Report from SCA 50 Year Anniversary - Part 3

(Continued from 2 days ago)

The next day I spent most of the morning repairing armor, but managed to make it to a “boat battle.” This was a rollicking affair in which simulated “boats” carried fighters to an “island” on which “booty” was stashed. The different teams of fighters fought to collect the booty and bring them back to their “docks.”

This was absurd, ridiculous, and fun. My team actually won one of the engagements, collecting the most valuable booty. Here is a video of some of the action. https://youtu.be/3cgEcDRBkRE

After that I attended a lecture on “The Psychology of Fighting” by Duke Talymar. IT was an interesting summation of the progression of a SCA fighter's career and options, how to break through plateaus, and guidance for fighters. After the lecture, the floor was opened to questions. There were some interesting points brought up. Among the most discussion-inspiring ones were how to deal with a student who refuses to learn, and what to do when someone has lost the thrill he used to have and how to help him get it back.

I found this to be an interesting topic. I have had periods in which I felt myself lacking the thrill for the SCA that I used to have. AS a result I wound up gravitating to other things like Brazilian jiu jitsu, pro wrestling, filmmaking, and the Battle of the Nations - Armored Combat League world. I contributed that I have felt the thrill fade, that I didn't fit in to my local fighting group quite as well as I used to. In my case, what I did was simply focus on what it was that I liked about it that was still there. In my case, it was the fact that even though I hate almost everything involved with fighting (pack the gear, carrying it, putting it on, the exertion, carrying the stuff home, being sore and tired), I do it because I love being able to say that I did it.

After a bunch more comments and discussion, one other thing came to my mind, so I shared it: The SCA is a hobby. If you think you will get more satisfaction by saving the whales, or getting involved in local politics, or finishing high school, or starting grad school, or spending time with the wife and kids, do it.

After all that was done, I noticed gnats or fleas flitting around me. I felt hot, sweaty, and itchy, but my armor needed fixing. I took all my armor off and fixed the three rivets that needed fixing before going back to camp for dinner. I showered all the sweat and bugs off, but it turned out it wasn;t me, there were bugs all over the place that day.

(to be continued)

REport from SCA 50 Year Anniversary - Part 2

(Continued from yesterday's post.)

After the fighting on the first day I sat in on a class on the use of the shield by Duke Stephen. He gave some interesting advice on the various shapes and typos of SCA shields and the different ways in which they can be used.

The next day I spent most of the morning repairing my armor, but I made it to a “known world fighter practice,” at which Duke Visivald showed a couple of principles of polearm. I had replaced the thrusting tip on my polearm, and then proceeded to use it, and the principles Viz had taught, to great effect in practice.

Next came the 5-weapons tourney. At first I had not intended to fight, considering how long it had been since I had fought and that I might not have enough weapons. My lady and I were talking to a friend when {Prince Edmund of the Middle came over to my friend and asked if he would join the tourney to help balance the brackets. “You just need to be an organic pop-up target,” he said. My friend declined, but I figured that since that's pretty much what I had been the previous day, what did I have to lose?

The format of the tourney was double-elimination in which in each match the fighters would have to choose either polearm, two-sword, sword & buckler, two-handed sword, or spear for each round, and each match would be fought best three-of-five. I wound up fighting quite well. I lost the first match in three rounds straight, but won the second three-to-one. The third match was an epic that went the distance. I lost the first two rounds (sword & buckler and two-handed sword) but won the next two (poleaxe and two-sword). We then faced off with 6-foot long spears (a form with which I had never really fought before). Already the other guy was really enjoying the fights. He was a short, active fighters whose ducking had saved him from at least two kills in the sword and buckler fight, but who left enough opportunity open in defense for me to hit in the head in two-sword and in poleaxe.

With the spears, we alternated periods of cautious probing with furious thrusting and parrying. Some grappling ensued that almost resulted in short-range stabbing, but the marshal broke it up. In the end it was a shame that either of us had to lose, but he managed to get a thrust in on my face that I was not quick enough to block, and I was out of the tourney.

It is noteworthy to mention that in my polearm victories I did use the principles that Duke Visivald had taught earlier that day.

(To be continued...)

Final report from Battle of the Nations

Polish TV and a local documentary crew interviewed me. I tried to give them the best answers I could regarding why I am doing this, what I thought about the fights, how I would compare SCA combat with this full-contact fighting, if my BJJ experience helped me at all, etc.

