), but c'est la vie. Despite the added week, most of this section of text isn't covered with notes. Partly because it covers topics that have been covered in greater depth elsewhere (it's oddly redundant) and partly because I went over this more quickly. Worry not, I intend to go back over all of this in more depth next week.

Until then:

Explanation of Some Practical Fencing Terms

• This title seems useful, but is about 50% lie.

The Sword

• A decent start for a terminology chapter.
• Strong, weak, true edge, false edge. Other people make other divisions, but that can be added to the "Capoferro disapproves" bucket.

The Guards

• Focus on the hilt for guard definition.
• People agree on some points, but not other points. Minor amounts of sass.
• Actually new and interesting: "terza and quarta are the counter-guards ... outside or inside respectively ... all guards can be counter-guards"
• That raised questions:
• Why aren't the others counter-guards? They "can" be, but he implies they aren't by nature. 
• Is terza really the outside counter-guard? I would have guessed seconda. But rereading his description of the guards, terza and quarta have more in common than quarta and seconda, with 3 and 4 being based on inside/outside the knee, and 1 and 2 being more based on height. Does that mean my terza should be less straight on than it currently is? And my quarta should be moreso?

Tempo

• This doesn't seem to have anything new, which may mean I'm missing something.

Measure

• This doesn't seem to have anything new, which may mean I'm missing something.

Offensive Tempi

• "The following are the tempi in which the opponent may be attacked" I'm not consciously looking for these, and I should be.

Stance and Stepping

• This doesn't seem to have anything new, which may mean I'm missing something.

Parries

• "When you need to employ two tempi, gather your left foot next to the right while you parry and then step forward with your right foot for the riposte."

Feints and Covering the Sword

• "Covering the sword is a sort of feint consisting in covering the opponent's sword-point with your debole, when the opponent is in low quarta." There are steps missing here. I should think this through.

Changing Guards

• "when you change from one guard to another while in measure, it is best to retreat with the left foot accompanied by the right"

What to Do Against Those Who Circle

• We have strayed pretty far from "practical fencing terms."
• Walk through these two descriptions as drills.

What to Do Against a Left-Foot-Forward Guard

• My past self helpfully highlighted this entire section with the note "This is all very dense and should be walked through." Thanks, past self.

Gaining the Sword

• Oh good, we're back to terminology and not miscellaneous specific actions.
• "gain the opponent's debole with a palmo of yours [...] as the opponent performs a cavazione, begin gaining his forte with or without a controcavazione" Keeping more of a conscious eye on crossings would be good, and I like that he's assuming the gaining happens during a cavazione.
• Emphasis on straight lines. 

Important Advice About Controlling The Opponent's Sword

• And away from terminology again.
• Discussion of beats, which I avoid but should probably acknowledge as a strategy. "with your debole to find a tempo or the measure"
• Thrusts are good, cuts are bad.

The Cavazione and the Controcavazione

• controcavazione - "following the motion of the opponent's sword until yours is where it started"
• cavazione (below) - "arm extended and with a little advance of your right foot"
• cavazione (above) - "slightly withdraw your body and keep your arm and sword at a backward-sloping angle"

Strikes

• A variety of names for cuts that I will one day remember, but that day is not this day.
• Some advice for parries and cuts, but he doesn't seem very enthusiastic about it.
• "Remember that false-edge parries are performed with the debole" I don't see the link here to the earlier cut-parry statements, and I don't remember that because I'm not sure it's been mentioned. False-edge parries with the debole? I'll think about that a bit.
• I should honestly spend more time on these cuts to better understand this section.

The Cut

• "saw-like motion" 

The Thrust

• The different terms for thrusts I also rarely remember, but should make more effort to do so. In the mean time I'll just refer back to here when he mentions them later. 
• Useful terminology!

For the next week, instead of moving on to "How to Unsheathe the Sword," I'm going to go back to the various sections I've highlighted in these posts as needing to be walked through/visualized/thought about. I'm also going to try to put the specific pieces and notes I've pulled out (like the above advice on cavaziones) and see if I can organize those into something easier to keep in mind while I'm drilling. 

I don't know what notes I'll have from that, but we'll find out!

Weekly status:

 - Only drilled sporadically. No additional exercise.

 - Practice note: Not turning hand enough when gaining the blade.

Weekly goals:

 - Still baseline drills and stretching.

