SCA @ UVa

Cold cold cold! Thank goodness Scott Stadium's foyer wasn't locked up yet. It would have been brutal trying to change into fighting gear in that weather.

Practice was small, with no rapier fighters fighting and only me, Philip and Eric armoring up. Philip and I worked on fighting off-hand polearm.

We cut out early (around 7) and may have missed Timm, who I forgot about! Sorry Timm!

Philip and I are off to Ice Castles tomorrow. Anyone who wants a ride is welcome since Philip is taking his van. We're day tripping, so you wouldn't miss too much studying.

Technorati Tags: Heavy Fighting, Heavy Weapons, UVa

We're getting a small but pretty determined bunch of new fighters showing up at Thursday practices. Jen, shown here, comes all the way from JMU.

Eric, Charles and Jonathan look to be the new core of our fighting unit at UVa, with Timm and Paul leading the way. I can only hope that this mathematical progression continues for a few years.

Thjora's determined to complete her Rapier MIT stint in the shortest time possible, so she's going to Chalice of the Sun God this weekend, then brining Rob & Wendy's Pennsic trailer back down to our place for storage.

So, I'm a bachelor again this weekend. Help keep me out of trouble by coming down/over/up anytime between Friday night and Sunday morning for a fight practice, working on gear, barbecuing or just hanging out.

Just don't forget to RSVP.

And the following weekend is Masters of Defense. You better come.

Everyone seemed to have a good time, with lots of enthusiasm for dancing, promises to come to Thursday practice and a general feeling that we've got several new long-term members from the student population.

I had a rare quiet weekend at home, so I did I bunch of work in the shop. I pulled the old shield cover off my main shield to prepare it for receiving a new, untorn one, and I almost finished cutting down and refurbishing my old metal shield with the leather face. Here's a loaner shield I refurbished for new fighters.

It is fiberglassed plywood made and donated by Master Geoffrey. Considering how long it has been since Geoffrey or Grace have fought, this shield might be older than some of the First Years who will use it over the next year or so!

Though it is awful early to tell, I'm pleased with how fall fighter recruitment is going so far. Last year we had a huge turn out for heavy fighting the first night, with a very dramatic drop off the next week. Ultimately, we didn't keep any brand new students except Timm, who came all prepped and ready to go.
This year, the initial response was more moderate, but the follow up to the demo and the next practice was much better, especially considering that the second practice was way off at the stadium parking deck due to rain.

Since IM is the default method lots of students use to communicate, it seems reasonable to harness that.

So, while I'm online and at work, and sometimes when I'm away from work, I'm logging in to the AIM chatroom SCA at UVa. Clicking on that link should take you there if your computer is configured correctly.

My AIM username is mdawson@mac.com

Text you there!

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Technorati Tags: SCA, UVa