Here's the TV show that interviewed me. The segment on the Battle of the Nations starts at 5:10...

Interestingly, it seemed that every interviewer asked why Americans would do this when the United States has no medieval heritage. The stock answer for this is that the majority of Americans come from Europe, and thus do have a medieval heritage. I would also add that Asian-, African-, and even Native American-descended Americans also have some sort of chivalric warrior heritage. There is a sort of universality to the concept of the "warrior elite," just as there is a universally to the hero myth. Medieval entertainments have been very popular in America for decades, as has physically challenging contact sports and martial arts. The Battle of the Nations is a challenging combination of these things, and Americans don't like to back down from a challenge!

My lady joined me in Warsaw the day before the competition began. She helped the team greatly with water bearing and fighter support and helped me by holding the camera to shoot video. She had been unsure about coming to this event. She had wanted to go to Italy, and there was thought that we might do both. But the seriousness of the Battle of the Nations preparations started to make it look like that plan would be unlikely. However, she was won over by the passion and the adventure of this endeavor, and by the end was extremely happy she came.

The team was likewise glad to have her. Her help enabled the fighters to concentrate on their fighting without having to worry about hydration, nutrition, and other aspects of staying alive at an event like this.

Many people on the team told me that I had done very well over the course of the week. In fact, several times I was told that I was awesome, a superhero, and had a pair of brass ones the size of (fill in the blank). That made me feel really good about myself, that this trip, and all the effort was worth it. Here were these guys, most of whom were bigger or stronger or more skilled or tougher or had more badass cred than I, and they were accepting me as one of their own, simply because I was doing what I wanted to do. I wanted to fight. I wanted to fight and not give up. I wanted to have a good time fighting. I wanted to have a good time fighting in front of a lot of people and cameras, and I wanted to have as much fun as possible during this trip, to make people laugh, to entertain them. I wanted to make history. And I wanted to be accepted. I have two words for the result: Mission accomplished.

This was the first time that Americans had competed in an international medieval armored combat competition of this scale. We came as a team and every man fought to their utmost. We all sweated and bled out there, and we came together as a team of Americans. I have never been prouder to be part of something. This is something no one can take way from us.

Battle of the Nations Report part 2

(This is a continuation of the post from a couple of weeks ago about my experiences at the Battle of the Nations)

But I did more that week than just fight.

The team took a trip to the castle at Malbork (Marienbourg), the former fortress of the Teutonic Knights. While I had seen rooms and chambers and furniture and art from the middle ages at museums, it was fascinating to see them in their regional context. There is no real "tourist logic" to a real castle, as there is in the floor plan of a museum. Rooms have multiple entrances and exits to other rooms and hallways and stairs. The deadliness of the defensive architecture is revealed. the opportunity was had to take the seat and stand in the place of honest-to-goodness medieval knights.

We ate good Polish food. One of the best eating experiences was at a roadside restaurant on the way to Malbork. nobody in the place spoke English, and the menus were all in Polish, so we struggled through with a dictionary and trying to figure out what was what based on a few known words ("pierogi," "kielbasa," "hamburger," "feta"). A couple of people just said "I am hungry. Give me food." and got a plate of delicious pierogis. One person found a picture of bacon and eggs on his smartphone and got a kielbasa with scrambled eggs. The hamburger turned out to be a delicious, double-pattie affair with toppings that was a unique and most excellent hamburger experience. The person who recognized the word "feta" got a wonderful salad with delicious, creamy feta cheese (have you ever had creamy feta cheese before? If I ever had I would eat it far more often).

Back in Warsaw we found a bar a couple of blocks away from the hotel at which we were made to feel very welcome. They gave us shots of some sort of cherry wine and became "our bar."

I happened to have my harmonica with me at the event site, and one of the bands on the stage adjacent to the list field happened to be playing some blues n the same key as my harp. I waved my harp at them and they indicated that I could come up and jam with them. The crowd loved it. Cameras clicked and rolled. Unfortunately the team member who had video-recorded the performance on his digital camera had it stolen during the week.

One night several team members and I stayed late at the event site rather than going straight back to the hotel. Many of the other teams were camping out and partying, and we joined them. One of the highlights was the Italian camp, where the Italians were singing, drinking, and making merry well into the night. Then they asked for an American song. I bought them "Swing Low Sweet Chariot for the Hearing Impaired" and how to dance the Maltese Branse, and they loved it! We wound up doing those numbers the next day before the battle and after the closing ceremonies.

