Which florentine?
For one there's a kind of inherent cliff when fighting florentine between a person who simply runs out there flailing and a person who is actually good at what they do. For another, over the years I've developed 13 different styles of florentine (I literally just finished counting them) so when someone talks about "teaching them to florentine" I look at them without actually knowing what they're asking. Did they want to learn to fight in close or do they prefer to fight far away? Is the person generally a more defensive fighter or are they a more aggressive fighter to begin with? What weapon sets are they trying to learn how to beat, in what context or field are they learning to fight on?
Depending on how they answer the tools that I give them may change. A person who is never going to be aggressive as a fighter probably shouldn't learn an offensive, point blank range version of florentine. And a person who is always going after their opponents is probably not well suited to learn how to play a game of counter blows at mid range. The issue for me also with teaching these things is that with the exception of 1 of my 13 different styles they're all the same thing in my head. Switching from one style to the next has become seamless in my head so I don't really have that one default setting that I always start out in to teach someone the way that I do for fighting red, spear, or sword and board. Instead it's all about context. Speaking of which...
Teaching Chess
Assuming that I COULD narrow it down to just teaching someone just one of the 13 styles, (well, 10 that are actually valid things to teach a person) so much of fighting with florentine is about learning how to play a game of chess well, and that's not something I necessarily know how to teach as that generally comes with experience. Playing chess is the idea that when you move your body in a certain way, or throw a certain shot you can expect your opponent to respond to that swing/movement in a way that's predictable. Playing chess is punishing them for their predictable response which is provoked by your swing/movement. In some cases going so far as to train the other person to play chess against you badly, by doing the same thing repeatedly and then doing what looks to be that same thing, only to punish them in a different way. While there's lots of useful swings/combos that you can learn to throw as a florentine fighter, when it comes right down to it, it's really a judgement call on what to throw and when based on your ability to outwit your opponent. If they'll just sit there while you swing at them it certainly helps since you can fail repeatedly, but most fighters will not be be content to be used as living pells while you figure your shit out and will instead come kill you instead.
A lot of people have said that throwing scissors or atomic scissors is ALWAYS a bad shot. The truth is, it's perfectly fine to throw that swing. In plenty of cases it's the best shot to throw but what matters is context. The reason why people say that scissors (a swing from both hands at their torso) or atomic scissors (a wrap from both hands aimed at their torso) is a bad shot is because every new florentine fighter instinctively throws that right away as their first shot. This is bad for two reasons. The first being that even if you hit something you're likely to die and the second being that there's no guarantee you'll hit anything. Also, in most cases the people throwing that shot don't even know how to throw it effectively because they haven't learned how to throw wrap shots and they telegraph their movements so it isn't thrown quickly. Atomic scissors done correctly starts OUTSIDE of your opponents range so you don't get hit while you wind up. It then goes into a step to inside of their range, and ends in two very deep wraps that are thrown quickly. The whole process if done correctly takes about a second and a half, which, relative to just throwing swings is a lot of shots you aren't taking but, if thrown correctly, is two very difficult shots to block. The way I typically see it executed is; guy runs at enemy, looks at the ground and then gives the opponent a hug with their weapons. That way is bad. That way telegraphs, misses and gets you killed nearly 100% of the time. The way that I throw that shot, I can't think of a time when it's missed, even if it's not a kill shot it always at least gets an arm. But the thing is, there are lots of times I don't throw that shot because I KNOW ahead of time that it JUST WON'T WORK. When it is the right shot to throw, it works wonderfully because it's the right shot to throw which is typically against slower moving, defensive boardsmen.
Do you even know what you're getting into?
I feel like also people come and ask me to teach them florentine because they see me doing it and I look cool. The fact that I can beat people with florentine though has nothing to do with any inherent traits of the weapon set however. Usually the reason I can beat people with florentine is because they've been fighting for 1-3 years and I've been fighting for 13. With that kind of skill gap I can also take them apart sword and board, with a red, or a spear but since I favor florentine that's what I usually get asked for. The issue being that nothing I can teach them is going to overnight translate into an instant +10 years of fighting experience, regardless of the weapon set that I teach them to use. Being as good as I am with ANY weapon set is the result of a shit ton of time and energy fighting and training consciously to use whatever I'm using. Sometimes that's trying to be more fit in the form of exercise or trying to up my cardio, other days that simply practicing a shot I'm trying to get down until I've nailed the body mechanics for it and it's finally correct. But most people don't see that time and energy I spend on those things in part because I travel to different realms and in part because it looks a lot like just fighting. So when a person comes up and asks me for training, it's often with words like, "I want to fight florentine like you do" or "teach me to fight like that". It's not that I'm opposed to trying to impart my knowledge of florentine fighting to other individuals, but I suspect for the majority of people they're either going after it for the wrong reasons, or aren't going to spend the time developing their skills so that they reach the point where they're effective. I've seen and helped at least partially train a TON of mediocre florentine fighters. In all my something like a decade of teaching there's only a handful of noteworthy florentine fighters that I've trained. The secret to why there aren't many good florentine fighters is simple. It's hard to become good.
It's not to say that I can't train a florentine fighter. But my way, my method of teaching of people, is time consuming. While it certainly has it's advantages if you stick with it and learn everything I have to teach, learning just a few tricks from me will only get you so far. The rest, is your own time and energy. I can help you learn how to do things, but how much you improve and how quickly you improve are things are that are by and large beyond my control. So when someone comes up to me and wants to learn to florentine just like I do but won't be around for any further training... I'm usually at a loss for what to do, because the truth is, I'm not going to be able to do much for them.
No comments:
Post a Comment