Dijon tournament 2008

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Dijon tournament 2008

Postby admin » 09 Apr 2008 09:57

Here are the rules, with some options - I think they are pretty cool:
http://ardamhe.free.fr/pournous/rules.htm
http://www.antique-swords.co.uk/

I like swords more than you.
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Postby scholadays » 09 Apr 2008 10:15

I like the silly hat clause.
A lot of knowledge can also be a dangerous thing - in the right hands.
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Postby Mark Lancaster » 11 Apr 2008 20:03

Excellent history throw back with "the hat".

The old crest on the helmet being knocked off - hence "crest fallen"

More of this I say! :D
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Postby Wolfgang Ritter » 28 Apr 2008 19:35

Hi,
didn't want to start a new thread.
So here are my conclusions about this years tournament:

First: I have to apologize to Art D'Armes who - correct me if I'm wrong - figured out the rules.
I didn't want to attend, because I thought it was way to complicated and over-regulated. (I then attended nevertheless due to some "voluntary decision" provoked by some austrian intrigue....Nigel, do me a favor and write the nice curse you learned....but that's a different story)

But in fact the practice was without any complcation and rather smooth...

I like the idea of the assistant judges showing their skills in public as a start of the tournament. Maybe an adjustment here and there, but it worked fine I guess.

The biggest problem was the head judge, or to be more precise the way the head judge was chosen.
I think it rather pointless to choose the head judge by simply asking "Who's volunteering?"

The first fights were full of misunderstandings; there where lots of people (for example me) disagreeing with the head judge and his way of judging which was more of a coaching....anyway, as turned out by some conversation between my buddy Predrag and Ilkka, the latter was absolutely unaware of what to expect and what was expected by him. He never attended a tournament in that "HEMAC/Dijon -style" before and was absolutely unaware of the sort of rather self-regulated style of freeplay in a relaxed atmosphere.
I guess all who saw the whole tournament will agree that his style changed much to the better after the break. He even smiled....after he knew in what kind of atmosphere Dijon freeplay and tournament is usually settled.

The thing is: it's a crappy and rather unthankful job to do judgement ( I try to avoid wherever possible...).
But we have nowadays quite an amount of skilled and widely known as well as respected instructors/practitioners.
It should be no problem to point out a head judge and simply clarify, what to be expected before the whole thing starts.

This changed, I think the whole idea has a future.
Maybe a bit more variety in the weapons, but that's just for a bonus....

Anyway, thanks to Ilkka for having the guts to volunteer AND being able to react to criticism with the will to adjust!

Regards
Wolfgang
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Postby Fab » 28 Apr 2008 21:53

I think that break/moving outside did good, yes.

Maybe a tournament between all judges volunteers to determine who'd be the head judge ? Or just drawing lots ? Or chnaging head judge at each fight ?


I personally also thank Ilkka for volunteering and adapting to the mood, and also for sometimes insisting on pedagogy. I think he did a great job - and the fact that it was his first Dijon event kind of gave him an aura of neutrality and objectivity, and that's cool :)

Problem, partly, was that we had no printed versions of the rules, which meant that all the judges had only their memory to rely on, and after 3 days and 3 nights of Dijon, this is a huge task.


Also, I enjoyed that you agreed to be a 'forced volunteering' fighter for that tournament, Wolfgang, because I quite liked your way to fight.
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Postby Wolfgang Ritter » 29 Apr 2008 11:32

Fab wrote:I think that break/moving outside did good, yes.

Maybe a tournament between all judges volunteers to determine who'd be the head judge ? Or just drawing lots ? Or chnaging head judge at each fight ?


I personally also thank Ilkka for volunteering and adapting to the mood, and also for sometimes insisting on pedagogy. I think he did a great job - and the fact that it was his first Dijon event kind of gave him an aura of neutrality and objectivity, and that's cool :)

Problem, partly, was that we had no printed versions of the rules, which meant that all the judges had only their memory to rely on, and after 3 days and 3 nights of Dijon, this is a huge task.


Also, I enjoyed that you agreed to be a 'forced volunteering' fighter for that tournament, Wolfgang, because I quite liked your way to fight.

Well, you won't get Galaktischer Gigaherrscher without nothing.......