(More to come)

Some thoughts about grappling vs. swordfighting

I have recently been attending the sessions at the Twin Towers Wrestling Club at the Hamilton Fish Rec Center here in NYC. Is part of the Parks Department activities, and there's usually about a 60-40 split between what I call "pin" wrestling and submission grappling/jiu jitsu. On a recent week I spent most of the session just going and going and going with a guy with unlimited energy and good skills. Then that weekend I put my armor back on and went to the local SCA armored swordfighting practice at the Brooklyn Army Terminal (first time in months).

On the grappling mat the other guy pretty much had the advantage on me all the way through. He was stronger and had better skills, and got me to tap out after hard matches almost every time. At the SCA practice, one of the better fighters there asked me if I had been training elsewhere because I was fighting very well. He said my shot selection was better, my targeting better, and basically I was fighting better than ever in the 3 or 4 years he has known me.

I can credit that to a few things. First off, I cannot discount that the particular fighters I faced happened to be of sizes, styles, and experience levels that were a good fit for me.

Also, I picked up Miyamoto Musashi's "Book of 5 Rings" for the first time in a long time recently, and after 23 years of armored swordfighting and three years of grappling, I actually started to understand it. Passages about "treading down the enemy" and not thinking to just let him attack and look for an opening made sense in the grappling arena. I then figured out how to apply it to swordfighting.

Grappling takes a lot of endurance, a different kind of endurance from swordfighting. In armor, when you are down to your last ergs of energy, you can focus everything you've got left into one last blow or combination, and if it fails, you can cover up and get out and wait out of range until you are ready to go again. In grappling you don't have that option. If you are tired, your enemy is already all over you and you get gradually worn out until you tap out.

I have seen many, many successful swordfighters that hardly look like athletes, but very few grapplers that aren't extremely fit.

Another key difference between the two sports is that swordfighting can end with one hard percussive shot. Boom. Done. Grappling by its definition is a progression of moves leading to a gradual sinking into a submissive position. But even with the differences in the game, there ares till similar principles and concepts. Aggression, taking the initiative, defending while looking for an opening, and training specific moves all are part of the ingredients of a successful fighter in either game.

Captain Zorikh ALL OVER I-Con this weekend!

Captain Zorikh ALL OVER I-Con convention next weekend!


That's right folks, there's hardly a corner of I-Con in which the Captain will not be found in this year!

First, on Saturday, there will be the annual lecture on the history of Armor and Chivalry at 2:00 PM in room A322 of the Field House at Suffolk County Community College Grant Campus in Brentwood. http://www.newyorkknights.captainzorikh.com/

Next, The Death Star Repairmen will be performing a full hour of music at 6 PM in the Islip Room of the Holiday Inn, Ronkonkoma. Http://www.captainzorikh.com/dsr

For the first time in five years I will not be performing in the Cabaret, but I will be helping judge the costume contest in the Masquerade Saturday night sometime between 10 PM and 12:30 at the Crystal Room of the Holiday Inn, Ronkonkoma.

Then I will be rushing over to screen the latest version of “Combat Twister and the further battles of Kim Fu Yu and Jenny Rancid” at 1:00 AM in the Renoir Room of the Islandia Marriott Hotel as part of the “I-Con After Dark” programming. Http://www.captainzorikh.com/combattwister

The next day, Sunday, I will be hosting the “Top Ten” discussion panel, an amusing hour in which we will be creating “top 10” lists about everything sci-fi, fantasy, horror, comics, medieval, and more!

Finally, immediately following that, on Sunday at 3 PM, yours truly will be lecturing on Captain Marvel Culture, the history of the many Captain Marvels, in room A315 of the Field House at Suffolk County Community College Grant Campus in Brentwood. Http://www.captainmarvelculture.com

And in between all those times I will be in the dealer's room selling my latest CD's, comics, videos and more!

Then its back to the real world, where we are still working on the next Captain Zorikh thing, “Redemption,” the movie that will do for submission grappling what “Rocky” did for boxing, “Karate Kid” did for youth karate, “Bad News Bears” did for little league baseball, and “Role Models” did for LARPing! Http://www.captainzorikh.com/redemption.

You can check out all about the convention, including admission directions, and other programming by going to http://www.iconsf.org.

See you there!