 - Going over notes in actual depth.

 - Fixing my poor beleaguered fencing mask.

 - Restart running.

So you want your trans friends to be comfortable at SCA events... (Part 2)

In light of recent events, it seemed helpful to add a small addition to this continuing series. 

Much of what I'm going to say here applies to other persecuted minorities as well, though I'm only speaking from my experience.



1. Listen to, trust, and believe them.

This seems easy and straight-forward, but it isn't. If your friend tells you about some aspect of their experience or some fear that they have, trust that they know better than you. Despite the troubling statistics around trans lives, it's still common for people who don't live with it to think "This could never happen to Soandso in Suchandsuch town or community." or "Restroom bills would never happen here, and even if they did they're really more of an inconvenience than anything." Don't do that. Trust us. We know what we're talking about.

For more concrete advice: 

Phrases that are rarely helpful - "I'm sure it won't be that bad." "You'll be okay." etc. Anything that dismisses or minimizes very real concerns, even if you're trying to be soothing.

Phrases that ARE helpful - "You have my support." "I'm with you." "What can I do to help?"

2. Travel with them.

SCA events are scattered all over the country, and even if the person feels safe at events or around their home region, long distance travel takes you through a number of places that might not be so safe, particularly with the recent spike in hate crimes across the country. Car pool, caravan, whatever you need to to make sure that there is someone with them during that mid-drive stopover in unfamiliar and possibly unfriendly territory.

3. Educate and build bridges.

Please don't let things slide. Call out cissexist language when you hear it.* Correct folks who are misunderstanding trans issues. And when you can, do it with patience and in ways that will help people listen and learn. There is a place for anger, but there's a very important and large middle ground between "getting angry" and "letting things slide" that isn't as often addressed. This will be uncomfortable. Maybe you'll be interrupting a joke or a story to correct someone on these issues when you're all otherwise having a good time, but it has to happen, and it's much easier for you than for the trans people around you. (And before you think "Oh, but this isn't a place for that," look over at your trans friend who doesn't get to make the choice about when and where they deal with microaggressions, and consider who you're trying to make comfortable.)

* Examples of cissexist language: equating gender and genitalia (this happens constantly), stating that there are only two genders, treating biological gender as in some way a real or more clear/binary thing than gender identity (it's not). This is a complicated subject, and education should apply to yourself, as well.

4. Don't out anyone without their permission.

This always bears repeating. But I'll add that some people might be comfortable being out in certain circumstances and not others. Perhaps when they're traveling they want to keep a lower profile, or simply right now due to current events they're going to be a little less vocal. Support whatever they need to do to feel safe and comfortable, and don't compromise that. Check in and be sure. (For what it's worth, there are no changes for me. I'm out as trans everywhere and don't see that changing any time soon.)

5. Continue trying to make the world a better place.

We can all do better and be better, and do what we can to make the world better, too. Maybe for you that means donating to charities, getting involved in causes, or simply doing everything you can to take care of your community. Whatever it is, thank you. We're in a better place now than we were decades ago, and we'll keep moving forward. Even if it gets a little harder for a while.


Thank you for caring enough to read these, and please consider similar questions and concerns for other groups I can't as readily speak to. A lot of people are scared or sad or angry right now, and for good reasons, but an actively compassionate community can go a long way to help.

Capoferro: Week Two

I'm cheating a bit here. I went farther in my marginalia read through than I covered last week, and I'm using that for this post. For the past seven days I haven't done my drills, stretches, general exercises, or really even unknotted my shoulders.  But life goes on. The world gets a little darker, we lose loved ones, and we keep moving forward. Tomorrow I'll wake up early and get back to it. But for tonight, Capoferro notes.

Here Follows the Great Representation of the Practice of Fencing; Beginning with the Explanation of the Difference Between Art and Practice

•  Like the beginning of the last section, this talks less about the practicalities of fencing and more of the thought process behind this text. As for my notes, there are some underlines and a little heart by one of his explanations, but the biggest practical takeaway I have is this section: "I have instead narrowed down the art to a small number of rules distinct from its practice [...] I will leave it to others to dedicate their study to the uncertain and unlimited details of specific and ever-changing situations." Even the perfect application of the rules and plays that Capoferro sets out in this text wouldn't be the entirety of fencing, even by his definition, and isn't enough to adapt to every situation. These are tools and a good structure within which to operate. Even his plays break rules and preferences he's set out. This is a start, and I'll treat it as such.

