Flowerpoint 2022: Fertilizer
FlowerPoint: Fertilizer 2022 was a HEMA camping event centered around workshops; giving participants a chance to learn new techniques and weapons, but also giving them a chance to socialize in a laid back setting without the pressure of competition. Those of you who tune into our blogs often may have picked up on the fact that we compete in a bunch of tournaments. They’re super fun, are a great way to get to see other HEMA enthusiasts, but the hustle and bustle of the tournaments often don’t leave much room for socialization or classes which is why I love coming to events like this one.
FlowerPoint 2017 was by far my most humbling tournament experience. The rules were that every time a fighter was hit, it would detract from their overall score, meaning that you could win all of your fights and still not make it into the elimination bracket if you allowed your opponent to hit you a bunch. At that time I was a wild and reckless fighter, prioritizing coming in hot and fast over self preservation, skill, and patience. I got my ass handed to me! It was after that experience that I went from just being an avid fighter to becoming an instructor. Once I started teaching new students, I started seeing them repeat the mistakes I’d been making in my younger years. I got to practice waiting for opponents to create openings for me to strike safely instead of pouncing on the first opening I saw. In a lot of ways I had my first FlowerPoint experience to thank for helping me mature as a fighter, so when Patrick McCafferry and Rebecca Glass asked me if I had anything to teach at the event’s more laid back revival, I was ready and eager to help out!
FlowerPoint: Fertilizer 2022 gave participants the opportunity to not only take classes from some pretty big names in the HEMA world such as Frank Zamary, Colin Vrendenburg, and Stephen Cheney, but also gave an avenue for newer travelling instructors like Camilla Frazier, Storm Michel, and me to share their insights with people from outside of their clubs. Of the classes I participated in, I was especially fond of Ian Davis’s “Abrazare grappling class”. Recently I put on a bunch of weight and Ian taught me how to put it to good use by man handling people! Mariana’s “Drill Bits” class gave great advice on how to take a core concept, break it down into individual steps, and form a class that is approachable to new students. Although I’ve been teaching for quite some time, it never hurts to brush up on these kinds of classes to make sure you aren’t so set in your ways that you overlook critical steps to ensuring students are receiving the best possible instruction. Patrick Paglen’s dagger class was also a hoot! I’d just bought a new dagger holder from Tekko (which will be another blog entry coming soon) and I was itching to learn how best to go from zero to stab and Patrick’s class didn’t disappoint.
Patrick Paglen teaching me not to get stabbed with a dagger!
I even managed to jump in on Colin Vrendenburg’s Dutcstreza class and I’m thankful for it. His “silly games” approach emphasized in a fun way the importance of being able to balance on one leg when fighting in order to be able to shift your body weight either forward or backwards depending on your opponents actions. I’ve been doing that in one shape or form for years and I thought I was just being a big silly goose, but it’s nice to see there’s some martial validity to my craziness.
Then there was my Rapier and Cape class!
During the class we discussed the historical context in which people fought with rapiers and capes, the physics behind how fighting with a cape works, and I showed them a few moves! During initial trial runs of the class I discovered that the heavier the cape the faster and more responsive it was when attempting to deflect an opponent’s thrust. I’d sewed some metal washers onto the end of each cape and that did work to a certain extent, but the students who had the most success were definitely the ones who brought their own capes. I’ve trained with my lighter weighted cape and have become accustomed to using it, but for newer students I could definitely see the struggle was real. Still though the class was well attended and thought who participated definitely enjoyed themselves!
Towards the end of the event we had the coupe the gras: Fight McChampionship! This fun light hearted opt in tournament was open to anyone who hadn’t *won* a HEMA tournament (of any weapon). We were given a poker chip. During the day people could challenge anyone to a pre-lim fight, wagering their poker chip against their opponent’s. Everyone who still had a poker chip after the Judging Seminar got to fight in a single elim tournament. The bracket was designed so that the more poker chips a person has, the more “bye” rounds they can have.
Rules for matches:
Both fighters agree on weapon and format (single exchange, best of 3, LP rules, FP rules, Nordic, weighted targets, etc), with the person challenged having final preference.
There must be at least 1 outside judge watching and confirming the results.
Fighters must be in appropriate gear for their weapon and format.
You may use any weapon (or not a weapon) you choose during any portion of the McChampionship, as long as your opponent agrees. Yes, this means that you can do a foot race or play “rock, paper, scissors” for your chip, as long as you both agree and have a witness
Jie Wu challenged me to a katana vs longsword match. Although this video wasn’t exactly the match, a friend was kind enough to videotape this other fight.
Jie won. He then fought someone else and won that fight as well. Figuring I was out of the tournament I started drinking. That’s when Patrick came by and offered me another chip. I then proceeded to fight 4 people IN A ROW until I made my way to the finals when I got to fight Jie Wu again, who had 3 byes because of his earlier scheming. By that point I was exhausted but I wasn’t gonna just let him win. He won … but I made him fight for it!
All in all I had a wonderful time and look forward to not only the next FlowerPoint but Harvestfecht in September where I’ll be teaching my Rapier and Cape class again!
Special thanks goes to:
Patrick McCaffrey and Rebecca Glass for running an awesome event and inviting me to teach
Colin Vrendenburg, Ian Davis, Patrick Paglen, Mariana Lopez, and Frank Zamary for putting on some amazing classes
All of the students who attended my Rapier and Cape Class
Jie Wu for yet another exciting match
Brad Lyn for taking some amazing photos/video and discussing a secret project he and I are collaborating on
