I have been sparring without tournament gear for a long time, and now I am trying out old-school swordsmanship with tournament gear. My conclusion so far is that tournament gear makes a huge difference.
Not only is the jacket hot or heavy, but all the other factors that cover the body and head and make it difficult to move the fingers also dull the sense of the opponent and make it difficult to manipulate the fingers in detail. In the end, the game is played mainly with strong force.
So the old way is still an important standard for practicing old swordsmanship. Of course, modern people have a great aversion to getting hit on the head with a sword and bleeding. We can practice with old rules, wearing only a fencing mask with compromised hand protection. Of course, friendly "dry" fencing is possible if you have overcome a little fear and mastered the basic skills, as you have seen in my videos.
The video you posted, however, has all of the hallmarks of what I talk about in the rant. On multiple occasions your partner moves to parry poorly and you have to pull a shot so you don't hit them, you almost accidentally hit someone so they give up on an exchange, or otherwise neuter your fencing for the sake of not wearing gear. See the exchange at 1:08 as an example. Accidental thrust to the shoulder, partner gives up and starts just defending, prellhau that's pulled, leg cut because they are done. If you had been wearing gear, both the thrust and the prellhau could have actually been completed, and the "threat" of the sword maintained.
I also find gear-fit excuses, no dexterity/clunky/etc, to be another rantable topic, but that's a story for a different day!
I didn't accidentally stab my opponent in the shoulder. It was an attack with the intention of using a squint. prellhau and the subsequent attempted leg slap also went in properly.
Also what you saw is a phenomenon that occurs because self-defense is more important in this old way of sparring. We are well aware of the limitations of sparring in this way, but it's still a good idea to try.
It seems like the big exceptions to the problems you are talking about are those of us who do actully hit eachother in the head and draw blood. I agree. If you just do cooperative fencing with no gear without hitting eachother it's bogus. If you do the real thing with the real outcome though its a different story.
I think that you can, however, get close to a similar end while still wearing protective equipment. Fencing to the bloom may be the actual real 1565 way of the fechtschule, but we can't and shouldn't expect people to engage in that sorta fencing nowadays. IMO you can wear full on kit, head to toe, and have more Meyer-like fencing than the ungeared sword rubbing pseudo larping you sometimes see called truly historical (to lean into hot take language) if you combine the right constraints with the right motivations.
Don't get me started on any "fear the blade" type stuff, though...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkZN4CODJpE
I have been sparring without tournament gear for a long time, and now I am trying out old-school swordsmanship with tournament gear. My conclusion so far is that tournament gear makes a huge difference.
Not only is the jacket hot or heavy, but all the other factors that cover the body and head and make it difficult to move the fingers also dull the sense of the opponent and make it difficult to manipulate the fingers in detail. In the end, the game is played mainly with strong force.
So the old way is still an important standard for practicing old swordsmanship. Of course, modern people have a great aversion to getting hit on the head with a sword and bleeding. We can practice with old rules, wearing only a fencing mask with compromised hand protection. Of course, friendly "dry" fencing is possible if you have overcome a little fear and mastered the basic skills, as you have seen in my videos.
The video you posted, however, has all of the hallmarks of what I talk about in the rant. On multiple occasions your partner moves to parry poorly and you have to pull a shot so you don't hit them, you almost accidentally hit someone so they give up on an exchange, or otherwise neuter your fencing for the sake of not wearing gear. See the exchange at 1:08 as an example. Accidental thrust to the shoulder, partner gives up and starts just defending, prellhau that's pulled, leg cut because they are done. If you had been wearing gear, both the thrust and the prellhau could have actually been completed, and the "threat" of the sword maintained.
I also find gear-fit excuses, no dexterity/clunky/etc, to be another rantable topic, but that's a story for a different day!
I didn't accidentally stab my opponent in the shoulder. It was an attack with the intention of using a squint. prellhau and the subsequent attempted leg slap also went in properly.
Also what you saw is a phenomenon that occurs because self-defense is more important in this old way of sparring. We are well aware of the limitations of sparring in this way, but it's still a good idea to try.
It seems like the big exceptions to the problems you are talking about are those of us who do actully hit eachother in the head and draw blood. I agree. If you just do cooperative fencing with no gear without hitting eachother it's bogus. If you do the real thing with the real outcome though its a different story.
I think that you can, however, get close to a similar end while still wearing protective equipment. Fencing to the bloom may be the actual real 1565 way of the fechtschule, but we can't and shouldn't expect people to engage in that sorta fencing nowadays. IMO you can wear full on kit, head to toe, and have more Meyer-like fencing than the ungeared sword rubbing pseudo larping you sometimes see called truly historical (to lean into hot take language) if you combine the right constraints with the right motivations.
Don't get me started on any "fear the blade" type stuff, though...