- Free sparring with the historical arsenal
Activities
Activities
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Latest Activities
On 15th January 2012, we had organized the 3rd private tourney. This time we had invited Liu Yun-Chyau's Bajiquan (Hong Kong) - Jing Ding Club to participate. They study Baji Quan and practice Miao Dao, a kind of Chinese two handed long sword. Their coach Louis Lo, students Poon Hoi Man, Gary Tang and Yung Tze Him joined the tourney and competed with us. The overall level of skill displayed has improved this time.
Originally, at the end of the tourney Lancelot was to spar with Louis as a demonstration. However, Louis' wrist was strained from blocking a powerful cut during a match with Harry Hui, thus Lancelot ended up sparring with Louis' students Tang and Yung respectively.
Some of the in-action photos showed that the flexible tips did their job very well in protecting the partners during those hard thrusts to the throat and to the groin. Every recipient was uninjured. Such were the proofs of Realistic Sparring Weapons' high degree of safety.
Shown below are the videos of the activity:
Division matches:
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=QRngnIziE9c
On 20th November 2011, we had organized the 2nd private tourney. However, due to some students being unable to show up, I had invited a guest Keith to attend. He had received training in Chinese martial arts, fencing and Japanese swordsmanship. At the end, he won the tourney beautifully, showing my students a good lesson of how to deal with longer and stronger weapons with skills and an analytical mind.
The contestants did not share the same amount of training. Some of them were experienced while some were sparring in a tourney for the very first time.
Shown above is the diagram of the flow. The red name indicates the victor of the bout.
The rules of the tourney were listed below:
Double elimination tournament, 3 minutes maximum per bout, with 10 rounds maximum. The contestants who survived 5 rounds first, or the one with more survived rounds at the end of 10 rounds or 3 minutes, would become the winner of the bout.
If double hit occurred, the one that did not sustain lethal or disabling hit would be the survivor.
For every 15cm in the length difference between the contestants' weapons, a survived round was awarded to the shorter weapon user. For twin weapons user, the length would be the total of all the weapons combined. For shield, it would be the long diameter that counted.
The shorter weapon user will be awarded 2 rounds victory if he could survive clean.
It was an immediate disqualification to hit the opponent with the hilt when the weapon was airborne, or hitting the audience or the camera.
The arena size was 11' x 11' and stepping out of the boundary caused a lost round.
When each round ends, both contestants had to return to their respective corners before the next round starts.
The vertically held signal meant the survivor won the round without a scratch.
The horizontally held signal meant the survivor won the round with non-lethal wound(s).
The downward crossed signals meant double kill.
All the videos are shown below:
Division (Victors of the bouts are spread among group A and B)
1.Yau 5 vs mk 2
2. kin 2 vs keith 5
3. old ghost 4 vs homan 6
4. desun 0 vs hong 6
5. honwing 2 vs taku 5
6. harry 2 vs yue 5
7. Dung 5 vs Henry 4
8. kc 0 vs Cloud 5
Elimination
9. Yau 5 vs Kin 4
10. mk 0 vs keith 5
11. desun 5 vs homan 3
12. old ghost 3 vs hong 5
13. harry 5 vs taku 1
14. yue 5 vs honwing 0
15. kc 6 vs dung 0
16. cloud 5 vs henry 3
Quarter Finals
17. desun 2 vs yau 5
18. keith 5 vs hong 3
19. harry 5 vs kc 1
20. yue 6 vs cloud 3
Semi Finals
21. yau 0 vs harry 6
22. yue 3 vs keith 4
Final
23. keith 5 vs harry 3
Talent show: Kung Fu performance by KC
Awards and speeches giving
In order to let the current students to accumulate realistic sparring experience and to build better psychological qualities, Ancient Combat Association held a private tournament on 23rd October, 2011.
The rules of the tourney were listed below:
Double elimination tournament, 3 minutes maximum per bout, with 10 rounds maximum. The contestants who survived 5 rounds first, or the one with more survived rounds at the end of 10 rounds or 3 minutes, would become the winner of the bout.
If double hit occurred, the one that did not sustain lethal or disabling hit would be the survivor.
For every 15cm in the length difference between the contestants' weapons, a survived round was awarded to the shorter weapon user. For twin weapons user, the length would be the total of all the weapons combined. For shield, it would be the long diameter that counted.
It was an immediate disqualification to hit the opponent with the hilt when the weapon was airborne, or hitting the audience or the camera.
The arena size was 11' x 11' and stepping out of the boundary caused a lost round.
When each round ends, both contestants had to return to their respective corners before the next round starts.
