Opinions for a good "Knight" development program

[Tiberius Claudius]

Being a lower, mid-level fighter with a year of experience under my belt, I'm interested in really beginning to step it up and start working towards becoming a better fighter. I come from a year old realm that has about 20 regularly attending fighters who are mostly around my ability level, with 2-3 notably better exceptions. We are currently experiencing our summer influx of younger n00bs who may or may not continue with the sport and provide no challenge whatsoever at this time.

My unit has been working on personal fighting development through benchmark achievements, and unit tactics. We want not only to develop ourselves individually, but also as a unit within the realm and the greater Belegarth community as a whole. An added bonus will be the ability to effectively train new members of the realm as well as new unit members, specifically. In order to do this, we realize that we need a more codified, or at least structured, system of benchmarks and practical application of learned knowledge.

We're not actually interested in calling ourselves "Knights", but we're looking to earn that similar recognition for both ability and the process through which we became better. We have been checking out the training videos PtQ et al have posted out there, but aren't sure which sorts of things are applicable (fighting against a Pell alternating height and side of shots, vs block-strike, for example).

So, please, if you are a Knight, a Squire, or a fighter of at least 5 years experience who can give solid advice that will stand up to peer review and acknowledgement of your abilities and accomplishments, I would like to know what sorts of training regimens you use, what literature you read, what benchmarks you set, and other applicable advice you can give.

All others, your interest is appreciated, but please refrain from posting.

Thanks.

[Soo Ma Tai]

I am currently a squire with about 10 yrs exp. in the game here. I also come from a martial arts background and I get what you are doing here. What I would like to know is what sort of benchmarks and unit tactics are you currently using? Knowing this helps me with visalizing the type of training you are doing now, and what else you may be able to do to become better fighters.

[Kyrian]

I've been fighting for 19 years and have been a knight for 16.

There are a two main paths that have been used for knighthood:

1) Squire to a current knight. This may not be an option due to distance or other obligations. Long-distance squirings can be done but they require a strong commitment from both the knight and squire.

2) Squire to the realm. This has been done by several realms to include Wolfpack and Rhun. If this is what you want to do, I would suggest gathering up your populous and brainstorming as to what requirements/expectations they would have of their knights. Remember, that whether intentionally or not, knights are representatives of your realm. Use those requirements and expectations as the starting point for your knighthood. In Wolfpack, after the squires had completed their requirements, they were brought up for a vote of confidence from the populous, i.e., everyone had to vote if the person was ready to be knighted.

I sum it up as "Be a positive force for Belegarth." but here are a few ideas about people's expectations of their knights:

1) Bad-ass fighter. Self-explanatory but I would keep in mind that this person is also a representative of both your realm, unit, and knighthood in general; the best fighters may not necessarily make the best knights if you want your knights to accomplish things other than in fighting.
2) Presence on the field. I don't necessarily equate being a bad-ass fighter and having presence on the field. You can, by your influence and leadership, inspire others to accomplish great things on the field even if you're not the best fighter out there. Of course, being a really good fighter helps.
3) Serve the realm and serve Belegarth. There are any number of ways that a knight can serve a realm from planning and running events to running practices to serving in realm leadership positions.
4) Be technically capable. What I mean by this is that the knight should be able to build safe weapons and be able to teach others to do so.
5) Be able to do something other than just fight. I like to make garb and so do my squires. I've been really working on developing my leatherworking skills and one of my squires plays a pretty mean guitar. The point is that, in my opinion, a knight should be well-rounded and not just focused on fighting.

My main philosophy in developing my squire trials was to give a knight the skills and experience to either start a new realm or help his or her current realm in any capacity.

If you want to develop your fighting ability quickly, I think I can sum it up in one word: "travel". Travel to as many practices and events as you can. Seek out the best fighters and spar with them. Do cross-over fighting like the SCA and Amtgard. Speaking of Amtgard, go to SKBC if you can. I know that the SCA has an event similar to it but SKBC is tightly focused on developing foam-fighting skills. As an example, check out the course list for SKBC next year:

http://www.swordknight.com/2011/registration/?MODE=viewall

One of the things my squires do is to do 500 fights. Basically, they seek out 50 different fighters and fight ten fights with each. They record the results in a notebook and seek feedback about the things they did, the things the other fighter did, etc.

Once you see your skill level increase, don't "keep all the secrets to yourself". Train others. Raise their bar and then you'll have to raise yours to keep up. This increases the skill level across the board.

If you're interested, you can see some my squire tasks here:

http://www.geddon.org/index.php/Squire_Tasks

Hope this helps and good luck.

[Freki]

Don't mean to but in on your thread Tib, but kyrian has it right and I want to use this for my guys I have fighting in afghanistan for me...the gardez horde... great job!

