The Sixes

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After nearly a month, due to weather and bad schedules, we had battle practice today. It was a little chilly walking to campus but as soon as we started practicing I was warm enough. Today I learned a new way to hold a spear and was pitted against Sir Drogo, who gave me a lot of helpful pointers. However, I feel that I am just not aggressive enough because I am afraid I will hurt someone. I probably would have died in a real battle. Anyway we did a lot of pair work today so my bruise collection is starting again, but the best thing was that I got to learn how to use a short sword and ax. Both of these are used just with one hand and the basic defense and attack moves are called the sixes, basically because there are six positions. So I learned how to defend a straight on attack to the head, a blow to each shoulder, a blow to each leg, and a thrust to the stomach. Then I got to attack. The hard thing about the sixes is that you get into a rhythm - up ,side, side, down, down, stomach - that if your opponent does something tricky you could be really unprepared. So, first James and I just went through the motions, then took turns attacking and defending three blows. Finally we got to spar which was fun and involved a lot of awkward pauses when one of us felt that we were committing an illegal blow. We also moved around in a circle a lot as we were sparing. I like the short sword much better than the spear because it is not nearly as heavy and much easier to maneuver.

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Photos

Practice
The area where we practice

Practice
The bushes we trample

Practice
The other bushes we trample