The preliminary contests
Kin vs Hong
Yuegum vs Taku
Yue vs Mars
Dung vs Jimmy
Quarter Finals
Hong vs Taku
Kin vs Yuegum
Mars vs Jimmy
Yue vs Dung
Semi-Finals
Hong vs Mars
Yuegum vs Yue
Final
Mars vs Yuegum
Shown below was the highlight of the final with the high-speed camera footage.
Mars won the tourney with Yuegum being the next.
It was an very exciting event, with 8 contestants and 11 bouts. The small arena size was new to the students but it was done this way with purposes:
1. To limit the room for the longer weapon using contestants to maneuver. Also, added with the length-difference compensation rule, there were many varieties of skillful presentation in the tournament, including closing-work, bind and wind, fighting for the center line, crouching low to launch an attack and dodging an over-head cut simultaneously. On the other hand, the common length-bullying works that were so common in other tourney had become rare;
2. To encourage initiative. Many contestants thought there were no room to back off or evade. That was because they did not dare to gain some ground at the beginning.
Besides, some contestants also raised the question of the need of armors. Well, in this tourney the level of intensity was a lot higher than our usual sparring practice, including full power cut to the belly and intercepting hit to the shoulder. Such impacts would have led to a stoppage in our normal practice, while it was ok here. Thus the armors provided a lot safety to the contestants.
In addition, sparring in the armor would be a good weight training. That was why Tom Biliter was so good. He used to spar in full metal armor and when he took that off, he was unstoppable.
Thus I hope the students would be able to overcome these 2 factors eventually and raise the par.
On 15th April 2011, Exiel had paid us a visit from Taiwan. He was the activity organizer in Taipei. He got up at 3 o'clock in the morning to attend a 6 o'clock flight, then wandered on the streets for 9 hours before the meeting time due to hotel arrangement problem. After arrival, we had let him to conduct test cutting first, which was the first time he had ever done. The diameter of the newspapers roll he cut through was impressive, close to 5". Afterwards, he also sparred with Lancelot with his self-made two-handed Chinese Jian.
On 26th April, 2011, Lancelot had organized a test cutting event at Toyama Ryu to let his students and friends to try out cutting tatami mat. Many of them were cutting tatami mats for the first time. Here we present Lancelot's students test cut first. Lancelot provided the miao dao they used, which was super sharp (good for tatami) but could not withstand hard-plastic bottles cutting without the edge rolling, not to mention hitting pork bone.
Shown below was the edge of Deva Slayer. Note the reflection of light that showed the appleseed cross section.
Shown below was the edge of the Miao Dao. Note the rolled edge from cutting plastic bottles.
Taku, first wielded his Paul Chen side sword that was sharpened to withstand cutting hard objects (battle-sharp). Then he switched to the Miao dao and everything goes.
His katana was cold steel 88k that was very sharp, and the Chinese jian was only battle-sharp, then katana again.
Dung used his battle-sharp huanuo willow leaf sword. His vertical cut later switched to the miao dao.
These were my entry level student. The swords they used were good for tatami.
My friends' test cut videos:
His katana was sharp for tatami.
His huge bagua sword was totally blunt. Then he switched to a tatami-sharp katana.
My friend's ching dao was battle-sharp. Then he switched to the super-sharp Miao dao.
And finally, my video of test cut.
Deva Slayer was a battle sword, thus it was not meant to be tatami-sharp. I included EVERY failure in the video for reference. :) And the last vertical cut, I did it with the super sharp miao dao..... it cut into the dry double roll mat beneath the 3 mats I severed. It shows how important sharpness meant to tatami cutting. However, cutting pork arm and newspapers roll were not so sensitive on sharpness. Even the blunt bagua dao sword had cut newspapers roll successfully before. Pork arm and newspapers roll, on the other hand, required a lot more power generation and blade alignment then sharpness than tatami cutting (as one can see how well Taku did with the miao dao, while he couldn't cut newspapers rolls as good), which I value more for being realistic to historical battle usage.On 27th August 2010, Mankit Li passed by Hong Kong after returning from a swordsmanship seminar hosted in Japan. It has been several years since Lancelot and Li had made their first contact. However, they had never met up before. Thus, Li took the rare chance to pay us a visit. Li hosted his sparring activities in California for many years and they sparred with various equipment. As a result, Li has become very skillful and explosive. There were many solid hits and exchange of blows in this spectacular sparring event.
On 18th July 2010, Lancelot was presented on RTHK programme Gimme5. The interview was conducted in Cantonese and the recordings can be downloaded here.
