RingoI’ve been back in America for about 5 months now. I’ve been training again on and off for 4 months and regularly training for two. I only really started fighting regularly again this last month. Before that I spent 6 months in a van training when I could but haphazard at best. Before that I spent 2 years on and off making some training and local events or isolating in my house doing nothing. And before that, at Carnage 2020, the Reunification I was injured and unable to fight. I had been injured since Halloween 2019…. meaning my last major event was likely the original HMB qualifier for the Arnolds earlier that month. It’s been 3 years and 3 months since I was last super active in sword sports.
3 years and 3 months is not that long in the scale of a life. It’s a large hunk of an athletes top potential period. It’s forever in a sport that’s only been in the US for 11 years. Perhaps that’s why it feels like I’ve lost so much. I look around and can’t help but think I’ve fallen behind, to the point of basically having to start at the beginning of training. The strange part is when I get back on the field, I do notice how rusty I am but it does not seem that far off from when I was active and considered myself near the top of American fighters. Multiple fighters told me I had a good performance and while some of that I think is biased to just being glad to see a friend back in armor and wanting to encourage him, I do think there was truth to it as well. Still despite that I am no where near the level of the top fighters on my team, Kynaz, Warlords, Dominus, Skalligrams, or White Company(last three not strictly American but they fought at Carnage so it counts for the purpose of this)
Partially that’s because I’m at least a yard behind the top tier of the game now. The sport has changed drastically in the past few years, evolving and moving on when I was barely holding onto the skills I had. When I was last active there were only 3-5 people in the states seriously working judo into their training for takedowns. Now basically everyone serious is at least paying attention and knows the name of a one Japanese throw. Before simply being an athlete actively training and willing to take a beating got you halfway to the top of the country. Now it’s the bare minimum to be an average fighter.
It’s a good thing to see the growth. Even the growth in the past year is apparent in so many fighters and teams. I have two big events under my belt this year and the growth at the middle and top ends of the sport is ridiculous. For now, I’m still reflecting on personal impressions so I will leave off reporting on the specifics of who did what at AMCF or Carnage. I have not had time to review the footage and any attempt I make at recollection only will be biased and lack proper context. Likely multiple specific moments I remember distinctly happening will show to have happened quite differently due to flaws of gray matter storage, particularly during emotionally intense scenarios.
After getting to fight some of the best of the country and even the world I think I can almost hold my own, but the difference between competent, good, and great begins to be more and more apparent, at least in the mens. Cat used to talk about fighters on a 1-5 scale. Fighters at 1 were basically wet floor signs, they had neither offence nor defense and could be taken out with a push. Fighters at 2 had learned a skill, they might have one throw, some basic striking, or the ability to resist simple grapples. Half if not most fighters at the time were 2’s. They could kinda do one thing and not very well, rarely a threat. At 3 fighters either had one really good skill but some big holes or were decent everywhere. They might be really fast and able to blast most fighter over with checks but had no grappling. Or perhaps they could take untold amounts of damage and would not go down to anything but the highest level takedowns, usually a 2v1 but had absolutely no ability to hurt anyone. Or they simply had a few ugly throws, struck hard and precise enough that people didn’t like it, and feet good enough that people had to work to get throws. Maybe 20-30% of fighters at the time were 3’s, middle of the road ok fights. Probably less.
It was at 4 and 5 where fighters really began to distinguish themselves and gain a name. To be a 4 a fighter had to have no large holes in their game and at least one if not more skills that really separated them from the pack. 10% or less of fighters were in this area. To be a 5 a fighter had to be a hero. They had to be able to win rounds by themselves, consistently out perform even other high level fighters in multiple areas of the game. At the time we didn’t really think fighters stayed at 5 but were 4s that occasionally fought as 5’s for a tournament. To put in perspective there was likely less than 150 active fighters at the time so there were maybe 10-15 fighters at the 4 or good level.
I think that scale still holds but I think we have maybe 50+ fighters in 3 range now. And there are well over 20 fighters at the 4 level. There may in fact be a up to a whole 8 man at the 5 level consistently now. It’s pretty clear in the domination the great have over the good and the good have over the decent.
Another way of thinking of it is a 5 should always beat a 4 and a 4 should always beat a 3. Usually in such a way there is no question. AMCF showed the growth in 3’s with a much deeper middle pool. Carnage showed the growth in 4’s and 5’s. Men’s medium outrance(MMO) and men’s 5v5 were the most obvious I think, but it showed in most of the duels and other outrance I watched. In MMO each there were some very 1 sided wins in the first leg of the bracket. And then the second leg of the bracket showed similar 1 sided wins for each fighter originally granted a bye. And then there were similar 1 sided wins in the semis and even in the finals. In Melee the same appeared mostly to be true, the teams originally selected for seeding into brackets basically made short work of all other teams, but then even there the separation between Dominus/White Company and the rest was clear.
I believe somehow, I’ve managed to stay a 4 despite my numerous breaks from serious training or and time away from competition. Keeping my toe in the sport could have been enough, though I think it’s mostly due to studying the sport. Also, I do not think I have a solid grasp on the ledge of the 4th level fighting. I’ve always been a sloppy fighter and this weekend more than any other has shown me the problem with that. My instincts are also not what they were. I’m too slow to react, failing to take the whole field into perspective, and I’m getting tunnel vision too often.
I’m trying to think what the take away from this is and not really sure I know. I believe I know the things I need to work on…but not why despite the sports growth only a few people have completely surpassed me, most of which were better than me 3 years ago. I don’t know what things I learned and worked on that got me here, nor what stayed that kept me here. I know I owe a lot to The Knight Hall and my main trainers Jaye and Cat and I remain grateful to them. I don’t know what separates me from others of their students though. I think I know what separates say Colin or Brett from me. Also, the difference between Craig or Cat and me. I struggle to put my finger on the difference between Johnny Porter or Creed and me. I haven’t seen enough tape or training of either of the Dan’s pushing the top of the sport to really know but hopefully I can figure it out.
I guess as a wrap up I can put this. While you were playing video games, I was probably studying the blade.