O.C, CA Orange County Saber Academy

Greetings;

My name is Zhi-don Aquintas, Headmaster and Co-founder of this class. The other founder is the man who trained me, Smudge [go ahead and ask him how he got his name] Take a bow, Smudge!

The is to inform those not in the know about the Lightsaber Training Class, now to be known as the ORANGE COUNTY SABER ACADEMY.

This class meets Wednesdays from 630pm until 900pm at Twila Reid Park. This park is located on Orange avenue between Beach Blvd and Western in Stanton.

The second class meets on Sundays at Willow Park in Anaheim from 2pm until 5pm. This park is located at the corner of Crone and Loara streets. We meet on the Crone street side about midway down where there is a shaded clear area. PM me if you plan to attend this class, or need more information.

The purpose of the Wednesday class is to learn to use EL and LED lightsabers in a safe and correct manner. This class includes pratice and training sessions, circle battles, line battles, free for all battles and other fun games. We use the shinai school of training for this. Shinai's are bamboo training swords used for centuries in lieu of katanas, for safety reasons. Some of us cannot afford El or LED lightsabers or are saving for them or do not want to use them for practice. That is why we use shinai's. Those attending class are required to have gloves to protect thier hands. We DO NOT use armor. This means we must be especially careful to avoid injuries. You must wear closed toed shoes to particiate in this class. We recommend that you wear loose clothing that covers your arms and legs. You may at your option use safety glasses as well. This is only an option because the first thing we do is to train you not to hit someone in the head and how to block accidental hits in that area. Although we do train to pull our hits as to not hurt anyone, you will get bruised during this class. This is unavoidable because as stated above we do not use armor. We warn you about this in advance to avoid any misunderstandings. That being said this is a fun and social class. All of us do this because we want to have a good time. We do have rules in place and they WILL be inforced by the Instructors and Marshals. A Marshall is like a referee and his job is to stop combat and make decisions on hits and in case of any other problems. We also do coregraphy at these classes although not at every class. Coregraphy is for those who have EL or LED Lightsabers and want to participate in staged combat battles at Charity and other events. We also offer training in more unusual types of weaponry such as pole arms, warhammers, maces and others [dont be surprised at the names given to these weapons] This training is sponsored by our Co-founder Smudge and other instructors.

Sundays class is more informal and is mostly to hone the skills of those who are already trained and to offer training to those who need it. I am usually the only instuctor on hand, so this is more a one on one class than Wednesdays. These classes are open to anyone who wants to attend. However if you want to participate in charity work or events, you do need to join our club.

If you have any other questions, please PM me or Smudge.

May the FORCE be with you,

Zhi-don

[Note: Please settle personal issues by PM or in person. They have no place on this board.]

 

Don, You forgot Phil!

To all else new to this thread, Phil (Tall as hell, blues eyes, beard and will often bring his dog, loki) is also another acknowledged instructor with as much experience as Smudge.

As Don mentioned we have strict rules only because of safety. Critical one being the 3 strikes rule. Which supplements the:

NO HEAD SHOTS, OR
THRUSTING, and also
excessive power

Any breaking of any of the rules results in a strike, and just like the judicial system the third means your out. Not permanently, but for that night, you may not participate in any further activities. If malice is in the breaking of the rules is seen or witness to be intentional, it is a virtual permanent ban on the first. People are here to have fun, safety is our core and comradery.

For any and all accidents that appear to have broken the rules must be discussed with the instructors or marshal, any and all to determine whether a strike must be issued. Any bruises are likely a result of unknowingly breaking of the rules and should still be discussed and reported to the instructors or marshal.

Should any come out to learn the fencing arts of the Jedi (and Sith lords alike), please remember that getting hurt (through chance) is part of the process, because as Don mentioned accident happen and we do not wear adequate protection.

It may not be a true "martial arts" discipline, but its one heck of an exercise, plus a fun fantasy.

 

That is correct Alex, with one point.

We do not wear helmets, armor or padding, not because we do not want enough protection against injury, but because we train not to cause that injury in the first place. Bruises are to be expected, but we are not using KENDO style full impact attacks because with those we would need armor for protection.

