Thank you for your kind words. I've forwarded Annie your words.

Just to let you know that, she's actually suffering disability in the mal-aligned neck and spine since birth. She couldn't stand for long, couldn't sit for long either and can't take any impacts. So she couldn't wear the extra weight of helmet protection for her neck couldn't support it. Spear bout is the only "exciting exercise" she's willing to do and eager to do. So I was trying to control every hit I delivery upon her, indeed, or I'll pay the expensive medical fee and have to take care of her living afterwards. LOL

Jean Thibodeau wrote:

Lancelot Chan wrote: http://youtu.be/EP8YiXI24Qk Sparring with wife again, this time on rooftop. http://youtu.be/oTgzx2IVAr4 Sparring with Henry, let him taste the spear. http://youtu.be/JG9CicPHH6w Henry wielding the nodachi against my DS I haven't watched all the videos yet, but in the first one with your wife I can see that it seems a bit more difficult for her when you have more room to manoeuvre, but she does very very well against you sort of clearly showing that the spear even in the hands of a less experienced fighter can give a swordsman some real problems. ( What a master of the spear could do against even an expert or master of the sword is really scary and educational ! ) Some things that your wife could do that I suggest might improve her even very good use of the spear: A) When she can see and anticipate your attacks to her spear coming she might be better to shorten the spear instead of parrying your sword, which is what you need and want her to do to get past her spear point. This is very safe for her when you are out of measure with the sword. She can then let your attempt to parry miss and attack on the other side. B) In a few cases you strongly deflected her point leaving her very exposed and when her point is deflected so much it might be best to use the butt end of the spear since recovery for the spear point would be too slow ( A spear type with a strong reinforced butt or short secondary point would make it even better ). In some of these cases, you could have charged in more aggressively and closed the distance even more, but I think you kept your aggressiveness be under control considering that your wife wasn't using any protection for her face .... and it is a friendly bout ! C) Your wife used extremely flexible tactics in a least one exchange where she used a kick when she couldn't use her spear point or even the butt end, but you where close enough for a " gentle symbolic kick " that could have been a much more " decisive Kick " ;) :eek: ( I assume that she likes you as you are and not curled up in a tight fetal position ;) :lol: ) This is very good because when we have a weapon in our hands we tend to forget that we can still strike or wrestle if our weapon is neutralized using hands, feet knees or elbows when the range is very very close. A very interesting video clip showing some very good technique but also making it possible to imagine what else could have been done: This is always a lot easier watching after than in the heat of the moment where a good opportunity can be missed if one realizes too late that there was an opening, at least in theory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdcHMjlThRg
Yue fighting the spear.

First - best to you and your wife.
Second - forgive my ignorance, but is there a certain school of fighting that these techniques come from (just curious, what is the background on the way you are fighting)?
Third - thank you for the vids. Sparring is an important, and often overlooked, area of training. Plus, you seem to be genuinely enjoying yourself (as are your competitors). I love to see fun, friendly, but intense work.

take care,

Kevin

Hello. Thank you for your nice words. :)

I've dipped into a wide variety of swordsmanship (since 1998), before dedicated to trained in German longsword for some years (2005-2008), and then switching to Chinese swordsmanship in 2008, studying under master Lee since then. As a result, I offer to teach several styles in my school depending on the student's desire. So my students may or may not look similar in their techniques, since they may not be learning from the same style.

The style I used my sword with was Chinese 2 handed swordsmanship. The style I used with spear was learned from my experience as a swordsman pitting against some capable spearmen, including the master Liu, whom Annie is currently learning from. Literally, I tasted how the spear should be used against swordsman, from the wrong end, through plenty painful lessons. ;)

My wife Annie is currently studying Xing Yi spear under master Liu, who's a friend of mine for over a decade and had sparred with us in the early days (back to 2002 and on). So I know firsthand that he's of the real deal, not the "form only" teacher. The techniques she employed was more applicable to a stiff haft through, instead of the flexible waxwood that Xing Yi style uses.

