Sean William,
(Man it feels good to address you that way kiddo!)
As you know, I have been out of work since the beginning of August and it is starting to be a drain on me. On one hand, it has been good for training as I have spent a lot of time thinking and doing sword drills by myself, on the other, it would be nice to have a source of income especially with you coming so soon. For the last couple of weeks I have been working at the Utah State Fair, so that has been something to help with it. Now that is over and today I went back to my solo training at the gym. But what have I learned in all of this?
Your training is like a toolbox, that is universal whether you do a sword related sport, or something else, you train so you have the best options and tools at arms reach when you find that you need to use them. The problem is that if you do not train with something for awhile it becomes harder to remember just how it works so the key as I see it is to train some very core essentials that apply more often than not. If you train your footwork in sword for example, when it comes time to cover distance, or move out of the way of your opponents weapon, you will not have to think consciously about it and can simply do.
Drills suck, but they are incredibly important.
I took a break from training for the fair, but today I was back in the gym hitting it again. When I was training a few weeks back I was in a match where I faced an opponent who I wanted to move around. What I found is I had made that step, hundreds if not a couple of thousand times so when I wanted to cut to the right I already knew in my body what I needed to do to get there. That is what drills do for you. They build that memory in your body so you do not have to think "I want to move to the right while cutting here, how do I do that?" and more "cut with this step." Last night at fencing I found that we were doing a drill and I had done lunges so many times that I felt my form was good and all I had to do was think, Lunge. I did with the right form.
Don't over complicate things.
Some things are complicated, you do X they do Y you counter with Z, they counter with B and so on. But when you are training, train each of the things on it's own but know how to transition. That is all. In class we often say that we train for the ideal situation, but you will only see that maybe 1% of the time. Complicated looks cool, but the more things you are adding in the more things can go wrong, keep your training simple, work on things that have wide application, like breathing with cuts and you will be much better off than if you are forcing things.
In the last 2 weeks I have done a lot more cutting than I ever have and I found out some very basic things. The first is when I cut, if I feel like I have to force it or am forcing things through, it is not as good as when, for lack of a better term, I let the cut happen I take a breath in, then as I breathe out I let the motion happen. If you focus too much on forcing things to happen, it is going to be much harder than if you let it happen. Do not be afraid of taking a breath sometimes, taking in what is going on and moving with it. This is not just a sword thing. When I broke my wrist in jr High it was because I was trying to keep my arms strong and braced for a fall. If I had flexed them more, I could have spread the fall and not been hurt so bad. Sometimes you just have to let go of trying to control things and just follow them. Breathe often, and if you are stressed or feel like you have to force something, take a good 3 or 4 breaths and then come back to it.
Your value is not predicated on the job you do. (Though sometimes that is tied to a particular pay grade) Your value is not dependent on who will and who will not be your friend. Your value is not in the things you have. Your value is in who you are. What others think about you should not define you though it is sometimes good feedback and you get to choose what to do with that. It will seem like you are in the world alone even when you have people supporting you. You are the only one who can really choose what your value is and what you are going to do with it. There will be voices from all over who will tell you to do this or that, but you are going to have to figure out what is your way, then do that. As long as you are following what you feel is right, you will be fine. There will be choices that you have to make, do you do the thing you love and get paid less to do it, or the thing you are not a fan of but it gives you the time or resources to do what you love. You will have to decide, but know that as long as you are being authentic and honest, there is nothing you cannot accomplish somehow.
-Dad