A Few Recommendations about Fencing

• "Watch your opponent's sword-hand" (paraphrase) I too often look at feet, I think.

Parrying, Striking, and Voiding

• "Never perform a defensive action without also performing an offensive one." (paraphrase/summary) I definitely don't do this.

The Benefits of Sword Alone

• "Sword alone is the queen of all other weapon-combinations" This is a familiar concept.
• "keep your arm extended, since by doing so you will push all the opponent's attacks safely out of your presence" This seems reasonable, but it's not something I'd been explicitly watching, particularly when my opponents close in on me.

How To Act Against A Brutish Man

• Use tempo.
• More specifically, aim for hand/arm or otherwise make good use of distance.

How To Become A Perfect Fencer

• Practice with a diverse and talented group of fencers. I have this covered! Though I can't get complacent and keep fighting the people I'm most used to fighting, particularly at events.

The Safest Guard

• "The point should always be directed to the middle of the opponent's torso." Interesting. I think I usually point to faces. Hm.

The Futility of Feints

• Noted.

From Whom You Should Learn

• "there is a big difference between knowing and teaching"
• Only listen to people who have a good handle of measure and tempo.

Gaining the Sword

•  "both useful and beautiful" <3
•  Know how to free your sword: I felt like more general help should have followed that statement.
•  "never perform a cavazione followed by a full cut, or a cavazione followed by a parry and riposte" Again, not something that I was actively looking for, but now I'll try to.
•  "Pull back with your body and lower your sword"
•  Much as I enjoy aspects of his structure and writing, the back and forth between general theory and very specific plays in these early sections is disorienting.

Striking in Contratempo

• Capoferro disapproves of most ways of striking in contratempo, except for two, and one seems to include the inadvisable passing step?
• Generally walk through these.

Steps

• "Walking naturally" and the footwork he describes here seems contradictory, but I have a note to "walk through this" (I assume I didn't notice the pun at the time), and if thinking about it in such a way makes footwork easier, all the better.

Striking the Hand

• "Every time your opponent's sword is out of your presence [...] point your sword to his hand in a straight line."
• I like hand strikes.

Recovering After Striking

• "if you have more room, recover with two backward passes, the last of which will allow you to recover in guard"
• Some practice recovering quickly, gracefully, and in guard would doubtless be helpful.

That's it for this week. One more week of this sort of thing, and then it looks like I get to pictures. How that will change these posts (or my practicing during the week) is as yet unclear.

Note from practice last week:
 - Punch differently

Goals for this week:
 - Morning drills (same batch as before)
 - Evening exercise
 - Remembering to stretch
 - Weekend drills should include going through these past two weeks of notes
 - Witty aphorisms and innate stubbornness

Capoferro: Week One

As mentioned in my last (very short) post, I'm working on starting up better drilling habits and walking through Capoferro's The Art and Practice of Fencing. The notes I'm taking on it are from the perspective of a novice (me) and for my own benefit, so shouldn't be treated as anything more than that. If you're interested in in depth discussion of the text, I recommend checking out The Tavern Knight's Barracks, where Remy's doing a series of posts on the subject.

But on to my first week. I ended up reading through and taking notes on more than my very conservative initial plan, though the initial sections were sparse for concrete short term and long term takeaways. Much of these earlier sections I've already covered in some depth elsewhere, but it's nice to read it from the direct source. So I'm breezing through this a little quickly to get to the rest, but this won't be the last time I read through all of this.

For reference, the translation I'm reading through is Tom Leoni's "A Practical Translation for the Modern Swordsman."


Chapter I: Of Fencing In General

• I don't have notes from this section for things I need to work on, but I enjoy his breakdown of art vs. science and "reason, nature, art, and practice." Really, this section mostly makes me want to geek out about writing structure.
• Biggest notes: "It's unfortunate that you're short, deal with it.", "Practice!", and "Never forget that this is the art of defense." (All paraphrased, which I hope is obvious, but I'll call out quotes versus paraphrases throughout these posts anyway.)

Chapter II: The Definition of Fencing, and Its Explanation

• I have literally no notes or underlines in this section. It repeats a lot of Chapter I.

