A stick - along with a stone - is one of the first human tools. A stick can be found on almost any street (pipe, thick branch, plank, etc.). But, despite the naturalness and simplicity of this weapon and its use, it is still possible to give a number of recommendations for using a stick in a street fight - both in the case of defense with a stick, and for protection from it.
1. The striking part of the stick is its last third. If the blow hits with the middle of the stick, or in general with the side closest to the "drynomash", it will be much weaker. At the end of the stick is all the striking force, the whole swing.
That's why:
- if you have a stick, hit with the end, not letting the enemy get closer. Keep your distance.
- if the opponent has a stick, try to close the distance in order to get close to him.
On the street, the enemy will most likely swing the stick randomly, with great swing and momentum. It’s unlikely that you’ll come across an experienced swordsman or reenactor who loves to swing his sword in the park on weekends. Therefore, after waiting for him to deliver another sweeping blow (naturally, moving away from him to the side or back), rush at the opponent, blocking his hand with a weapon with one hand, and striking / making a capture with the other. How to do it - see below.
2. At the same time, the stick may not work well in a confined space - it needs a swing. And at close range, it is already of little use, unless the fighter has the skills to work with the other end of the stick - from the side of the little finger.
3. In an extreme situation, as a rule, fine motor skills fail almost completely. Therefore, on the street, simpler, "rough" techniques are applicable, and graceful, pretentious movements are of little use. In other words, it is better to go to historical fencing or to a reenactor's club (especially where applied work with a stick is studied for the purpose of self-defense) than to some fashionable section of some southeast direction, which is full of complex, beautiful-looking movements.
But here the question is for whom which is more important - efficiency, or showiness. For modern people, the latter is often more important.
4. A stick works well against a knife, as it can be wielded over a longer distance. It is necessary to beat on the hand holding a knife or other weapon (on the hand, on the metacarpal bones, fingers, joints), and with the next blow to neutralize the aggressor.
5. You need to understand that an ordinary stick (not a crowbar, not a rod of reinforcement, not a bat) will not necessarily help "cut down" the aggressor. You can break a stick on a person's head, but he will continue to go at you. Nevertheless, if there is an opportunity to use a stick, you cannot refuse it. In the end, man became the king of nature at the expense of primitive tools and tools - a stick and a stone.
6. It is best to hit the limbs - with a broken (or broken) hand, the aggressor will not be able to hold a weapon, or strike, and with a bruised leg he will not be able to run after you
7. In general, blows with a stick are identical to blows with a knife or hand. Usually they hit with a stick from top to bottom - on the head, in the bridge of the nose. Diagonally - along the collarbones. Backhand - on the head (wherever you hit, everywhere "good"). Side impact - there too. Stick strikes are very rare, although you can, of course, learn them as well. They can be applied to the face, Adam's apple, solar plexus, but you need to train accuracy. For example, hang a coin on a rope and hit it with jabs.
You can act with a stick like a bayonet, delivering jabs-blows to the face.
It is good to use a stick, holding it with both hands - you can hit with the middle, you can poke with both ends.
Upward blows (to the knee, groin) with a stick are practically not used, although they are also possible.
Working with a stick depends on its length. Usually there are 4 conventional types:
- staff (up to the middle of the chest)
- cane (up to the waist)
- baton (with an elbow)
- stick (palmar)
Sticking Exercises:
1. From hitting with a stick from above
2. From a blow with a backhand stick
1. The first one stands with a stick at the ready. It can only strike in a vertical projection (from top to bottom). Should hit in full force and at full speed, but - the training "stick" is made of soft materials (for example, a polypropylene pipe wrapped in isolon). She cannot injure, but her blows are unpleasant enough for the fighter to try to avoid them - and thus perform the task correctly. (Note - at first, the first one strikes slowly, gradually, training after training, increasing the speed.) The second runs up to him at a distance of impact, and then the first strikes. The second man, with or without a feint, takes off the stick by moving his forearm with a twist (Fig. 222).
After taking off, he can strike with a "fork" in the Adam's apple with a grip on the throat and subsequent backrest. Or other options - for example, with a blow with the base of the palm. The same movement can be performed on the inside, but it is always better to approach the enemy from the outside, from the side, since if we go inside, he can meet us with blows from the other hand.
Naturally, it is necessary to learn the movement by dividing it into 3 phases. First, just take off your hands with a weapon, and only then, after working out a reflex withdrawal, we proceed to further actions (grabbing the throat, hitting with the palm). The third phase is carrying out the rear footboard followed by finishing.
2. The first one stands with a stick at the ready. He can only strike in a horizontal projection (from himself and to himself). You must also hit with full force and at full speed. The second one stands, leaning forward a little, as if luring the blow towards himself. At the signal, the first strikes, the second must swing back and, catching the moment when the stick swept past, jump forward sharply, fixing his hand with a weapon and a blow - a blow with a "fork" and grabbing the throat, for example. A knee blow to the groin can also be added here. Or run the backrest after catching the throat. The movement is also performed in both directions. An important point - you need to first calculate the distance so that when the second was in the extreme position (recoiling back), the stick whistled literally a centimeter from his face - the blows must be applied below eye level. To have a sense of danger and to develop a sense of the boundary between a safe distance and a dangerous one.
Interesting Facts:
- In the old days in Russia, besides the wall-to-wall fight, there was also a stick fight - when two groups of opponents converged, holding sticks in their hands. Later, this species was banned due to its particularly high trauma.
Similar historical types of mass fights with wooden sabers (and fatalities) are known among the Bulgarians.
- Such fights were the best preparation for hand-to-hand combat in its true sense - a fight between two groups of armed people, with one hundred percent lethal outcome for many participants.
- It is believed that the Russian wrestling "for the crank", where wrestlers make a preliminary grip by the clothes in the neck area and cannot act with the second hand (in some variants only at the moment of throwing), and throws are carried out with their feet, was one of the options for preparing for the stick (hand-to-hand) combat. The unused hand had to have a weapon, so it was necessary to learn to do without it. In a close fight, close to each other, when it was impossible to swing with an ax or a sword (stick), sometimes only a fight could help knock the enemy to the ground.
- In the 16-17 centuries. in Holland, the use of a cane rather than a knife to resolve conflict has become the hallmark of a good citizen. Using a knife in a fight guaranteed at least serious wounds and criminal punishment, while a cane could simply knock the knife out of the hands of a "marginalized".
