After action report 6th RV weekend.

Another Recreational Violence weekend in the books and a great time it was.

We made the schedule a bit lighter this year since we always get so burnt out by the last class on Sunday. 5 classes on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. We may stick with this format from here on out. Our focus this year was empty hand and knife.

Saturday…

1. Meyers dagger taught by Randal Gustitis…very nice class. Most important, i think we all left this class with something added to our knife defense repertoire.

2 Next up i did a class called Mendoza to Dempsey…basically a run through of my ISMAC class for this year. We took methods form various eras and used them as building blocks to create our own individual styles.

3 Combat knife throwing with Allen Reed…nice class but it gave us all just too good of a glimpse at just how much we all suck at throwing knives!

4 Catch Wrestling with Dan Kanagie, very nice class. I think it opened a few eyes in regards to catch. Very glad I had the mats along with me this year. We needed them!

5 Bowie knife with Kirk Lawson…again a nice class covering the basics and working through a variety of drills. For many in attendance this was their first bowie class. Last minute addition…sort of sprung it on Kirk about 5 days before.

Sunday…

1 Buza, Russian fisticuffs through dance by Randal Gustitis…very interesting a different approach to fistic training. Not combat hidden in dance but combat and dance together. lots of fun!

2 Highland broadsword minus the Broadsword by Chris Thompson. Basic broadsword concepts used unarmed against an armed attacker. This class was an absolute blast! Lots of room for violent self expression…and believe me, I had fun expressing myself.

3 We ended the weekend with Kirks class on test cutting which was about more than just having fun cutting things up…of course it was fun to just cut things up too but we also looked at our own personal methods for delivering cuts on different objects including some squirty chicken carcasses.

All told on Sat we had roughly 20 people participating including the instructors. Poplar Grove has remained a pleasant place to do this every year. We will definitely being staying here for next year.

I plan on actually staying on the ball this year and updating the site regularly…or at least that is my plan.