Chapter III: The Part of Fencing Consisting in the Knowledge of the Sword

• Stay out of measure unless/until you're attacking.
• My sword is nowhere near as long as he says it should be. By either measure he gives I'd need to add about half a foot. Interesting to know.

Chapter IV: Measure

• "Measure is the distance between the point of my sword and the torso of my opponent." I've never heard this described so exactly, and I'd like to remember it.
• He lists off the various measures and their tempos and actions. I'd like to get better about remembering the exact details of this list and being careful to set up my drills in specific measures.

Chapter V: Tempo

• "Tempo is nothing but the measurement of stillness and motion."
• "it is far better to proceed (as the saying goes) with a leaden foot"
• Patience and bursts of speed.
• "Work out and practice so that you aren't slow." (paraphrased)
• I've underlined the "bad habits" section, which I'm almost certainly developing and will try to cut back on.
• Measure and tempo are two of the most difficult core principles for me, and though I don't seem to have detailed notes on either of these sections, it's because I want to keep chewing on this information and returning to reread.

Chapter VI: The Body, Beginning with the Head

• Head should stay in line with the sword, and generally always be properly guarded. 
• "While standing in guard and seeking the measure, the head should lean toward the left shoulder, whereas while striking it should lean towards the right shoulder." Running through my stances, this is clearly something I've been taught, but I don't think I've ever seen or heard it expressed directly.
• "Other people do other things, but they're wrong." (paraphrased) Capoferro is one of the most concisely judgmental authors I've read and I love him for it.

Chapter VII: The Body

• Walking through this description of stance and guard matches what I've been doing, which is nice. Same notes to fix and watch as always.
• "The farther away attacks come from, the safer and better they are."
• Be a smaller target when possible.
• Other people continue to do illogical things that Capoferro doesn't approve of.

Chapter VIII: The Arms

• Sword should divide all lines in half. 
• Don't fully extend your arm, but don't keep it fully withdrawn. Good reasoning provided for this.
• Left side of the body acts as a counterweight while standing in guard.
• "Always point your sword at your opponent's right side openings." (paraphrased) I definitely don't pay enough attention to this.

Chapter IX: The Thighs, the Legs, the Feet, and the Stance

• Walking through the stance directions bit by bit matched up with what I'd already been told and practicing, but it's always good to check up on those things.
• You should be able to hang out comfortably in your base stance.
• "Some people move in ways other than a straight line, but they're terrible." (paraphrased) Huh! Noted. I'll worry a bit less about my offline movements for the time being.
• "Passing steps are not advisable." Well darn.

Chapter X: The Defense, the Guard

• "Only the terza, therefore, can be classified as a guard." I hear this is somewhat unique to Capoferro, so I'll keep that in mind.
• Guard in terza holds the sword equidistant to all sides/lines, to allow equal ability to respond in any direction.

Chapter XI: How to Seek the Measure

• "[The tempo of seeking measure] must be proportional to the last boundary of the wide measure -- which is where the tempo for seeking the measure expires, giving way to the tempo of another action: striking."
• Patience.
• Again, a section I want to reread and go over more slowly.
• Mention of blade above opponent's.
• Perform cavaciones while moving backwards. Gain while moving forwards.
• Being fancy remains inefficient and terrible.

Chapter XII: Of Strikes

• "While striking, I necessarily parry at the same time" reminds me of a note I have from a Devon Boorman class, which went something like "parrying is just finding." I like this mentality and would like to work on thinking of things that way.
• Thrusts are always better than cuts, unless I'm on horseback. Good to know.

Chapter XIII: The Dagger

•  "A dagger is a slightly worse sword, let's not waste words here." (paraphrased) Oh, Capoferro. You're the best. 

That's it for now. As for drills and exercises for the week, I restarted my morning stretches and footwork/lunge drills consistently, but didn't branch into other drills, and didn't manage to restart my exercise schedule.

Main notes from last week:
 - Find from the elbow, not the wrist.
 - Work on crossings.
 - Distance drills and better understanding of measure.
 - I'm pausing between my lean and my final lunge, but if I don't pause I find myself losing the lean.
 - Keep knees properly in line.

Plan for this week:
 - Running, squats, push-ups, etc. Exercise that I can do at home without equipment.
 - Continued stretches, and figuring out what series of stretches does what I want it to.
 - Continued drills and extend the time spent on them:
     - Footwork
     - Lunges
     - Disengages
     - Visualizing crossings
     - ???