[Christopher VaughnStrever]

Well here are the two youngest students I have in my School. Instead of having them "spar" with one and other initially, I thought it best to come up with a Fight Sequence that teaches them Attacks, Counters, the Vor, Nach Indes and other elements. So down the road when they have honed their skills I'll have them get into sparing.

Their favorite weapon so far is the Dagger and so here are two videos of the Dagger Fight Sequence#1 showing some different views...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEmk6M6Emc0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv6ZL0uTtxc

For having only 5 prior classes at 2~3hours each to this point, I am very proud as a teacher.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Very nice work and with the wrestling component control is always a priority since breaking or dislocating something is a real risk if going at full speed and someone doesn't submit quickly enough or the other doesn't release before the first can signal pain in time.

But these seem to be taking the dangers seriously and also seem to have a proper attitude of respect for their training partner i.e. put winning second to not injuring their training partner. ( Yes I realize that these are controlled patient/agent training and not free exchanges or sparring competitively, but it's good that you have imparted to them the difference I think ).

[Christopher VaughnStrever]

Thanks for those comments Jean. I'm glad you brought up the risk of injury of grappling; that is something we spent an entire class on was learning how to realize when you have place someones arm in an arm bar (or any other bone breaking technique) and you are at the crucial point of danger. That control is key.

I was teaching them a technique used to break the elbow over your own shoulder. And the key to making the technique is a kind of squatting and then standing up very quickly and that motion alone will break the opponents elbow. The boy came within inches of snapping my elbow into pieces, though because I taught them the risk and the control to have. The boy stopped just in time when he "felt" the risk of injury to myself.

[Jean Thibodeau]

I personally think that free sparring of any kind that involves or permits grappling has to sacrifice winning at all cost and the competitive spirit to care about one's partner's well being and our well being also: One can hurt by being too enthusiastic and being too much in the technique as if one was truly fighting and one can get hurt by being stubborn or curious if one can resist a technique by strength alone.

At times early in the execution of a technique a very strong opponent can use strength to neutralize the technique, but beyond a certain point of no return resistance is futile ( too late ) and one can be hurt because of pride in not conceding the success of the application of the technique.

In a competitive bout staying focused on safety is more difficult than with a paired and rehearsed training exercises: One may do or be subjected to a joint lock that neither anticipated or planned and the best outcome is when both freeze in position and acknowledge and observe that a joint break is the only outcome if one continued the action to it's full application.