Then also try Terry Brown, author of English Martial Arts. I trained with him for a while and cannot tell how good an instructor he is. His staff is excellent. His website is http://www.maisters.demon.co.uk/ Also check out the staff workshop on my website http://the-exiles.org - I ran a workshop earlier this year (it will be in the Gallery somewhere) and I have some vids of some of the techniques that were going on. Regards Rob
I suppose by now you know it is still alive. On an off-note, bo staf style is similer, and, despite slight length differences, a practitioner of one can use the other's staf. If you find anything helpful, or find a teacher, I would like to hear about it.
Hmmm... I tried to find a nice article on staff but it's not turning up right now. I'll post it if I run across it again. Staff work also overlaps heavily with pole weapon use on the pre-firearm battlefield. A wickedly agile weapon. (We practiced longsword against it again last week. Nasty, as always.) The single-time deflection/thrust drives me nuts when I'm on the receiving end. :bang: They're fun to do, though. I would also point out that transitioning between staff / polearm / longsword is fairly straightforward. The fundamental concepts, stances, guards, strikes, etc. are either identical or only slightly varied for the peculiarities of the weapon. Disclaimer: Staff is not something I specialize in, and pole weapons are only a secondary field of study for me.
Sorry to quote myself. I also might add that Dr. Sydney Anglo aparently has a translation and briefcommentary on Le Jeu de la Hache. While this is specific to the smaller quarterstaff-sized poleaxe, many techniques overlap with quarterstaff. This should not be surprising since the poleaxe is pretty much a beefed-up quarterstaff with a spike on both ends and extra hardware on one. You'll find the same strikes, displacements, thrusts, throws, disarms, etc. Pretty much the only unapplicable parts are the hooks and traps that involve the axehead and other protrusions. The original article appeared in Archaeologia, (CIX) 1991, p.p. 113-128. An authorized reprint on the web can be found here.
It is not English but I think you will find this soon to be released book of much help. Paulus Hector Mair's Ultimate Book of Athletics: Polearms