Tib I wish you the best in luck with becoming a better fighter and your unit as well

[Tiberius Claudius]

Gentlemen, thank you very much. Your insights are spectacular, and Kyrian I'm very impressed with the resources you posted.

Soo, the benchmarks we have established thus far are a set of awards for different weapons proficiencies and shield/footwork capabilities, albeit we earn them only by fighting unit members. We have also made rank progression in the unit dependent upon attaining certain award levels, attendance, owning and maintaining minimum garb and weapons sets, and recruitment of additional unit members and assisting them up to the basic "full member" rank. Our realm also has a tabard (separate from our unit awards) that can be earned; having a focus on attendance, min garb / min gear, and weapon proficiency.

As far as tactics go, we are attempting to re-enact Roman Legion tactics (more for fun and out of our shared love of history / being a presence on the field, rather than a group of highly skilled "hero" individuals) and focus on heavy infantry S&B line fighting. We have come to the realization, however, that as a small unit and with the West's preference for skirmishers/flankers we get surrounded and overrun / picked off by archers just waiting for us to be distracted quite easily. This certainly has fueled the desire to better ourselves, and we realize that, while historical, our tactics are going to need a bit of an adaptation if our numbers remain small and we intend to remain competitive against the opponents we have.

As it stands now, we are only able to practice as a unit for an hour once a week, and that's right before our realm practice that same night. Each of us has as much time as they can work into their own private schedules to spar or do reading / video watching, etc. Our unit practices consist of passing the word, voting on issues, inspecting gear, formation movements, Latin drill commands (our attempt to be sneaky sneaky), educating the n00bs who show up early, fighting techniques (pairing up, aggressive shield work, etc), and then attempts to earn awards. Once realm practice starts, its time to put it all together.

Kyrian, again, I'm very thankful for your Squire Task list. A lot of those ideas we have bouncing around in our heads and some of us think of them as the "unwritten" rules, but having them codified like that makes it very easy for us to discuss and adjust as fits our needs and clarifies the grandiose vagueness that we couldn't quite put to words.

Distance would certainly be a problem for squiring to an established knight with regards to sparring, but all the other tasks certainly could be vouched for via e-mail photos and a "signing off" of our realm leader. I am very intrigued at the idea of squiring to the realm. In a way, our realm has begun that with our current tabard form and is seeking to further enhance that by creating a "Senior Tabard" which would involve much more service to the realm at events and practices by heralding, creating extra weapons and garb, and other non-combat forms of service / specialization, etc.

I am a huge fan of being well-rounded, both in combat styles and in knowledge/abilities in general. For the time being, I think that we will need to focus on continuously fighting other realm members 1v1 akin to your "500 fights". Doing this will not only help us, but help our realm by giving the other members fighting experience as well, thus adhering to your "don't keep all the secrets to yourself" motto.

Lots of good advice and stuff to chew on. Thanks much.

[Cedric]

if you are going to be at yestare, hit me up. I will be there Friday night and would love to talk to you about all things knightly. I have been a knight for 15 years, in the sport for 17 I think. Also Kyrian always gives the best information available

[Tiberius Claudius]

I will be at Yestare, planning on arriving Friday night. Might stay in base housing at Hill AFB since the fam is coming along. I'll be there dark and early Saturday for troll.

Thank you. It'll be an honor to speak with a member of EBF. I'll bring your favorite color, what's your poison?

[Cedric]

beer man

[Soo Ma Tai]

Well, I'll post since I responded once already. Looks like you've got a great system working now. Both Kyrian and Cedric are far more experienced than myself, so I would listen to what they have to say. If you make it to CW go to Kyrian's classes, it will really help you put a system together for teaching newer people.

[Kyrian]

Sir Fox and I had put together a structured training class as an intro for new fighters. It's geared towards Wolfpack but feel free to use or adapt it if you wish. I apologize that the site's a bit rough. I haven't looked at it for a couple of years although this is motivating me to work on it again. It's designed as six sessions of 30-45 minutes and starts with the basics of attack, defense, and footwork, and then moves on to melee and basic tactics.

http://sites.google.com/site/belegarthtraining/table-of-contents

[Tiberius Claudius]

That's really good info.

Last summer we attempted a basic training for new members that lasted 30 mins before realm practice. It consisted of the utmost basic, general sport-related concepts such as keeping your knees bent, not staying flat footed, keeping your weapon and shield in front of you, etc. They weren't so much interested in learning technique as they were just swinging foam.

We're in the process of re-starting the program now that spring/summer has given us an influx of high school kids. We'll definitely work on polishing up and really nailing these basics ourselves and then transfer the knowledge to those who are willing to put in the time.

As an incentive, we're debating on what sort of material reward they should get upon completion of the basic training. I had originally considered making pennanular fibulae so that they could have an item for their garb once they get that far, but my unit leader has brought up the idea of a simple belt flag, distinct from the one earned by Tabard holders. Any thoughts?