No, to be serious: After some more conversation with Ilkka, I see the blame more on us, than on him. He did quite good as a judge. The pedagogy-thingy was more a question of adjusting the right amount. I do find it a lot better if a judge gives short notice of why it was a hit, miss, double hit or expressionist dance...

I wouldn't change the head judge on every fight.
That would surely lead to different judgements.
The main judge should stay throughout the whole tournament, only changing in case one fighter comes from his own school for example.

The head judge should therefore provide some knowledge about different styles as well. For example a Liechtenauerian may not be able to spot the better performance of style if two Fiorista perform a flourish (like the assistant judges or in the final), but he should have an idea to distinguish if someone is within his or her system.

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Postby Ilkka Hartikainen » 29 Apr 2008 12:35

Hi!

Since I got involved in this, I'd like to express my own view of the tournament and my thoughts on it.

In our school I have been taught a method of constructively presiding free-play, where the aim is to better the fighters skills while the techniques are to be done under certain amount of stress and with a lot of variables in play.

For me personally, free play or sparring as some may call it, is an exercise for learning just as any other; if you take any set pair exercise and add enough degrees of freedom it becomes free play. Therefore, I wish to see similar process of giving corrections and giving advice as would be done in any other exercise.

I was not prepared for the judging, and very correctly have never participated or even witnessed earlier tournaments in Dijon. Thus I had to go with my gut instincts, especially since the rules didn't deny giving corrections or announcing how the hits were made, they rather suggested doing so.

I also enjoyed the latter part more than the first one, going outdoors and a small break helped build a more relaxed and friendlier atmosphere. Additionally, at that point all the combatants had already had their first bout, thus much of the tensions and excitement built had already dissolved.

I apologize if I came off as not accepting critique on the half-time, quite the contrary I gave it a lot of thought and tried to find a middle road where I didn't have to sacrifice in safety or method, but at the same time creating a more easy and relaxed atmosphere - which apparently worked at least to some extent.

When it comes to coaching, I definitely don't see myself in a position where I was to give advice to everybody, but from my perspective I could see the hits more easily than the combatants (most of the time) and I didn't wish to stop the fight without a reason, and I believe it is necessary to announce the reason whenever it is not blindingly obvious. And I hope that at least some of the combatants found the advice useful.

I feel bad that you people never saw me fight or had a chance to have a go against me, since my original intention was to participate in the tournament myself and fight everybody as much as possible. I hope we can fix this problem next year, and everybody willing can cross swords with me, steel, shinai, wrestling - you name it, I like it.

Finally I hope everybody knew that my vote on the winner had no more weight than any of the other judges. :) In any case, most of the feedback I got was positive, and that which wasn't was constructive (even more useful), so I guess at least this year gave a show of a slightly different way of running a tournament. Next year, I agree, please give the selection of judges more thought and whoever is the judge he/she shouldn't be picked up two hours before the event, (and if the judge is new to you all, don't give him full authority, as he/she might then do things his/her way! :) ).

Please feel free to give more feedback, I believe this discussion can be very fruitful considering the coming years tournaments!


Yours,
Ilkka
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About different styles

Postby Ilkka Hartikainen » 29 Apr 2008 13:09

Wolfgang,

I agree completely that the head judge needs to have knowledge of all the various systems that might be used by the competitors, at least to some degree.

I personally wish to learn as much as I can about the Liechtenauer tradition, even if I am a Fiore-man myself, in the same way as I wish to learn backsword even if the Bolognese sidesword is much more dear to me.

At this stage in the game (WMA in general) I believe that we need specialists to research/develop specific systems, but for better exchange with others and especially for a complete understanding of their specialty fields we need to be able to cross-reference with other systems. And as instructors the wide base of knowledge makes it possible to teach people from other systems so that we understand why they have certain tendencies typical to their systems - and it also helps when judging a tournament.


Yours,
Ilkka
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Postby Harry » 29 Apr 2008 13:31

Ilkka Hartikainen wrote:I feel bad that you people never saw me fight or had a chance to have a go against me, since my original intention was to participate in the tournament myself and fight everybody as much as possible. I hope we can fix this problem next year, and everybody willing can cross swords with me, steel, shinai, wrestling - you name it, I like it.

