as a novice fencer i was able to keep pace with many of my intermediate classmates during free sparring by just yelling at them when attacking like the maestro taught. they cringe from defense and my lungs refill. kiai game real. amusingly once (only once, he never fell for it again) deflected the maestros assistant by feinting a counterattack with my voice alone. i got to feel like hot shit for a second and we laughed about it when i scored and he proceeded to give me a good spirited lesson in the repetitiveness of my defense for about thirty minutes. i did not score again ๐
dear fellows, there is value in the ruckus.