Just for the record, we have 3 main intructors:

Erik [Smudge]
Phil
Don

We also have 3 assistant instructors:

Aaron
Adam
Alex

5 of these 6 make up our Master's Council which mediates on problems that our established rules do not cover.

Pax Vobiscum

 

Don, its S_C_A-lexander or Alexander!

 

what about yer floruntine instructor??? =P

 

Florentine

Sorry I had to correct that, because that style of dueling is named after the city of Florence (Firenze) Italy, and being of Italian decent, I couldn't let that one go.

 

Looks like someone didn't read my extremely informative post about PMs

 

Would that be instructor or assistant instructor?

Ahem. I'm sorry, that was priceless.

 

Rion is correct in that he is our acnowleged expert in florentine (two swords) style.

Everyone please remember that this thread is intended to be informative and provide necessary data on the class (when/where etc.) not a forum for public debate. Please keep it on topic. If you have a specific concern that pertains to the running of the class, feel free to post it here or PM an instructor. If you have an issue with a specific person, or something to say that does not pertain to the class at large, take it to PM's or speak to that person in private.

We all state that we are tired of the drama yet it keeps popping up, let's actually try to keep this thread drama free rather than griping when drama crops up. Don't feed the trolls!

So come one, come all and let's be mature, and civilized...........while we bash at each other with sticks

 

Ah crap, I'm sorry guys. I had a fairly long message that I must have erased (I was laughing pretty hard at James post). Anyway, back on topic.

Has there been any discussion on Smudge's replacement? I know he's not leaving for a while, but better to be ready in advance than to wait until the last minute and scramble to come up with something.

Also, I believe people have worn shin guards and knee pads in the past to offer extra protection while fighting (Jen in particular, possibly others). I don't know how much they'll effect your ability to fight, but I can't imagine it being any worse than the gloves that are already required. The only drawback, that I'm aware of, is that you might not necessarily feel the hits as well with the shin guards on, making it more difficult to tell if you've been hit or not.

 

Barry;

We discussed this a long time ago. Armor is NOT required for this type of class. If you have a personal preference for shin guards, crotch guard etc., you can wear them unless it effects your ability to detect that you have been hit. For instance, if you wore a breastplate, you would not be able to tell that you had been killed. Jen wore shin guards, but was always able to tell she had been hit. She had sensitive legs and that was why she needed them. For LIGHTSABER rules, forearms count as a hit. In this case bracers would make it hard to tell you had been hit. Obviously a helmet would be fine if you felt you needed one. The same with safety glasses. Gloves are required to keep you from getting your fingers damaged.

Bottom line: Any kind of armor is allowed, unless it keeps you from knowing you had been hit. This limits it to helmets, safety glasses, crotch guards. These cover areas that hits are not allowed on anyway. Bracers, shin guards and light leather armor are allowed, for the same reason.

Any other questions on armor?

Pax Vobiscum

 

Please reread my post. I was not asking a question about armor or suggesting that it be made a requirement. I was merely making a comment for the benefit of some of the newer students who may not be aware of other forms of armor that can be worn to offer some additional protection.

 

I respect what Smudge 100% I hope it is ok to post this.
I've been wanting to do a T-shirt.
And if it is ok to shorten it to OCSA.
Then we could have shirts like this....[image=http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/6704/saberfightingdm5.jpg]

 

weve got a design already im still working on it don! can you pm me the description again i cant seem to find it

 

It is iffy if I will be there on Wednesday. I have 4 articles I am working on for the paper at school. One possible paper I have pitched that might be written by another reporter is geeks that go to CSUF and do costuming events for charity. A good photo op for this would be the CHOC WALK. I know Matt goes to school there. If anyone else does, that would be great for this article.

Anyways, if I can go wednesday, I need a ride home Rob for me and Marley because Lisa has another commitment. Is that cool? Call and let me know.

 

Let me know if the class happens on a Sat, I have 3 Sats in Sept that I have free cos the better half is in school.

 

I like Rob's design. Maybe we could vote on the two different designs for our new Saber Academy? The winning design would
be our new logo.

 

look like i might not be there as well i hurt my left ankle and knee in sundays game now my right one is being abit stubborn

 

Barry;

Sorry, I thought you were trying to get people to wear armor, my mistake.

