Greetings from Southeast England

[Ticklishchap]

Hello
Greetings from SE England!
I have just discovered this Forum and have joined to learn more about Martial Arts, traditional ones especially, both in theory and practice. I fenced a bit as a schoolboy (at my very traditional boys’ boarding school) but gave it up when I was conscripted into the Rugby team! This is a good time in my life to develop new interests and so I hope to learn a lot and find the Martial Art I wish to pursue more deeply.
Best wishes
James

 

[Brian King]

Welcome to Martial Talk Ticklishchap! Good luck with your pursuit.
Regards
Brian King

 

[dvcochran]

Good day to you Sir and welcome to the forum.
Tell us a little about your martial arts experience?

 

[Rich Parsons]

Welcome to MT !

 

[Ticklishchap]

Good day to you Sir and welcome to the forum.
Tell us a little about your martial arts experience?

Good morning Sir
Your question makes me feel a bit of an impostor as I am a complete novice as far as martial arts are concerned. I hope that in time I shall change that. The nearest I have come to it is a couple of years of fencing at school. I played Rugby (or Rugger as we called it) at school and college and was also in the Corps at both (the equivalent of your ROTC I think) and had some Army training. I continued with Rugby for a few years after finishing my education and since then my main sport (if it counts) has been long distance hiking. During the pandemic year I have been thinking about post-Covid activities, including sports, and I would like to decide upon the right martial art and learn it. I like the combination of physical and spiritual involved. Therefore I have joined the forum to learn and ask questions. ...

 

[dvcochran]

Good morning Sir
Your question makes me feel a bit of an impostor as I am a complete novice as far as martial arts are concerned. I hope that in time I shall change that. The nearest I have come to it is a couple of years of fencing at school. I played Rugby (or Rugger as we called it) at school and college and was also in the Corps at both (the equivalent of your ROTC I think) and had some Army training. I continued with Rugby for a few years after finishing my education and since then my main sport (if it counts) has been long distance hiking. During the pandemic year I have been thinking about post-Covid activities, including sports, and I would like to decide upon the right martial art and learn it. I like the combination of physical and spiritual involved. Therefore I have joined the forum to learn and ask questions. ...

I feel this is a very solid approach.
The common theme when people decide to get started in a MA is to audit what is close to you, regardless of style. If it is not reasonably convenient, affordable, and fitting with your lifestyle/schedule you will likely not stay with it. If you have a specific style there is certainly nothing wrong with trying it out first, assuming it is not far away from you.
All the best and hope to hear from you here on the forum.

 

[_Simon_]

Ah welcome to the forum James, great to have you here!

Fantastic you're keen on getting into martial arts, yeah do a little research and see what interests you, and check out what's in your local area. But yes feel free to ask any questions here

 

[Shatteredzen]

Hello
Greetings from SE England!
I have just discovered this Forum and have joined to learn more about Martial Arts, traditional ones especially, both in theory and practice. I fenced a bit as a schoolboy (at my very traditional boys’ boarding school) but gave it up when I was conscripted into the Rugby team! This is a good time in my life to develop new interests and so I hope to learn a lot and find the Martial Art I wish to pursue more deeply.
Best wishes
James

Hello! The fencing believe it or not will help, you likely learned a whole bag of things, from posture, footwork, timing, etc that you may see pop up during your training, just take any new classes as a fresh start and don't try to draw too many inferences between styles until you start to gain some experience. If you are just getting into martial arts and don't know where to start, your local MMA, BJJ or Boxing gym is a great place because the skills you learn in boxing, grappling or MMA style martial arts will serve you well no matter where you go or end up. Which style you settle on may have a lot to do with what is locally available so I suggest shopping around your town and seeing what's out there, likely one or more gyms will kind of call out to you as a better fit, considering the time and energy you will invest, theres no harm waiting for that one that "just feels right".

 

[Gyakuto]

Good morning Sir
Your question makes me feel a bit of an impostor as I am a complete novice as far as martial arts are concerned. I hope that in time I shall change that. The nearest I have come to it is a couple of years of fencing at school. I played Rugby (or Rugger as we called it) at school and college and was also in the Corps at both (the equivalent of your ROTC I think) and had some Army training. I continued with Rugby for a few years after finishing my education and since then my main sport (if it counts) has been long distance hiking. During the pandemic year I have been thinking about post-Covid activities, including sports, and I would like to decide upon the right martial art and learn it. I like the combination of physical and spiritual involved. Therefore I have joined the forum to learn and ask questions. ...

