James and Jess go into Games and what they are good for! Hint: It isn't crushing your enemies. "An often-misconstrued criticism of this methodology is that the coaching style is 'set and forget,' as you place a learner into an environment in which they 'find their own way." The reality is the practitioner works with the learner to guide their attention towards critical features of the environment to inform perceptual exploration and action. This process takes practice. Experienced athletes will have a more in-depth understanding of the environment and what information is critical to performance, and subsequently can take a larger role in environment co-creation. Less experienced athletes will need more guidance towards the critical components." "Developing the appropriate constraints requires a coach to derive the essential components of a sporting movement or performance environment and scale them for that athlete." The book Jess was reading from to guide our discussion of games: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25660 "Athletic feats requiring skill, strength, or agility are a very interesting and amusing feature for gymnasiums and many other conditions, and contain possibilities for some excellent and vigorous physical development." "Balance Wrestle: Two contestants stand each in a forward stride position, the right foot being lengthwise on a line (the same line for both contestants) and the left foot back of it, turned at right angles to the right foot with the heel touching the same line. The toes of the right feet should touch. In this position players grasp right hands. The objects of the game are to make the opponent (1) move one or both feet, or (2) touch the floor with any part of the body. Do this on both sides." ---- A desire line is formed from many people over time choosing not to walk the paved paths, but instead go the way that seems most expedient to them. they are typically formed when planners don't account for real human behavior. ------ James is the founder and principal instructor of the Goliath Historical Fencing Academy. He began fencing in 2009, after being inspired by the film Reclaiming The Blade. At Goliath, he instructs several weapons systems including longsword, rapier, dagger, unarmed combat, quarterstaff and halberd. He has taught at private seminars at major fencing events in Europe and Canada as well as across the US. ---- Jess Finley has had a sword in her hand for the past twenty years. Her initial interest was in stage combat, but not too long after beginning that pursuit began to ask "... but how did they really fight?" From that question, she branched out to German Medieval Martial Arts after being accepted as a student by Christian Tobler, who remains her mentor to this day. She is the head instructor at Ritterkunst Turnhalle in Lawrence, Kansas. She has taught and competed internationally as well as private intensives at her home. She also has a background studying Judo under the tutelage of Arden Cowherd of Topeka Judo Club. She is a published author, having written a book entitled "Medieval Wrestling" on the fifteenth century Master Ott's wrestling treatise of German wrestling techniques.. She also researches medieval clothing construction and fabric armor, and has presented her findings at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo and published an article in Medieval Clothing and Textiles (Boydell and Brewer) on her study of a 15th century quilted armor. Jess's Patreon is http://www.patreon.com/jessfinley #hema #longsword #martialarts