Rob;

Yes, you can use OCSA as a short version.

Aaron;

Look forward to seeing you if you make it, if not then next week.

Rion;

The logo is as follows:

An orange made like a yin-yang symbol with dark and light orange without the dots. A green leaf on the top. Crossed lightsabers, blue and red. The name at the top of the orange curving around to the middle: ORANGE COUNTY and at the bottom curving up: SABER ACADEMY This letters would be in yellow, trimmed in black. This is close to our original club logo. Sorry you are still hurting. Get better soon.

Jen;

We already have a logo. I am just waiting for Rion to do the graphics for me. [see above]

NOTE: Saturday's class is cancelled due to the holiday weekend. I will post about next week later.

 

As yet no 1 has full body armor, but a few individuals have peices of armor. Such as instructor EriK who has guantlet protectors, and some individuals wear cups (one has huge crouch protector, but that was part of his vader custume). Helmets probably aren't allow simply because OCSA firmly doesn't condone head-shots.

Armor/padding in full or in pieces is optional, and purely choice, and truly not needed as here we learn controlled techniques, and not cutting through bodies as Don stated with Kendo.

(As much as some want, we couldn't condone face protectors for certain individuals, not for protection, but in cases like matt when his red eyes he was stealing people souls, and scaring Phil. > )

 

Opps, I didn't read Don's post. Um thats a discusion right there.

-Helmets kinda condone head shots. Protection it is, but its such a flagrant target.

Any thoughts instructors or particapants?

+plus, no one can just pick up an extra stick or specialized weapon (with the exception of a 2 plank flimsy shinai). You must be cleared for florentine style, pole arms, or heavies. Despite my experience I too had to get cleared.

 

Plus rob that was pretty creative, have you tried using pen tool in photoshop, trace it to create smooth lines, expand, increase resolution then do a fill in order to eleminate the stepping.

I also so suggest using gradient and putting the saber in the red to make the weapon appear to be giving off the red, or vice versa.

 

Alexander:

I created the logo to show first that we are an Orange County organization. Second, to show both sides of the Force, in both the lighter and darker orange and then in the crossed red and blue lightsabers. I also really liked the orignal logo of our club, even though we no longer use it much.

The Orange County Lightsaber Academy should be nuetral in alignment. It's purpose is to train ANYONE regardless of thier alliance.

 

Actually, some time ago (a couple of years?) Rob made a helmet with a plastic visor as a prototype to help protect against the occasional accidental head shot. The only problem with it was that the visor would fog up (it covered your face from the helmet all the way down to your chin). I'm sure that if it had a few holes drilled into it, it wouldn't fog up and would be quite useful. I disagree that wearing a helmet condones headshots. That's like saying that baseball players condone pitchers throwing balls at their head by wearing a helmet with face protection. This is not meant to be an argument, so please don't take it as such. I'm simply pointing something out that was tried in the past. The head should never be a target; whether someone's wearing a helmet (for added protection) or not.

And I think everyone can agree with this

 

(Relunctant to answer )

In baseball, a ball is coming at you at up too 100K newtons. Here in the OCSA, we are to be very controlled with our power, I'm not saying that accidents happen, and that protection is not 100% needed, but its an invite (helmets). An accident of a miss direction of 100k newtons, obviously would prompt a hard helmet.

With helmets people are going to want to train with headshots, and its already a zero tolerance rule with headshot. Helmets are just too inviting. Glasses and visor are totally welcomed, cause eyes are too important.

But I'm with the hard school of thought on this. If an accident happen, both parties have learned something. One to block better or don't duck, and the other is more finess or control. Now if one is serverly hurt, that pretty much says you're out, you don't have control. I say hard school cause I've come from learning that welts and bruise is an amazing lesson. Since I know how much it sucks to get hit hard, I now know that my specific opponent may not like it and so I hit the way I would want to be hit. People will stay safer if the option is not available at all.

Instructors, your thoughts?

////////

Believe me when I say that I would rather have helmets be a requirement, cause I love crowning! (But it cost factor, and extras would be needed for every1 -not practical or fair, and you can share a shinai but not a helmet.)

And that reminds me.

Spares (training weapons) are always available to newcomers, and forgetful folk. I myself have 2 extra special shinai's.