While I only post sparring videos here, we don't train in sparring alone. In fact, we spent the majority of training in solo drills and perform some test cutting to verify the techniques, before putting them to use in sparring. Some of the newer students who joined after having viewed our sparring, have mistaken that we put a very heavy emphasis on sparring. They ended up realizing that most of the lesson time was spent in solo drills, checking blade alignment, and powering mechanism. I can tell from their facial expression that they sometimes feel that it's more "boring" than they expected.

Kevin Colwell wrote:

First - best to you and your wife. Second - forgive my ignorance, but is there a certain school of fighting that these techniques come from (just curious, what is the background on the way you are fighting)? Third - thank you for the vids. Sparring is an important, and often overlooked, area of training. Plus, you seem to be genuinely enjoying yourself (as are your competitors). I love to see fun, friendly, but intense work. take care, Kevin

Improving the swordsmanship of the students by pitting them against the spear:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IngGStXtHsU
Desun did good, actually managed to overcome the odds and won.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNCKGdDF4hQ
Taku was a bit afraid of the spear's reach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9cNDzZwXl4
With the shield, Colin managed to hit my butt several times!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXoEd1tvcAA
The spear forced Old Ghost to speed up his biology clock, which improved his bouts later on, giving other students a much harder time than usual. He expressed the world seemed to slow down after fighting the spear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwEFrnDPaxc
Training Taku's wife to be able to deflect the spear.

Lancelot, very interesting and I think that fighting against the spear's much longer reach forces your students/opponents to be very much more conscious of measure and being at a distance disadvantage that might help them greatly if they don't forget about measure when they are using sword against sword of roughly the same lengths and reach.

As a general principle I suggest that the swordsman with the shorter weapon should wait for the spearman's attack as he need the spear to come to him to have a chance at parrying it and getting past the point to be able to close in.

In the reverse the spearman with the longer weapon is generally better to let the swordsman try to attack first and then to do a well timed stop thrust as the spearman denies easy binding with his spear by the swordsman.

Attacking first by the spearman is best done if he perceives an instant of distraction and slips his spear forward from out of measure to measure with a lighting fast and scorpion like attack.

The swordsman can't do anything without closing distance and most of the time having his sword in a bind with the shaft of the spear: His best bet is for the spearman to get his forward hand close enough for a stop cut by the swordsman to the forward hand.

Anyway, just my take on it and I welcome confirmation that my suggestions make sense or contrary opinion explaining where my theoretical tactical senses are in error.

You kinda summed up all the ideal cases here! Good job man! Thanks for your suggestion and I'll forward this to some of the interested students. I think some of them plan to get better at fighting against the spear. ;)

Jean Thibodeau wrote:

Lancelot, very interesting and I think that fighting against the spear's much longer reach forces your .......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPDoFZ-eOGU
Sparring with a swordsman from Guangzhou.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGsyiSAc8kI
Slippery ground, ice hockey style.... Record-breaking number of double kill due to unable to trick distance. :(

http://youtu.be/rxF-yJT3YHQ
Sparring with a visitor who has Chinese swordsmanship and a bit of Japanese swordsmanship background. He experienced both styles in the bout. It was his first time sparring with swords.

http://youtu.be/vJGTiI899y4
Student getting better with much longer survival time, due to him being able to extend his reach further and to shorten his "preparation" time before striking out.

Hello! Thanks for your reply.

After the practice, I also suggested my student to get into measure when he strikes as well. In addition, I explained to him about what I did in the second part of the bout, where I finished him so much quicker than the first part, was that I pressed into his attack reach with a sturdy defense and followed with a quick counter attack right from the spot I finished my defense. That was something he need to master in the future, so that he can bleach into my zone whenever he wants.

As of the "staying in motion" twitchy thing, I'm not sure about him whether he used it as a planned tactic. However, for me, I did it as one of the ways to mask the real moment of launching.

