Weapons Camp 2018; Article by Chief Instructor Mr Russell Suthern
Every year I say this is the best camp ever.
This time it really was true.
As we all gathered at the idyllic setting of Ardingly College I was very excited as I had something very special planned for the weekend.
I always try to come up with something different for each camp and this year was no exception.
One of my students, Joe, was kind enough to buy me some arrows for my birthday. No ordinary arrows. These were foam tipped sparring arrows that you can actually fire at each other!
Immediately my mind started frothing with possibilities!
The beauty of a weapons camp is that there is so much more room to spread out and run around.
We started in pairs, firing at each other, getting closer and closer until we reached a level where we were not in any real danger, but would know it if we got hit!
I would say the impact was a bit less than being hit by a paint ball.
Overall quite safe, although it gave quite an adrenalin rush, knowing that someone was firing an arrow at you! Some of the guys played it safe, wearing head and groin guards, others did not bother.
We started with a standard round of simply firing at each other from a set position, to get ourselves used to it. Then we tried many different variations. In one round the combatants had to advance closer and closer to each other firing arrows. If they still hadn’t hit each other by the time they ran out of arrows, they then drew rubber swords and finished the job at close quarters!
We did several rounds of archer versus swordsperson, where the swordsperson had to charge the archer and strike him before he could nock an arrow and fire! Distance was crucial with this one. The closer distance really favoured the swordsperson, whereas the further distance gave the archer more time to aim and fire accurately.
My favourite round was when everyone was fighting all against all, so if you fired an arrow, you then had to run to a fallen arrow to pick it up and re arm. This could be quite scary, especially if another archer had you in their sights!
We finished with some “arrow catching”, which as the name suggests, you literally had to catch the arrows in mid-air as someone fired them at you!
Although the main thrust of this years camp was the combat archery, there was still plenty of time to do lots of other stuff too.
We spent a lot of time working on our weapons patterns, especially the two person staff form, where it was very liberating to be able to stretch out and perform the pattern to its maximum.
We also did lots of weapons sparring, using rubber weapons. I love to create a real melee style situation, where everyone fights all against all. All the different weapons are laid out. Everyone has to walk around randomly then stop when I command and pick up whichever weapon is closest to them.
This makes the battle so much more exciting, as you never know what you are going to get, or what you are going to be fighting against!
We have a large selection of sparring weapons to choose from, including all manner of staffs, spears and halberds, straight and curved swords, double axes, tiger hook swords, daggers, nunchacks, three sectional staffs- the works!
Finally, we indulged in another of our favourite activities; sword cutting!
We simply fill plastic bottles with water, place them on a stand and try to cut though them with live blades!
This is not as easy as it sounds. You have to get the cut just right, or the bottles will just bounce off. if you get it right, the thrill of cutting through a stack of bottles is incredible!
Some of our students also practiced the fighting fan, which is an amazingly deceptive weapon. It looks like a regular fan, but the spokes are made of metal, which gives it substantial weight for striking an opponent.The beauty of the fan movements are a very clever way of disguising its martial applications.
The two video clips showing our activities can be seen below. I am sure they speak for themselves and you can really see the fun we had!
As always the food and accommodation were good and we all had a great time in the evening eating, drinking and discussing martial arts into the early hours.
Well done and thank you to all the students who attended.
Cant wait till the next one!
Mr Russell Suthern
Chief Instructor WCMA
07885963979