On 3th June 2010, Lancelot was invited by a local celebrity Kitty Yuen to a morning program of Commercial Radio Hong Kong for interview. He brought along a RSW katana and a RSW Deva Slayer for the two hosts to obtain a first-handed experience. During the interview, Lancelot answered many questions regarding weaponry martial arts, their respective histories, approaches and philosophies. He also threw in a couple funny stories to raise the audiences' interest. The interview was conducted in Cantonese and the recordings can be downloaded here: Part 1 Part 2
Regular Activities
The course will prepare the student(s) with no former weaponry martial arts knowledge to engage with confidence in in full contact, full body targeting weaponry sparring. Each student can choose to learn how to use a European bastard sword, a claymore, a Bagua Jian or a Katana. The curriculum includes but not limited to the following:
the recommended warm up exercises that prevent injuries during practice
safety precautions in handling swords
the grip
introduction to the mechanism of cutting (blade alignment, tip velocity, sequence of power generation, etc.)
the High Guard
the vertical downward cut
the diagonal downward cuts
the footwork
parry and counter
void and counter
The teaching will be conducted through solo drills, paired drills, controlled sparring and ultimately free sparring. The number of lesson taken to complete the curriculum above will depend on the student's progress. Those who complete the curriculum will be awarded a certificate of achievement signed by the instructor.
Instructor: Lancelot Chan - Historical European swordsmanship practitioner with long time sparring experience against different weaponry, including Japanese Nodachi, Tachi, Katana, Wakizashi, European dagger, sword and shield, sword and buckler, mace and shield, longsword, great sword, Claymore, Chinese Dao, Jian, Bagua Jian, spear, Indian Tulwar, Katar, twin weapons combination like butterfly swords, rapier and dagger, etc. All the techniques taught have been tested through years of sparring. Time: Individual appointment. Each lesson lasts 90 minutes. Location: Rendezvous at Showroom. Suitable For: Age 15 and up. For those who are younger than 18, signed parental permission is required before the first class. Sign up: Click here or take the sign up form at the Showroom. Fee: For 1 student, 400HKD per month, 4 lessons. For 2 students, 800HKD per month, 4 lessons.
For 3 students, 900HKD per month, 4 lessons.
For 4 students, 1000HKD per month, 4 lessons.
Training equipment for each lesson is provided by instructor during the lesson.
Gathering
Do you want to feel the thrills of weaponry combat?
Do you want to experience the swordfighting scene in "The Last Samurai" and "Lord of the Rings"?
Do you want to improve your weaponry skill through practical and intensive usage?
Or are you looking for training partners to train with?
Realistic Sparring Weapons gatherings can fulfill your quest!
What you get:
By attending Realistic Sparring Weapons gathering, you can:
*Experience the excitement and the fun of weaponry sparring
*Practice and communicate with partners from various backgrounds
*Video review after each gathering and the host will analyze the actions for you to help improve your skill
*In the end you'll receive a CD with the videos of the gathering for further reference and review
Activityt: Realistic Sparring Weapons combat (rules), skills conference, private review of videos (including a CD for record), etc. Time: Every Sunday 2:00pm Location: Rendezvous at Showroom. Suitable For: Age 15 or up. For those who're younger than 18, parental permission is required beforehand. Note: People may use their own sparring weapons if they have been deemed safe.
Realistic Sparring Weapon can be rented at 15 HKD per 3 minutes.
Helmet and mask can be rented at 10 HKD per 3 minutes.
Sign up: Click here or take the sign up form at the Showroom. Fee: Free (or 25 HKD each time if you want to review the videos)
Gauntlet
Are you confident in your weaponry skill?
Do you want to practice with a dedicated partner?
Are you interested in fighting the crew of Realistic Sparring Weapons in a simulated dueling mode, where there is only 1 round to determine who's dead and who's alive?
Then the Gauntlet is for you!
In the Gauntlet, the most significant feeling is the pressing survival urge, because you can only be hit once. If you can win, you'll receive both a certification signed by your opponent to prove your victory and a 50 HKD coupon.
Opponent: Lancelot Content: Realistic Sparring Weapons combat (rules), one round only. The winners will be awarded a 50 dollars coupon for Realistic Sparring Weapons. Time: Individual arrangement. Location: Rendezvous at Showroom. Suitable For: Age 15 or up. For those who're younger than 18, parental permission is required beforehand. Note: People may use their own sparring weapons if they have been deemed safe.
Realistic Sparring Weapon can be rented at 15 HKD per 3 minutes.
Helmet and mask can be rented at 10 HKD per 3 minutes.
Sign up: Click here or take the sign up form at the Showroom. Fee: 25 HKD