Ilkka


I am quite sure, even the other person would have been the better fencer you are then just like the austrian monarchist friedrich III... just wait and getting old, because, all other will die sooner :D

with your conidtion and physicial form you would have outrun everybody else in dijon :D


now for the tournaments... I have seen all of them and last year I was one of the judges and I think we all agree that this tournament was the one with the higehst level.

you did a great job, especially because you knew no one of us.

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Postby Vive la France ! » 29 Apr 2008 13:35

Actually, we think that if this tournament was so satisfacting (for our point of view at least), it is manly because of the wonderful role played by Ilkka.
Because of his experience, of his natural authority, he allowed the fight to get rid of what we didn't like before : the unchivalrous behaviour, the double hits, the overviolent strikes...Because of his advises during the bout, he allowed the stressed fighter to remember that a tournament is more to show a good technique than to win and allowed them to display the best of them.
I know that we are a bunch a independant mavericks, that we don't like to be told what to do, me like the others, but i don't think it is always a good thing. We need sometimes an autorithy who will remind us of what to do and a tournament is a perfect example of when we need it.
Because one is put under pressure by the public, the cameras, the will to win...one forget easily some basics (stop when we are hit, don't strike too hard, that the other one is a camarade and not an ennemy....) and the authority of the judge is then necessary, for the pleasure of the public, for the pleasure too of the bouters and more important, for their own safety, because a bout can be something dangerous, because shinai is not completly neutralized and can still be dangerous, because a wrestling can still degenerate in a snap...
An hema tournament is not something to be taken too lightly, it is not an innocent game, it's a simulation of violence with unperfect tools, it have to be treated with that in mind.
That's why, even if if it does not please we need rules and more than this good judges to make them work and Ilkka was the right guy at the right place.

Put Ilkka in a tournament with a bad set of rules, i'll bet it will end with a good tournament anyway
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Re: About different styles

Postby Wolfgang Ritter » 29 Apr 2008 13:36

Ilkka Hartikainen wrote:Wolfgang,

I agree completely that the head judge needs to have knowledge of all the various systems that might be used by the competitors, at least to some degree.

I personally wish to learn as much as I can about the Liechtenauer tradition, even if I am a Fiore-man myself, in the same way as I wish to learn backsword even if the Bolognese sidesword is much more dear to me.

At this stage in the game (WMA in general) I believe that we need specialists to research/develop specific systems, but for better exchange with others and especially for a complete understanding of their specialty fields we need to be able to cross-reference with other systems. And as instructors the wide base of knowledge makes it possible to teach people from other systems so that we understand why they have certain tendencies typical to their systems - and it also helps when judging a tournament.


Yours,
Ilkka

Hi Ilkka,
nice to see you here!
Well I have nothing to disagree with!
Actually there were smaller incidents here and there where I thought that there is a misunderstanding due to different systems.
I'd like to have done some freeplay with you, but we were leaving quite early on sunday. But I hope, we will meet again!
And once again, being the judge is a hard job, thank you for having the courage to go for it!

Regards
Wolfgang
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Postby admin » 29 Apr 2008 16:54

I echo what Michael says - I think Ilkka did an excellent job of running the tournament. I agreed with 90% of his comments and judgements, which is good enough for me. :D
The most important thing was that quality of fencing got better and better towards the end of the tournament, which is the main sign of success in the system we used.
http://www.antique-swords.co.uk/

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Postby Ilkka Hartikainen » 30 Apr 2008 08:02

Hi!

One thing I'd like to add is, that in my opinion the coaching part of the judging was necessary because no points were scored. As the decision was based on the judges' opinion on the abilities of the two swordsmen in terms of technical skill, behavior as well as or even more than pure fighting skill, giving the advices helped in making this decision. A good swordsman, and a good scholar demonstrates the ability to learn and the discipline to be coached in this kind of environment.

If points would've been given, the approach would've had to be different, but I think the method applied this year worked better and gave better results, especially since our aim (at least for most of us) is not competition where points are important, but martial skill for a context which, while non-existent in our culture, has potentially lethal consequences following from the first mistake one makes.


Yours,
Ilkka
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Postby Fab » 30 Apr 2008 11:04

Well said.
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Tournament

Postby Tweedledee » 30 Apr 2008 18:13

Hi all,

I just wanted to agree with Matt - overall I thought the tournament was well judged and exciting to watch.

IIkka carried out the judging according to the rules laid down and, in my opinion, the tournament was one of the best I've seen.

