Wednesday night recap

Last night's class went very well, considering the varying levels of participants. I didn't quite get through everything I wanted to do, but I covered the essentials:

1. Refine everyone's posture and hand positions. (Looking much better!)

2. Get people more comfortable with recognizing measure, and lining up the target.

3. Stepping to misura larga in safety.

4. Regaining a strong position via backwards motion and either a cavazione or a change in the angle of the sword.

Although we ran out of time towards the end, I'd really like to develop the final drill we worked on, in which one fencer has constrained the other, who must regain the line via the two ways mentioned above. The "aggressor" will try to maintain his or her control by exchanging the guards (usually from seconda to quarta, or vice-versa) or contra-cavazione. Ideally, and this is definitely an idea that sprung from working in JKD over the past few weeks, we can turn this into a wonderful flow drill, from which all things are possible: thrust, cut, disarm, pommel strike, throw, etc. Let's see where this goes.

Speaking of flow drills, working the 1st-3rd masters of grappling would make an excellent flow drill, which can start or stop at any time. It really became apparent to me tonight just how simple it is for the aggressor and defender to switch roles. So much to think about.