> But the girl in the video truly believes she's a warrior and that can't end well.
Does she? For all one can tell she seems to believe she knows what she's doing when she's using a sword in HEMA. Does an experienced kendo, aikido, taekwondo, <insert established MA here> fighter think of himself as a "warrior"?
I'd sure hope not. In fact I'd hope nobody today really thinks of himself as a "warrior". A soldier maybe, but even then it seems a bit antiquated and out of place. And worrying, if they would carry that notion over into their civil life.
If you're trained to disarm actual attackers in actual violent conflicts in actual life-or-death scenarios (not staged fights where both fighters use a formal style and fight with any kind of ruleset), maybe it's somewhat understandable you'd think of yourself as a warrior. But that is no more applicable to her than it is to a participant in any other martial art.
You seem to project some kind of anachronistic grandeur onto the notion of being a real "warrior". It's a sport. Like the vast majority of martial arts today already are.
You're right, an HEMA "world champion" (or whatever) likely couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag in a realistic life-or-death situation. But that holds true for any martial art taught as a sport.
And unless your day job (or geographical circumstance) involves an extremely high chance of getting into those situations, there's no reason this should matter. And if you do have a high chance of getting in those situations, why the fuck would you care about what kinds of martial arts are performed as a sport?
Aside: in any HEMA fight I would rather bet my money on the one with the better reflexes and legwork. And although I've seen big guys with almost feline grace, generally big blokes tend to overvalue their size/strength advantage and underestimate the importance of speed and balance. And I'm not sure I'd ever bet any amount of money on a paid actor who has been taught what kind of moves look good to a television audience. We're talking about free fighting, not choreography here.
If you think your "leg work" can save you from someone who can lift 400+ Kg, you live in fantasy land. Unless you mean you will run like hell.
There is a reason why contact sports like Box or MMA have weight categories. Size matters! And swords aren't such good weapons that they remove the strength factor. If we were talking about guns, or even bows, then sure, dexterity beats everything else. But in close combat you don't want to fight someone who can literally crush your body with his bare hands.
Does she? For all one can tell she seems to believe she knows what she's doing when she's using a sword in HEMA. Does an experienced kendo, aikido, taekwondo, <insert established MA here> fighter think of himself as a "warrior"?
I'd sure hope not. In fact I'd hope nobody today really thinks of himself as a "warrior". A soldier maybe, but even then it seems a bit antiquated and out of place. And worrying, if they would carry that notion over into their civil life.
If you're trained to disarm actual attackers in actual violent conflicts in actual life-or-death scenarios (not staged fights where both fighters use a formal style and fight with any kind of ruleset), maybe it's somewhat understandable you'd think of yourself as a warrior. But that is no more applicable to her than it is to a participant in any other martial art.
You seem to project some kind of anachronistic grandeur onto the notion of being a real "warrior". It's a sport. Like the vast majority of martial arts today already are.
You're right, an HEMA "world champion" (or whatever) likely couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag in a realistic life-or-death situation. But that holds true for any martial art taught as a sport.
And unless your day job (or geographical circumstance) involves an extremely high chance of getting into those situations, there's no reason this should matter. And if you do have a high chance of getting in those situations, why the fuck would you care about what kinds of martial arts are performed as a sport?
Aside: in any HEMA fight I would rather bet my money on the one with the better reflexes and legwork. And although I've seen big guys with almost feline grace, generally big blokes tend to overvalue their size/strength advantage and underestimate the importance of speed and balance. And I'm not sure I'd ever bet any amount of money on a paid actor who has been taught what kind of moves look good to a television audience. We're talking about free fighting, not choreography here.