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I am pleased that you wrote this, John. Recently, and more so with Christoph's observance of my own recent injury, I have felt that maybe I have been taking my own personal training to far by trying to push the limits at which I am practising by increasing speed and power as far as I can while still trying to be as safe as I can. This seems like a contradiction but it isn't. I have always accepted that bruising and broken bones is part and parcel of this activity that we all persue, and that to attempt to sanitize what we pratice, as far as HEMA goes, is taking away from the essence of what we are trying to achieve. This means that we must embrace properly the correct mental attitude of kill or be killed, and that a fighter in the past would have done anything to achieve this in a life and death situation. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with sports, I know from when I played rugby at a high level that the attitude was there can only be one winner, and it was that what we strived for in our training for this sport. I would imagine that the same could be said for sports fencing at a high level, there can be only one winner, but there are rules which take away what would have been the reality of the situation and, I know from playing rugby, that a good sportsman who is at the top levels of his sport will use the rules as much as he uses a weapon. If you are using a weapon in real life then you will know that no matter how much training you have achieved then there is always an element of doubt as to what your opponent is going to do, will he approach you in a certain way, will he open up with a certain attack, are you truly as prepared as you can be for your battle. This is also true of sport as well. What isn't true is that on a fencing strip your opponent is unlikely to put aside your thrust and bash you in the face with his pommel or basket, he is unlikely to thrust his fingers in your eye, or to kick you feet away from underneath you, this is the difference between soprt and martial intent, and I am surprised the Amberger cannot recognise this for himself, and even more surprised that he has lowered himself to such a base level as well. I feel that it is this preparation within HEMA, that makes the training relevant to a modern day situation. Once you have an understanding and are able to apply the concepts of martial arts whether through eastern or western schools, then you will be able to apply them to a variety of situations, as I found out on the tube home the other night. A sports fencer will lack this sort of preparation and this sort of mental conditioning, although they will hav skill and disicpline both mentally and physically they will have lacked this area of their training, or at least potentially will have missed it. Ahh well I am babbling now. Rob
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