Hey Jake! Good Luck!!!

[Salamander]

Just a thread to wish Jake good luck. He is playing for a very important prize this weekend! So how's a bout we cheer him on?

[Lance D. Allen]

Break a l- err...

Have fun! Good luck!

[Claymore]

Good Luck!


Urr....Ummmm.....For what are we wishing him good luck for ;-)

Good luck in whatever your endeavor may be!

Claymore

[Salamander]

Good Luck!


Urr....Ummmm.....For what are we wishing him good luck for ;-)

Good luck in whatever your endeavor may be!

Claymore

He is playing for prize. It means that he is going to be tested to reach the next "level" of achievement of his martial training called a Senior Free Scholar. Basically on how to use real swords, really.

[Spartan]

Go kick some ass, Jake! :D

-Mark

[Jake Norwood]

Hey all. I'm back, and in one piece.

Over the weekend at the ARMA international gathering (see www.armanortheast.com) I and one other scholar got to "Play the Prize." In addition to an exhaustive oral examination (no, not my teeth...my knowledge!) I had to spar. A lot.

In over an hour I fought 93 consecutive bouts against constantly refreshed opponents. 45 minutes of it was full or semi-full contact with padded weapons (not boffers...these things hurt!), including head shots (yes, I had a helmet) against students of all levels, from "first time" to advanced. The remaining time was fought with wooden wasters against intermediate and advanced students only both with and without helmet. The final minutes were spent fighting with steel swords against senior students, including ARMA director John Clements (certainly the best sword fighter in modern times).

I faced mostly other long swords and greatswords (which is what I was tested in), though several opponents were armed with sword-and-buckler, C&T-and-buckler, sword-and-shield, doppelhander, and spear. John C. Came at me with C&T and dagger. The steel weapons were blunted, but not foiled.

I won 78% of the bouts, losing only 20 of the 93. That gives me the best record in ARMA history in a Senior Free Scholar prize playing (the previous record was 77%, made by Tim Sheetz, who played just minutes before me). I also fought more bouts than anyone else.

Other notable things to brag about... I beat the spear every time (no mean feat), and lost only two of the 6 bouts against steel, losing one to Stacy Clifford (a guy, and JC's senior student in Houston) and one to JC. I returned the favor, though, beating each of them on the following bouts. Likewise, I wasn't injured at all during the prize playing (after all, I only got hit 20 times...I get hit more than that at practice!). I spent the full time "in the zone" and can say that it was some of the best fighting I've ever done.

Notable opponents included:
John Clements, ARMA director
Stacy Clifford, his senior student
Stu Feil, my senior student
Gen Tausk, resident ARMA hand-to-hand guru and spear fighter
Noah Gross, a 6th-dan blackbelt in Budokan Ninjutsu
Shane Smith, a guy with a 12" reach advantage
The guys from ARMA Brooklyn...need I say more?
Bart Walczak, Director of ARMA-Poland and local "expert" on the Codex Wallerstein

Okay, well, that's enough bragging for now. I'll just close up by saying that Tim Sheetz, who played the prize right before I did came up to the line of fighters that were lined up to fight me and said, "you think I hit hard? You guys are fighting Jake, and you're in a world of hurt now."

Heh heh heh.

Jake

[Bankuei]

Two words: Tight Banging!

Congrats on success, new record, and no injuries!  It might be kind of nice to have a thread on personal observations from all that(not just you, but anyone during sparring, as far as what worked personally for them or not).

Chris

[Nick the Nevermet]

I'd like to comment, but all that comes to mind is, 'damn.'

[Claymore]

Congratulations Jake!

I was sure you would do well, but WOW! Good to see you back to the forums as well :-)


-Claymore

[Morfedel]

All *I* have to say is, Curses, here in nowhere I got no way of learning myself... :/

[arxhon]

Nice job, Jake. Congratulations! :-)

[Jake Norwood]

Hey all. Here are pictures from the big ARMA event. About 2/3 the way down you'll find pictures of me playing my prize with Padded, wooden, and even steel swords.

http://66.246.43.48/~armano/International%20Event%20Gallery.htm

Jake

[Lance D. Allen]

I'm assuming you're the one with red-legs?

[Jake Norwood]

Sorry, yeah. I've got red legs and a black full-head helm on.

Jake

[kenjib]

Wow, congratulations!