adieu, adieu, we bid thee farewell...

Don't panic. We are not giving up fighting.

It was a conversation that Josh and I had had a number of times: what to do about the people who wanted to start sword training, but who couldn't, for whatever reason, make it up the hill to our venue on a Tuesday night. Lift clubbing only helps so much when you have more and more people showing interest.

At our event a couple of weeks ago, we had the same experience as we have had time and time again. People asking where they can train locally, and us smiling and saying the only place is in Hillcrest, 60km away.

At the same time, during the months leading up to the event, Josh and I had realised that there were things we had neglected in our lives because we were living and breathing only sword fighting. The house was an even worse mess than it usually is, the car and the bike were both in dire need of some serious attention, and Tala, the small beastie who is my offspring, was beginning to get over sword without ever even having been in it. Josh picked up a guitar and realised that he hadn't played it in six months.

While I was pushing for MORE to be done to promote the sport of medieval combat in our province, like development initiatives and recruiting for a women's buhurt team, Josh was pointing out that we already don't have time for anything else.

It was a dilemma that concerned both of us. We came to the realisation that in order for us to be able to do what we need to do, in all aspects of our lives, we would have to give up the one comfort zone that had cushioned and supported us (much longer for Josh than for me, but still a number of years). The decision to leave Durban Sword and Shield was not taken lightly, and we announced it with heavy hearts.

Instead of being members of DSSC, and only training in Hillcrest every Tuesday, Josh and I will henceforth be independent fighters (a team of two, if you will), and we will spend one night a week travelling to a different group to train with them. The groups that will be starting up will not be "our clubs". They will choose their own leaders and decide on their own system of governance, etc. We will just be there to advise and coach.

Of course, we will still have buhurt training at our place for everyone who wants to attend. But really, what we want to do is open up access for people who are unable to get to training. And that means, more than anything else, connecting people with each other and ensuring that they have a suitable venue (free is always first prize) and access to information about where to get armour and weapons, as well as training in combat techniques.

As I said, it wasn't the happiest announcement we've had to make. We certainly didn't leave because of any bad feelings, and in a way that makes it harder because we love the DSSC people. They are our family. I think, though, that being independent and able to move from group to group, wherever they train, and helping the sport to grow and the standard of fighting to improve through diversity, will justify the decision. It won't be easy; we know that already. We knew it when we made the decision. 

But let's see what we can get going. Wish us luck. This may be the start of something epic...

tournament time and our national heritage

Greetings fellow fighters and everyone else!

It has been quite some time since I have updated this blog. We recently had our national KZN Battle Heritage South Africa event, and our club was responsible for organising it, so I was very busy indeed! What with my two jobs, trying to help some of our newer fighters get armoured up, and being a mom, it was a stretch. And I didn't even do that much in terms of organising, really.

But it all came together and we had an awesome event. The ceremony was short and sweet. Here's Josh and I and our Team Captain, Brian Topper. Josh, proudly wearing the surcoat he got from Luxembourg Captain Laurent Bemtgen at IMCF this year.

The ceremony was just a walk of the field and then a few speeches about our national heritage and how the event was for the children (the market and event organising fell to Shannonne Gradwell from the Parents' Support Group of Cornerstone Remedial School).

Our Herald, Richard, however, was really pleased with the number of gonfalons that we were able to display. Mine is being carried by my small beastie, Tala (in front of me) and shows a black destrier prancing over flames and below the Pagan triple Goddess/God symbol.

Josh's isn't really visible, but he has a valknutt above a crossed sword and hammer and lute.

You can also see Brian's red wyvern and Aidan's rampant red lion (I think) of the Granthams behind me. Our MC, Stephen has the three yellow salmon swimming upstream.

We also worked out a coat of arms for our club, Durban Sword and Shield, which is now a black wyvern on a white background and then on a bend sinister in black, there is a white rhino.

Quite cool, I thought.

We also had our herald's heraldry, the Polish eagle with the Hagall rune (or the elvish 'E', as he puts it) on green, and a few others.

I think it's so cool to be in a sport where you can proudly display your symbols of house and nation.

Although the weather was cloudy and somewhat cooler than the day before, we were all still grateful for the army tents.

It was humid, which is par for the course for Durban by the sea, and we drank a lot of water during the tournament and a lot of beer afterwards.

The event was held at the Natal Mounted Rifles army base, which is staffed by volunteers, since their regiment used to ride horses, and now they ride tanks.
We're not currently at war with anyone (touch wood!) so the base is really more museum and training co-ordinations centre, but all of the soldiers that were involved were really friendly and helpful.

We had a fair number of fighters and limited time, so we had to drop the polearm category and only offer singles longsword and sword and shield in knockout pools. So of course, I got to fight Hylton, our Team SA Vice-Captain first. This guy is awesome with a longsword, and so he won the bout in two rounds. This is us:

Knocked out in round one, I was quite bleak because I had been working towards this event for months. But it was Hylton, so I couldn't really be too upset. I have a lot of respect for that guy as a person and a fighter, and I was glad that he got to go on, since he drove all the way down from Joburg to compete. He ended up winning the division.
Unfortunately, none of my other girls in armour came to fight that day, so it was just me in my new "ladycoat" as one of our fighters, Jimmy-Steve dubbed it.
To me it sounds like a feminine hygiene product and so according to Sod's Law, the name will probably stick.

Josh also fought in longsword and sword and shield, but had to withdraw because his finger got really badly mashed during one of the bouts.
This is him in the red fighting Jimmy-Steve in the green:

 And afterwards:

One of our newer guys, Floppy, didn't have enough armour to compete, so for sword and shield, I withdrew and lent him some gear so that he could fight. He gave a good account of himself, although he got beaten by the more experienced fighters.

At the end of the day, there was the first buhurt to happen in a South African tournament. Josh couldn't compete because of his finger, and we could only make teams of three. Two of our young, keen fighters desperately wanted to go in against the Joburg guys, and I didn't have the heart to deny them, so once again, I kitted up someone else with my gear and sent our guys out to fight.

Yes, we got beaten, but it was a very good experience and a good start for buhurt in our country. Also a very good day for the sport in general, since we had a number of people interested in training with us.
Here is the fight.

And that is my news for now.

Next week: I'll tell you all about how Josh and I made The Great Decision.