Combat Juggling

> From: popp0012@gold.tc.umn.edu (Jonathan M Poppele)
> 
> Seth Golub wrote:
> >
> >From the JIS glossary:
> >
> >| What is combat juggling? 
> >|  A popular war-like pursuit pursued (Purdued?)  by many jugglers.  In
> >|  its usual melee form, all jugglers start at the same time with three
> >|  clubs and then try to cause the others to drop their clubs.  Kicking
> >|  is not allowed, the most common tactic is to throw a high triple (or
> >|  similar) and flail about wildly at your opponents before it comes
> >|  back down - hopefully re-entering your pattern.  Stealing other
> >|  people's clubs is permitted, as are many other devious tactics. 
> >|  Combat is actually endorsed by the IJA and players must use soft
> >|  clubs.  There is a combat competition at the IJA convention each
> >|  year.  Fierce rivalries have sprung up between juggling clubs in
> >|  several areas.  Injuries are not uncommon.
> >
> >It doesn't look like hitting people's clubs away is prohibited, but
> >that seems like it would be pretty easy.  Of course, I'm not much of
> >a club juggler.  :)
> >
> >I guess the real fun starts when other people come by and take
> >advantage of the openings you leave when you go offensive.
> 
> Purdued indead. Humph. Anyone who has attended a festival in Minnesota knows
> that we have the best combat playing around. And now, for the first time
> anywhere, I am going to let you know why:
> 
> How to become stelar combat players, by Jon Poppele (1995 IJA combat champ)
> 
> -There is a strong temptation when you are learning the game to use two
> tactics known as "backstabing" (attacking an opponent from behind while
> there are still a lot of people up) and "vulching" (behaving as a vulture
> and attacking someone who is trying to recover from a battle with someone
> else). DON'T. You will never become any good if you don't learn how to face
> people head on, one-on-one. While these tactics are not illegal, we consider
> them very unethical and anyone in Minnesota who does these things regularly
> will quickly find themselves taken out early every round.
> 
> -Experiment and learn multiple attacks. Don't rely on the high throw, it's
> easy to defend against and easy to counter. Learn quick jabs (with both
> hands), steals and so on.
> 
> -Learn how to run forward, backwards and sideways with your clubs. Also learn
> how to do quick half piroettes.
> 
> -If people are getting hurt, you are doing something wrong! Despite its 
> reputation, combat SHOULD be a very safe game. I am more likely to hurt
> myself working on 4 club tricks than I am playing combat. If you are hitting
> people a lot, you are doing something wrong. Likewise if you are getting hit
> a lot, you are doing something wrong! The game is a lot more fun when I does
> not end because of injury. One way to keep injuries down is to follow the
> ethics notes above.
> 
> -Play a lot! Combat is half about combat tactics and half about recovering.
> For this reason, it has always seemed to me that the best combat players
> are jugglers who do a lot of passing. Specifically a lot of sloppy trick
> passing.
> 
> So there you have it. Play nice, play clean, play around, play a lot and 
> juggle sloppy.
> 
> Happy Combat to all, and to all a good fight.
> 
> Jon.