This is the warcry, stories from the battle front about a modern warriors search for Knighthood, stories of an epic loved affair lived out on a raging battle field.

Crazy Monkeys in Malmö

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

It has been to long since I posted on this blog and I feel that the time has come to do so. My good friend Mackan asked me if I would get him ready for a MMA (mixed Martial Arts) competition in Belgium in October and I could not resist the opportunity to do some ground fighting and to work on my standing game.  

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And while my Fiore Abracare skills are up to specs, I am unsure how well they would fare in a MMA competition where the fighting is fierce but you are not allowed to break your opponent or drop them on their heads. So I went looking for an alternative, and decided to use Crazy Monkey Defence, a school I have had my eye on for a long time and really wanted to see if they are as good as their hype.

So last night I signed up to the Crazy Monkey Defence school (CMD) online and have been sampling the boxing teaching on there. I must say that I am impressed so far. I have never been a boxer and although we experimented with some unarmed sparring in our Latvian WSD group it was just a few times other than that, I have no fighting experience from standing up using my hands. Today I met with Mackan and we had our first session. Although I have next to no experience in boxing I could, with the help of the CM1 skills stand my ground and play a good defensive game. Although my punches are ridiculously weak and slow.

cmjits01.gifI was delighted to see that CMD also had a special Brazilian Jiu jitsu section with some really good videos strengthening my ground game. It was really good to get rolling on the ground and train some BJJ again, I have really missed it (the only caveat with medieval combat training is that there is no ground wrestling. We worked on the four base positions and started on passing the guard. It was a really good workout and I look forward to spending a month coaching a fighter to competition readiness again. It has been way to long!

It is good to do some up close and personal fighting again (not that longswords can´t get up close and personal but, well, there is not much wrestling with longswords, as you do not want to cut your bits off)

Pictures from today will be available on my facebook page.

09.09.2009 Malmö View Comments

Breaking the silence

Monday, July 6th, 2009

Wow, it has been a long time since I had time to sit down and write a blog post. Do I have time right now? Not really.

Be that as it may, here I am writing. Since wrote last I have been to Boston where we had a fabulous SSG gathering and where I graded to Scholaro Maggiore within the SSG Spada di Duo Mani. I have also been to Sweden, twice!! The first time to find an apartment and to sort out some practicalities for our coming move to Malmö. I didn’t find an apartment but did some good networking and groundwork for the move. The second trip was a delightful break for the whole family as we spent midsummer in Alingsås and the Sunday doing our home corps specialling at Hisingskåren in Gothenburg.

After this commissioning preparations began in earnest. On the fourth of July Hanna and I became “Mr Lieutenant Hanna Olterman” as it was clear to all that Hanna was the brightest shining star on the day and the day after when she gave her testimony at our farewell meeting at William Booth College. We had the house full of guests and just before the farewell, Hanna’s and my parents where awarded the Silver Star in a short outdoor ceremony that was somewhat cut short by the incoming rain.

It is surreal to suddenly be Salvation Army Officers after these two years as Cadets. Yet we are and we are “God Willing” moving into a flat in central Malmö to take on the task of planting a new kind of Salvation Army corps in the best city in the world … Watch this space ….

06.07.2009 Malmö View Comments

Prayers needed

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

We are moving to Malmö (as most of you know) and as it is we still have no place to live. We are looking for a place close to the corps as we are hoping to plant a new corps parallel with the old one in that building.

It is not easy to find a place to live and even harder to find day care for the children (especially when you do not know where you will live) and so we need massive prayers mobilised now!

We are supposed to take up our post in Malmö in less than two months from now and by human standards this is quite impossible but as the good book tells us, nothing is impossible with God!

We are also seeking God for vision and guidance in our upcoming endeavour in Malmö, please pray for us and if God gives you anything for us please pass it on.

For our time in Sweden and for the start of our officership we need a stable prayer and accountability network if you want to be a part of this please send me an email or leave a comment here!

17.05.2009 Malmö, Uncategorized View Comments