when the going gets tough

I'm not sure if many of you will appreciate the kind of preparation it takes to go to Europe to compete in a sporting event like medieval combat. I'm not sure even I appreciate it. We just do it, one step at a time until the day arrives when we climb on the plane.

But we are on the brink of being finalised to go to Luxembourg, to compete in the Red Lion Challenge.
Our fundraising efforts totalled almost nil. In the end, I got a loan from the bank, and Bronwen's Dad and cousin sponsored her. My Mom got me a Diners card to pay for the flights, so that we have free travel insurance, and my Dad paid for the visas. Bronwen's visa will come out of the money we raised through the raffle (R800). We had bugger-all support from our organisation. And that's just the money side of it.

Today, I organised a letter of invitation to the event, for the visa people.
I also enquired about somewhere to stay after the tournament, because the visa people need to know all of this.
Tomorrow, we will pay for our flights.
Tomorrow or next week, I will collect Tala's passport.
On Saturday, we will pay for our visas.
Next week Wednesday, we will fly up to Joburg for our visa appointments.
We will take our passports, flight booking details, letters and booking confirmations, bank statements, employment contracts, and anything else that will prove that we intend to be in Luxembourg for six days for a sporting event and a bit of sightseeing.
We have already found someone to stay at our house for the week, to feed and care for our dogs, cats and horses.
I still need to finalise the account at the feed supplier, so that our guy can call them and get horse, cat and dog feed delivered to our place.
Last year, I also had to organise a roster of parents who would take my daughter to school and watch her in the afternoon until her Dad got back from work. This year, we're taking her with us. And that is thanks to her father, who can pay for her flight.

The planets are slowly yet inexorably moving into an alignment that will enable us to go over for one tournament this year. It has been a team effort, although the effort was mostly from people who don't fight, and who have never seen us fighting very much at all, and have nothing to do with the sport as such. (Tanielle, Cathy and Jamie being the obvious exceptions). This has made me even more grateful for the people with which I have surrounded myself.

It seems like a hell of a lot of missioning for so little action, if you look at what we'll be doing. And yet, in the greater scheme of things, for example the sport in our country, it's more than the rest of our organisation has managed to accomplish, even with all of the fundraising they did.

Next month, the first team of South African fighters will enter and participate in buhurts and profights at an international tournament.

I think if you look at it that way, you'll see that it is worth it. It's worth it to fight anywhere, anyway. It's definitely worth it to me.

And maybe somewhere out there, someone will eventually sit up and take notice, and give us money to go over and fight, at all the tourneys, so I don't have to take loans out every time. We can only keep on, do what we can, and ask along the way.

Next month, before we leave, I'll feature a post called full disclosure, which will document our packing (30kg each), armour and weapons choices, and all other travel prep.
 

what doesn't kill us

Here is something I forgot about until recently. I can walk on hot coals.
That's a fairly random way to start a blog post, don't you think? But we'll get round to that.

Well, I'm worn out this month after the excitement of Battle of the Nations in Prague, followed closely by IMCF in Montemor-o-Velho.

I was really impressed with the quality of the women's fighting at both BotN and IMCF, and I must admit to having a small twinge of regret at not just giving into the selfish part of me and going over to fight. (You will recall my decision to stay behind this year and build up a women's buhurt team to compete with at Red Lion, thus creating a seasoned team for World Champs 2017). But it was only a small twinge.

I can appreciate how much it must have taken for Team Quebec to best the Polish 2015 Champs.  Well done, ladies!

The highlight for me was actually (as lame as it may seem) the men's polearm final at IMCF. It seems that Pawel Kurzak and Jose Martinez Amoedo came back for a rematch. Just without the shiner. Last year, that was the most inspiring and breathtaking fight, for me, and this year was the same.

And of course, I was incredibly pleased when my friend Laurent Bemtgen took bronze. I happen to know that polearm is his favourite weapon, and I also happen to know how hard that dude can shield punch.

I love watching such a high level of skill and sportsmanship. Well done to you all. You inspire and fascinate me, and I have been motivated by you to improve my polearm skills for next year.





Another aspect of combat which I really enjoyed was the female duels and profights. I hope I don't fangirl too hard here, but Galina Kokhvakko really is amazing. The BotN final was incredible. I think the Gods tipped more than the usual amount of "good things dust" onto her head when she was made. I hope to fight her one day and see just how much "good things dust" the Gods gave me.

Training for me has been sporadic of late. This weekend, I found myself cleaning stables twice a day and keeping my horse company half the time. She injured her leg and the vet said to keep her inside for a couple of weeks. She's going crazy, and I'm not really mad about all the horse shit and the wet shavings. My horses usually live out, and this is the first time I've actually used the stables since we moved in four years ago.

Some good and bad news: it looks like flights have come down a little, so it won't cost an arm and a leg AND two teeth to get to Luxembourg and the Red Lion Challenge. I hope someone there will have a shield or surcoat for swaps. Yes, we are still heading in that direction, preparing for profight and buhurt, although I'm sad to say that because of a tremendous lack of support from pretty much everyone, we won't all be able to afford to go. We couldn't raise the funds by ourselves, so it looks like only two or three of us will make it.

But you know what we always say: fuck 'em all. We're fighters. We'll make it happen. The Rogues may be overlooked and underfunded, but we are still going strong, and we'll only get better and stronger with time.

What doesn't kill us... should run.