One can mask the moment of launch by either staying very still until the launch, or mixed the launch with a bunch of "similar" but "without intent" movements. The 2 types should be used as a mix.... For any opponent that faced the stillness type from the beginning, his sensitivity will grow tremendously along time. Of course one may argue that with real swords, there is only 1 round. So the growth in sensitivity will not be a concern since the bout is not going to last long. But as in our case where we practice a dozen rounds, at some point, his sensitivity will grow to a level that any of my launch will be detected. There is the time to switch tactic. Random movements will cause him to be very nervous and confused, since he was so used to the previous mode that "any movement was real launch". To avoid being confused, he would try to filter the useless movements by lowering his sensitivity to motion again. There, my real launch will not be easily detected again.

As in Chinese strategist Suan Zi said, one uses both "formal" tactics as well as "surprise" tactics to throw in the mix.

What we did in the sparring was also an application of trying to correctly mixing the "formal" 2 handed tactics with the "surprise" single handed sniping shots. ;) My student is getting the hang of it.

Jean Thibodeau wrote:

Lancelot Chan wrote: http://youtu.be/vJGTiI899y4 Student getting better with much longer survival time, due to him being able to extend his reach further and to shorten his "preparation" time before striking out. Now, it's always easier to watch and criticize from a safe distance than to react perfectly when personally involved in the action. One can also be good at analysing flaws and errors and suggesting what should have been done instead, this doesn't mean that one would be any more successful in execution than the person being criticized, but one can still be correct in one's observations ..... all this being a longwinded disclaimer that any suggestions I make could be wrong or my best guesses or first impressions. Now, in general your student is doing a lot better at being aware of measure in a defensive way by being very careful to try to be out of measure of your attacks, but is less successful in coming into measure for his attacks on you: A few times, at least, I perceive that his attacks are coming from just out of measure and that you didn't really need to do anything to parry since his blows would have missed you anyway even if you had not moved or moved back only a few inches. What seem to be good is in taking the simulated fight seriously enough that he tries to avoid being suicidal or push in his attacks when he is clearly not really ready ! He is not completely successful at this when he strikes out of measure, mostly I think because he is very aware of the danger in closing in that he attack just a little too shy of being in measure. Oh, just a general comment not specific to this student: I wonder about the use of wasted movements when one changes guards without a clear reason to do so or one tends to keep the sword moving in tiny little back and forth movements ? These might be useful as feints if well planned and done, but it just seems like being twitchy to me and often just serves to telegraph that after a few seconds of indecision a short period of stillness is followed soon by a telegraphed attack. If one adds in not moving in the time of the hand plus doing a windup, even if it's a small one, one can predict the timing of an attack almost very time. Just my particular " style " or mindset, but in a duel/bout I would be very still and avoid any wasted /empty motion and try to have a calm and empty mind ....... obviously one moves to sneak into measure or demi-measure to the opponent as well as changing guards only when safely out of measure ! I find that stillness or apparent stillness can be disconcerting to the opponent as it gives him very little to read about intention and the moment of the attack ..... one is also fully attentive to the other's motion and ideally not going to react to feints that are out of measure.

http://youtu.be/BYtQu204THU
A former classical fencing student who believed using a longer sword than the opponent's would bring him victory. I let him taste the truth. ;)

http://youtu.be/QiUHM1GgAUI
With my wife and her spear, I used 2 hooks. No good, then switched to single hook. Better, still lost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVcQnHtTws8
Sparring with a left handed student.

http://youtu.be/MfwVFajZaFM
Desun gets so good. I had a hard time. :P

http://youtu.be/b6MPrZTD7nI
Tun practicing his twin dao style but he couldn't get the continuity going and defend his front hand from my sniping. :P

http://youtu.be/rBkamohzhVM
The ring affected Yue's distaning, and my use of a short acceleration got him many times. In the third section, he also managed to apply the technique on me. He improved quite fast. :)

http://youtu.be/olo1tKFgI-k
Practicing with Dung Dung, who reacted to every moves by extending his hands out.... thus resulting in getting hits there a lot.