THE HOOK & DISENGAGE DRILL:
This will eventually show up on my website in a short video clip. For now let me try and describe it for you. One of the advantages of the hawk is that it can hook and trap the opponent's weapon. But if you aren't careful, this can be used against you! You have to be able to disengage from a hooking trap when necessary. The drill to learn this skill goes like this: hold the hawk in your lead hand, sweep across your centerline to the outside and withdraw slightly to perform a hooking trap. Pause momentarily and then start the hawk forward as if you were doing a thrust...this is the disengagement. Immediately turn that forward momentum into a tight circle in front of you and above your head and flow into a downward diagonal slash that ends on the inside. Finally, sweep across the centerline with another hooking trap to continue cycling thru the drill. The same drill is done to the inside, just reverse all the directions. This forward motion of the hawk as if you were thrusting is not only important for disengaging after a hook, but can also be used to lead into a slash from a basic ready position. It is less telegraphic than drawing the hawk directly back before launching the strike, and adds power to the blow. This is based on the "moulinet" motion from saber fighting. Just let me know if my description isn't clear and you need me to clarify anything. Have fun training!
Keith
This will eventually show up on my website in a short video clip. For now let me try and describe it for you. One of the advantages of the hawk is that it can hook and trap the opponent's weapon. But if you aren't careful, this can be used against you! You have to be able to disengage from a hooking trap when necessary. The drill to learn this skill goes like this: hold the hawk in your lead hand, sweep across your centerline to the outside and withdraw slightly to perform a hooking trap. Pause momentarily and then start the hawk forward as if you were doing a thrust...this is the disengagement. Immediately turn that forward momentum into a tight circle in front of you and above your head and flow into a downward diagonal slash that ends on the inside. Finally, sweep across the centerline with another hooking trap to continue cycling thru the drill. The same drill is done to the inside, just reverse all the directions. This forward motion of the hawk as if you were thrusting is not only important for disengaging after a hook, but can also be used to lead into a slash from a basic ready position. It is less telegraphic than drawing the hawk directly back before launching the strike, and adds power to the blow. This is based on the "moulinet" motion from saber fighting. Just let me know if my description isn't clear and you need me to clarify anything. Have fun training!
Keith