Obviously, I'm biased as the mighty Iron Maydon won.

Cheers,

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Postby J Marwood » 30 Apr 2008 21:37

Welcome to the forum Gavin!
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Postby Fallguy » 01 May 2008 11:26

Hi,

My first post here as well :) . I have to say that I agree with what has been said already. I know that there was a bit of 'teeth sucking' to start with when the first press ups were issued but as people have said already this was part of the rules laid down.

I believe that it was one of the best tournaments that I have seen and all fighters showed skill in their chosen weapons. Perhaps this format is one that can be adopted for future tournaments?

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Postby Fab » 01 May 2008 12:01

Hey welcome here Pete !
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Postby D. de Grenier » 07 May 2008 16:54

Hello,

as some people asks me during the event, here is the list of all the fights during the tournament.
It could be usefull for your video...
------------
## First Round ##
1
Colin Richards / Arts of Mars
Wolfgang Ritter / Zornhau (winner)
2
Yann Bauzin / Fechtklub & EPUT (winner)
Lucas Guyot / De Taille & d'Estoc
3
Ahrens Helge / Arts of Mars (winner)
Stevie Thurston
4
Papai Adam / A Kard Rendje (winner)
Gavin Locke / De Taille & d'Estoc
5
Kacz Gabor / A Kard Rendje (winner)
Alex Fatou / De Taille & d'Estoc
6
Jozsef Czelder / A Kard Rendje (winner)
Benjamin Conan / De Taille & d'Estoc
7
Thomas Lobo
Cyril "Kurso" Perrier / De Taille & d'Estoc (winner)
8
Reiner van Noort / Noorderwind
Gabin Corrotte / De Taille & d'Estoc (winner)
9
Peter Regenyei
Wolf Eichler / Arts of Mars (winner)
10
Michael Lüdtke / Zornhau
Pete Maydon / Boar's Tooth (winner)
11
Scott Brown (forfeit)
Teddy Coulaud / De Taille & d'Estoc
12
David Lucasureta / FESA
Loïs Forster / De Taille & d'Estoc (winner)
13
Philippe Errard / ARDAMHE (winner)
Simon Thurston / Schola Gladiatoria
14
Paul Bennett / KDF
Nigel Plum / Schola Gladiatoria (winner)
15
Francess Perry / KDF
Daniel Jaquet / CDL (winner)
16
Oli Walter / Dreynschlag (winner)
Arash Jamali / Schola Gladiatoria


## Round before quarter-final ##
17
Wolfgang Ritter / Zornhau (winner)
Yann Bauzin / Fechtklub & EPUT
18
Ahrens Helge / Arts of Mars
Papai Adam / A Kard Rendje (winner)
19
Kacz Gabor / A Kard Rendje (winner)
Jozsef Czelder / A Kard Rendje
20
Cyril "Kurso" Perrier / De Taille & d'Estoc (winner)
Gabin Corrotte / De Taille & d'Estoc
21
Wolf Eichler / Arts of Mars
Pete Maydon / Boar's Tooth (winner)
22
Teddy Coulaud / De Taille & d'Estoc
Loïs Forster / De Taille & d'Estoc (winner)
23
Philippe Errard / ARDAMHE (winner)
Nigel Plum / Schola Gladiatoria
24
Daniel Jaquet / CDL (winner)
Oli Walter / Dreynschlag


## Quarter-final ##
25
Wolfgang Ritter / Zornhau
Papai Adam / A Kard Rendje (winner)
26
Kacz Gabor / A Kard Rendje (winner)
Cyril "Kurso" Perrier / De Taille & d'Estoc
27
Pete Maydon / Boar's Tooth (winner)
Loïs Forster / De Taille & d'Estoc
28
Philippe Errard / ARDAMHE (winner)
Daniel Jaquet / CDL


## Semi-final ##
29
Papai Adam / A Kard Rendje (winner)
Kacz Gabor / A Kard Rendje
30
Pete Maydon / Boar's Tooth (winner)
Philippe Errard / ARDAMHE


## Final ##
31
Papai Adam / A Kard Rendje
Pete Maydon / Boar's Tooth (winner)

@++

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Postby Axel » 07 May 2008 17:47

Those guys from A Kard Rendje seems like a skilled bunch!
Swiftly and with style

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