Keeping it simple wins the fight.

I did come across a post on line in which I believe it’s you discussing the down sides of the poly blackthorns and how heavy they can be - I’ll be on the hunt for a proper authentic one. 👍🏻

Static repetitive drilling is a way to refine existing skills. It is not a good starting point. So yes, there is a balance, but it isn't what most people think. It certainly isn't how most people train.

You seem to have retained enough fingers to type out a comment, so I'm going to assume you practice some form of passive defense of the hand in your sparring, if your group does any.

@ WOW, tell me you can’t type with your prosthetic battle hands without telling me you can’t type with your prosthetic battle hands….do people pay coin for your lessons? Seriously I’m curious

Sorry, I think you forgot to include a point here? Do you not protect your hands at all? We regularly spar with our friendly neighborhood Dog Brothers, and nothing I say here would sound out of place to them.

@ nerds

​@@TheGuidoSamurai Wait... You didn't watch the whole video did you? You think we're talking about hand protection as in gloves and stuff, aren't you?

We're familiar with the Doyle system, and in fact we have a similar stance to their engaging guard in Antrim Bata. We don't typically use it as an engaging guard ourselves, though, because we find it presents the hands as a forward target. I'd love to get the chance to spar against some Doyle practitioners to see if this is the case, but as far as I know most of the larger Doyle groups don't do a lot of sparring.

Thank you!

It sure is!

The lav mic was clipped to the jacket, rather than his shirt, which is why it picked up the ambient audio rather than the direct. Thank you for your feedback and your suggestions.

​@@bataireachtandhistoricalfe239 Ah! I see. It did work well in Max's video so it's just a matter of placement then 👍

I've gotten hit in the hand many times as a result of *not doing that 😂. You can see that happening in my "Irish Stick Fight" video, on my channel. Eventually it'll become more like second nature! Context: I practice at BAHFF. Lucky to have Max as my instructor.

Thanks!

More or less! The initial attack can also be made within measure if you're confident in your recovery, but the goal is to bait your opponent into a riposte, void with distance, and simultaneously return a hook to the head. It's a fairly effective trap that both Max and I have made work in sparring, though of course no technique is 100% reliable. This play also has the advantage of not being particularly risky; if your opponent doesn't take the bait and riposte, you won't get the chance to hook them but you're not likely to take a hit either.

Thanks for your comment @Basilmoment

Our definition of "big motion" is probably quite different. I'm not sure which style you practice, but with the stick do you attack by moving the hand in a straight linear line, back and forth? I certainly hope not. As for our different stances, you are quite right, and this has to do primarily with the fact that our grip allows us to have an actual guard on our stick, being the buta, the lower part of the stick. This allows us to keep the elbow a little bit more stationary without risking getting sniped on the arm. We also use a thumb grip. which I know is regarded as a terrible thing in many FMA circles, but this grip gives us better protection for the thumb, and much better retention and control as long as we use a stick size proportionate to our hand.

I think it was dog brothers' style but i'm from south america so it may differ (i didn't train directly from them to know), we didn't do linear movement, I meant that the guard we used the stick primarly up front, usually with the hand at the height of the weist/hip and the tip at the height of the head, for easy blocking, with body and hand constantly in movement, most defenses to the hand were regularly practiced to avoid handsnipes, but not having a stationary guard was part of the defense for them. They usually teached a hammer grip, but many used knife or even thumb grip, depending on what was better. I'm not criticizing you, the "why?" is more that I just learned the opposite of this and it clashes in my head EDIT: Big motions: I meant that we use more writs/elbow than elbow/shoulder like i undertood from the video (I may be wrong)

We spar regularly with our local DB friends, and what I say in the video here applies to them as well. What you describe also lines up with what I was explaining: keep the hand back, move it, don't attack with a linear motion. Our movements here are exaggerated to make our point clear, but are mostly coming from the elbow. We don't rotate the wrist much, as this opens up our guard, but use the fingers and of course the hips and shoulders.

@@maximechouinard8902 maybe is the exaggerated part plus difference in language (since I'm translating what I think), as I said I'm not saying that is wrong, only said the postures in the video feel weird for me because of the way I learnt it, missinterpretation can also happen that appears to be the case in my part

@@Izhkoort No worries! Always glad to discuss what we do!

We appreciate your feedback and the additional info!

Thanks for your comment!

Glad it was helpful!

bataireacht has a lot of the same principles of fencing. It's built into the style.

Thanks!

Dig them out!

Where are you located @80bsmith?

My teacher said that Sean Nos dance reminded him somewhat of what we do. The parallels are somewhat limited though, since tap dancing is not really trying to achieve the same thing we are (i.e. moving explosively and transferring weight into a stick strike or parry). Looking only at Irish dancing is misleading though, as those dance masters taught many styles that used to be very popular in Ireland, like quadrilles or polka for example. The latter probably has more applications, but while people often taught fencing and dancing, it was more to do with how they were both physical activities with lots of movements and precises stances, and popular with rural folks. Being a good dancer certainly helps with developing agile footwork, but just like today people would learn both for very different reasons. These masters often taught French as well for example. Useful if you wanted to read up on French fencing maybe, but not directly applicable to stick fighting.

Thank you!

Thank you!

The simple answer is whoever gets hit less. We generally spar until we're tired, and we're not keeping track of hits. It's really a measure of progression and to test our skill level. That being said, I feel we all have a general understanding of the reality of shot placement and what the aftermath would be if this was done under traditional conditions without basic safety equipment.

Glad you're enjoying our videos!

Thank you!

Glad it was helpful!