DukeAlaric (George S.) wrote:Gaston de Vieuxchamps wrote:Anton wrote:I also know of a pro lineman (sorry don't remember the name) who played guard for the Bills who also played SCA.
Anton
And none of the guys you mentioned are top fighters.
G
Glen Parker= Earl Sir Glyn, and he was only an Earl, because as far as I know he only fought in one Crown. He was one of the top fighters in Caid, and on the West Coast even when he was 19 or 20. The stories about him are insane. I would certainly mention him as one of the top fighters, and would think that with a couple months of getting back in shape, he would be right back actively at the top.
g-
Sir Glyn had an uncanny talent at understanding and controlling range and timing -- and of course, as a pro football player was built like a well-conditioned mountain and could hit like (multiple) locomotives without thought or consideration.
Here in Atlantia, it is my understanding that both Duke Cuan and His Majesty, Jason Kingslae were pretty decent College Football players (and if you take a look at them, it is *rather* easy to believe), Duke Alaric was a tennis player, etc...
There have been a tremendous number of top fighters who have come in with "natural" talent -- either from prior experience with martial arts or prior experience with sports, or simply from having outstanding reflexes, strength, speed, peripheral and foveal vision, ability to read tells, etc...
Outside of those with professional and college sports experience, I believe that Sir Stephen von Dresden was a Kickboxer, Duke Paul came in from Judo, Duke Logan was a boxer, etc... Add to these guys, the very large number of our top fighters who came in from significant military training (e.g., special forces) and/or law enforcement training. I couldn't even begin to list all of those -- and I certainly believe such training and experience could be considered equivalent to a sports background.
Often times many of those who come in with great natural talent (from prior experience or inherent abilities) get quite far fairly fast in the competitive sport aspect of fighting and then reach some plateau, as they may not have an in-depth analytic understanding of what they do and how they do it. At that point, many find they need to deconstruct what they do and focus on the martial art aspect of fighting and perhaps move backward a bit so that they can leapfrog forward. I believe there have been some recent threads that included such stories (I believe perhaps Duke Uther's recent posts can be viewed in this light -- though I would naturally never propose to speak for him). I speak many times a week with some very successful Knights who describe similar circumstances with me, about their prowess being talent-based.
Some times, those with such talent do not achieve the renown and recognition they feel their rapid success in our sport means they "deserve" -- and they then tend to get bitter. Many, many years ago I had a squire brother whose inherent talents led him to tremendous early success ("speed was the key"). However, when his success failed to equally rapidly translate to recognition and the renown he sought... his frustration led him to quit our game to seek such goals in other venues. Just goes to show that patience should perhaps be on our list as a Knightly Virtue.
I think it is virtually impossible to argue that there aren't a large number of our top fighters who come in with "natural" talent that help them with our competitive sport which naturally leads many of them to success in our sub-cultural medieval game of recognition and renown. How they also apply such talents to their martial art may be another matter -- but most with whom I am familiar are serious students of our art and use their talents as a base from which to progress.
In service,
Max Von Halstern
... AoC
