I’ve been asked how the Dog Brother’s Stick Day compared with HEMA.

The Dog Brothers, as I mentioned, put some time into giving the context and purpose of what they do and the expected behaviour. They make it clear that what they do is “ritual duelling”, not anti-social violence and not a competitive sport.

I was at a “stick day” - which meant sparring to the “lowest common denominator” comfort level. I asked for “don’t break any bones”, having been worried about hands and elbows especially. Rattan hurts a bit less than you might imagine, but it still hurts. In the end, though, I finished the weekend with two new bruises. Given that they were both delivered to bare skin they weren’t severe at all.

My personal learning points were to throw shots harder and without hesitation, to learn some staff work as a lot of longsword simply doesn’t work, and to strategise on how to finish grapples with masks on. Overall, though, I think my blend of HEMA, MMA and BJJ worked very well. Of course, being a chewbacca sized mofo is always helpful too.

We were fighting with single stick, double stick, staves, standing, clinching, grappling, striking on the ground without masks on. Continuous fighting, rather than halting after hits. Continuous fighting is a much tougher workout, but a lot more fun, and means no time to think after either landing or receiving hits. Just flow. It doesn’t, however, make much sense for swordfighting. Which is sad.

I took a clean shot with a 5 foot staff to my bare knee - which was fine.

How can that be?

Control. Not the “not actually trying to hit each other” control that some call for, but knowing what your power level is and moderating it when you are going to land that clean shot. As the amazing waiver and Fighter’s Code for Gatherings puts it - “…the fighters themselves must pull shots that would put people in the hospital or reduce their IQ.” This means being willing to exercise that control, when it means they might hit you back without control because you elected not to land that crippling blow, or might boast about how you throw weak shots?

That requires a choke-chain on the ego. Another part of the code is “no judges, referees or trophies”. If you pull that shot, those watching will know why. There’s nothing to be gained except having performed well, which is an amazing thing. Or as “Point Dog” put it:

I’ve encountered a lot in HEMA that could learn a lesson from that. A lot of people get frustrated (including me!) and some even get vindictive (WSG’s only “GTFO moment” was when a visiting “instructor” threw shots at the back of his opponent’s head as they returned to their corner after exchanges were over) when there’s judgements and importance in being handed a point.