SCA Combat Curriculum Development - After-Action Review - Week 1 Drills

Yesterday, I ran the Week 1 drill for the first time with an audience not my immediate family.  Participants were myself and a local who has done pell work but not actual combat.  He is left-handed and has focus and attention problems, which introduce complications, and my own focus was not perfect and introduced further complications.

Plan

Drill is four-count and is supposed to be:
1. Attacker flat-snap to defender head.
2. Defender punch-block.
3. Attacker rolls hand and targets offside head.
4. Defender parries with sword.

What Happened

Drill

What I ran, instead, was:
1. Attacker offside snap to defender head.
2. Defender punch block.
3. Defender flat snap to attacker head.
4. Attacker punch-block.
5. Attacker offside snap to defender head.
6. Defender parry.
7. Defender flat snap to attacker head.
8. Attacker parry.

This drill was run from "learn choreography" to roughly 50% speeds.

Corrective Actions

We identified the following problems in partner mechanics:

1. Shield drift.
2. Straight knees.
3. Arm to power shot.

We addressed each of the problems by improvising a training measure on the spot - for shield drift, practiced sword strikes while he was required to press shield boss into my shield boss; for knees, dropping the knees and hips to parry low shots; for arm, the "noodle arm shot" where the elbow stays anchored to the body and the body rotates at the hips.

Deficiencies

Instructor focus and "buck fever" led to drill becoming more complicated than it needed to be.  This reduces the number of places that the instructor can spend his attention, and increases the number of points which the student must focus on.  BOTH of these reduce the student's ability to learn.

Instructor needs to identify student measure clearly early on, leading to very close engagement.  This led to the instructor and student being in close range, and the instructor not being able to watch the student's whole range of motion.

Improves

1. Prior to drill, instructor should review teaching material and focus on task at hand.
2. Establish measure at arm's length to establish C range.
3. Run the drill as originally written.

Sustains

1. Drill as run worked, and student understood lesson.
2. Corrections were identified, and corrective measures implemented, in a timely fashion.
3. Student picked up tempo and moved at reasonable approximation of combat speed.
4. Student generated appropriate power, bent knees, and kept shield forward by end of lesson.

Overall Verdict

Procedure is sound.  Instructor would benefit from material review, focus, and calming breaths prior to teaching.

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