Common Mistakes of New Fighters:
I have noticed that many new fighters tend to make the same mistakes repeatedly. Worse yet, they practice these mistakes in the hope that practice makes perfect. Practice does not make perfect, it just makes permanent. Thatmeans many people are training themselves in a fundamentally unsound manner, not realizing it, and training themselves in mistakes that they will have to unlearn before they are to progress in skill.
In order to correct that, I am writing a fighter blog on common mistakes I've seen new people make. It is not designed to be an all encompassing list, nor is it designed to be a completely inflexible system of rules that never changes. It is designed to be a set of helpful guidelines and a few main reasons for why each guideline exists.
Since the majority of fighters use a sword and a shield, I have divided the mistakes into three broad categories: Footwork, Shield technique, and Sword technique. For the purposes of shield technique, it is assumed that the fighter is using a standard Edhellen round shield because many other shields compensate for the lack of footwork, and the purpose of this blog is to improve basic fighter technique, not to have equipment compensate for poor training.
******Footwork******
Crossing your legs while stepping:
Many fighters cross their legs in some fashion when they are stepping from side to side. At some point during their step, their legs become locked into a position that is extremely difficult to dodge leg shots from because both legs are tied up, and are essentially in the same location. You can't hop off either leg in order to dodge if you're caught in the legs crossed position. More advanced fighters will circle to either side, and wait for their opponent to cross their legs, then throw in a leg shot that can't be dodged, and can only be blocked. Instead of crossing your legs when you walk, try shuffling your feet. If you want to move to the right, move your right foot to the right, then move your left foot near to your right foot, but not further to the right. If you want to move to the left, move your left foot to the left, and then move your right foot to the left, but no further than your left foot. This way, you still retain a decent amount of mobility no matter which direction you decide to move in.
Too much weight on the front foot:
Fighters often put an extreme amount of weight on their front foot without realizing it. This makes it very difficult to dodge backwards or to the side, because all of your weight needs to be shifted before your front foot can move. Instead, keep your feet evenly balanced, or more weight on your back leg. This way, if a leg shot comes in, you can sweep your front foot backwards quickly, and without overbalancing.
Dancing in and out of range without a purpose:
Many fighters get too close to their opponent without realizing it. Worse yet, they attempt to leg their opponent without realizing that the swing entails serious risk. Here is why-- Take a sword and hold it at an angle, as if you were swinging at somebody's leg. Look at how far your reach is. Now, staying in the same position, go down on a knee, and look at how far your reach is again. The reach should be considerably longer. This is because your first swing is the hypotenuse of a triangle, and your second swing is the leg of the triangle. In other words, if you can leg your opponent, assuming you have equal arm length and sword lengths, he can almost always leg you right back when he goes down on his knee. If you have shorter arms and a shorter sword, do not try to play the range game and dance in and out of somebody's range. Advance, and stay close. The range game only works if you have the longer arms, longer sword, or have considerably better footwork.
*****Shield technique*****
Using your shield too much to guard your legs:
If you are using a round shield, look at how far you have to dip your shield to guard your legs. When you dip your shield down that far, your entire body, shield arm, and sword arm are exposed, which is going to get you killed far faster than if you get legged. Unless you are certain a shot is going to come for your leg AND you need to block it with your shield, use your footwork to dodge leg shots, and your shield to guard your upper body.
Overreacting with their shield:
If your shield has to move at all, it only has to move a few inches to block any top shot, either by rolling your shoulder/waist, moving a few inches up or to the side, or moving a few inches forward to cut the other fighter's swinging angle off. Anything more than that, and you're just overreacting and opening yourself up. Try to avoid making large motions in any direction with your shield unless you understand why you're doing it.
Hunching too far forwards:
This is partially a matter of footwork, partially a matter of where you put your shield. The more you hunch forwards, the easier it is to hit you in the shoulder because your shoulder is closer to your opponent. Your shoulder is also lower to your opponent, which gives them a better angle to hit your shoulder. Try to avoid hunching over, because you're opening up your upper body, AND putting too much weight on your front leg (See the same mistake in footwork…)
Dropping your shield while falling:
Hold your shield up. Now go down on a knee. Most people **in combat** drop their shield as they go down, or at least, keep it steady. This is dangerous because as you are going down on a knee, your opponent gets "taller" relative to you. That means his shoulder shots are going to be more dangerous. Instead, keep your shield level, or best yet, raise your shield slightly as you are falling in order to compensate for becoming "shorter".
*****Sword technique*****
Sword too far back:
Many people start with their swords way behind their head. This presents several problems. The first problem is that your sword is ineffective as a blocking weapon if it is behind your body. The second problem is that the sheer distance your sword has to cover is considerably greater. That means your swing is slower, relatively speaking, compared to any other person's swing. It is also "telegraphed" to your opponent, giving him more time to block, dodge, or counter your swing. Keeping your sword closer to your opponent provides a huge increase in speed compared to trying to become physically faster. It also provides sword-side blocking as a bonus. Don't give these advantages up for no reason.
Not pulling sword back after you swing:
Many people take one (or two or three…) swings…and then just leave their arm hanging out there. They are so not used to being blocked, or late swings, that they assume their arm is invulnerable. Mistake. If you are not making an extra swing, your sword and arm should snap back into some form of guard position. Even if you think you've killed the guy, snap your sword back into a guard position. This prevents you from being killed by the last few swings, or swings from another opponent.
Swinging from too far away:
I've seen a lot of fighters swing from distances when they have no chance of hitting their opponent, even if their opponent doesn't move.
-Let's start with shots aimed at above the waist. Your sword should at the very least, be able to REACH your opponent. Better yet, your sword should be able to reach your opponent without you twisting your entire body to try and get closer. Memorize that distance, because that is basically the maximum distance away you should ever be swinging at somebody unless you have a specific other reason for doing so. Maximum distance means exactly that. *Maximum* distance. Most shots from maximum distance will not land because your opponent will move backwards, which means most of your shots have to be from closer than maximum distance.
-What about shots below the waist? Well, hold your sword out…now angle it down as if you were swinging for their leg. Your sword should be further away. This happens for roughly the same reason I described earlier...holding your sword straight out is the "leg" of a triangle, and holding your sword down and at an angle is the "hypotenuse". Hence, your sword has more distance to cover. Therefore, you actually have to be closer to your opponent to swing at their leg than if you wanted to swing at their body. Most fighters don't realize this. Now you do.
*****
Once again, this is not designed to be an all-inclusive or rigid set of rules for fighting. Instead, it is designed as a set of mistakes newer fighters make. Actually, I'm a little uncertain if new people will understand what I have written, but I think veterans will understand, and hopefully they will be willing to teach new people in person.
Best of luck!
-Kenneth