Have you considered Iaido? There are many dojo in the South East and some excellent teachers and I can point you in the right direction (I was secretary for the British Kendo Association and then Iaibu events officer)

 

[Buka]

Welcome to MT, James. Nice to have you.

If you played Rugby, I think you'll do fine in Martial Arts. Rugy's nuts!

 

[Hanshi]

Welcome to the forum, James san. I concur with the idea of shopping around for something that feels just right for you. Good luck on your search.

 

[Steve]

Welcome to MT, James. Nice to have you.

If you played Rugby, I think you'll do fine in Martial Arts. Rugy's nuts!

[Media]

 

[Gyakuto]

I should say that in England, all boys were forced to play rugby in the bad ol’ days. I went to a school where the playing field used to flood regularly and the PE masters used to delight in making us play on it in a few centimetres of muddy water. I hated it (I was and continue to be a science geek). Once, I managed to keep my house-kit completely clean and free of mud. Seeing this, the teacher instructed me to run past him and as I passed him, he tackled down into the mud and rolled about a bit. My bright yellow rugby top looked like a bear had use it to wipe his bottom upon! Budo is much cleaner...until the blood, pus and tissue fluid starts flowing.....

 

[dvcochran]

[Media]

Looks about right.

 

[Steve]

I should say that in England, all boys were forced to play rugby in the bad ol’ days. I went to a school where the playing field used to flood regularly and the PE masters used to delight in making us play on it in a few centimetres of muddy water. I hated it (I was and continue to be a science geek). Once, I managed to keep my house-kit completely clean and free of mud. Seeing this, the teacher instructed me to run past him and as I passed him, he tackled down into the mud and rolled about a bit. My bright yellow rugby top looked like a bear had use it to wipe his bottom upon! Budo is much cleaner...until the blood, pus and tissue fluid starts flowing.....

Haha... wait... pus?

 

[Ticklishchap]

Have you considered Iaido? There are many dojo in the South East and some excellent teachers and I can point you in the right direction (I was secretary for the British Kendo Association and then Iaibu events officer)

I shall send you a PM over the next few days - thank you very much for that.

 

[Ticklishchap]

Welcome to MT, James. Nice to have you.

If you played Rugby, I think you'll do fine in Martial Arts. Rugy's nuts!

Is that the voice of experience?

 

[Ticklishchap]

[Media]

This is very similar to the school I went to!!! I’ve seen the sketch before. The Monty Python Army sketches are hilarious as well.

 

[Ticklishchap]

I should say that in England, all boys were forced to play rugby in the bad ol’ days. I went to a school where the playing field used to flood regularly and the PE masters used to delight in making us play on it in a few centimetres of muddy water. I hated it (I was and continue to be a science geek). Once, I managed to keep my house-kit completely clean and free of mud. Seeing this, the teacher instructed me to run past him and as I passed him, he tackled down into the mud and rolled about a bit. My bright yellow rugby top looked like a bear had use it to wipe his bottom upon! Budo is much cleaner...until the blood, pus and tissue fluid starts flowing.....

I went to a boys’ boarding school, divided into ‘houses’, and my Housemaster was a Rugby fanatic. I wasn’t a star of the Rugger field (as I said earlier, we called it Rugger), but I was good enough to be chosen for. House team and play occasionally for the school as well. There were advantages in terms of prestige to being in the Rugger team as well as being able to get away with things I wouldn’t have got away with otherwise (although I was generally well-behaved and hardworking). There were occasional hazards as well such as injuries that could result in being ‘off-eccer’ for a few days or even a week or two (‘off-eccer’ was school slang for ‘off games’ - eccer was short for exercise!). The problem with being in the Rugger team was that it was a ‘life sentence’; I raised the possibility of dropping it when I was 16 and was told in no uncertain terms that this could not be considered. I therefore went on playing during my A Level (final year). My main interests were academic but looking back I don’t regret the experience - there was quite a lot of fun and good team work as well as the mud and rain!

 

[Ticklishchap]

Looks about right.

What you don’t hear (or smell) in the Python sketch are the inevitable explosive farts . The diet at that type of school was high in baked beans, as well as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, etc., and eggs at breakfast. With several hundred boys the results were inevitable and a lot of gas was released during Rugger games!