Seanbhata Basics

While it is recommended that people who wish to learn seanbhata start with training sticks, it is a good idea to look at real blackthorn options after you become more confident. If you want to fight like a bataire, you need to use their tools.

Safety: Under no circumstances should bare blackthorn be used in sparring or for any other reason unless both combatants are wearing full and adequate sparring armour, as outlined previously. It can be a very dangerous implement.

Even padded blackthorn should never be used at full strength on a live target. This level of restraint is common throughout all professional martial arts.

Training sticks may be made of oak, ash or rattan. Both oak and ash were historically used in place of blackthorn and as the shafts of spears and staves. Softwoods and woods like pine that may splinter are completely unsuitable and to be avoided.

Suitable padding should be thick and firmly affixed. Several layers of car “door ding” protection foam, sticky on one side, should do the job fairly well and is quite economical. Padding should be wrapped around the top and bottom of the stick, as well as covering both ends completely.

Basic Grip

In seanbhata, the standard grip is to hold to the stick with the first three fingers, leaving the others closed but loose. The thumb should be upwards and pressed to the shaft or crann of the stick.

The stick is usually held about a third of the way from the bottom or buta, preferably with a few centimetres extending beyond the elbow.

The stick is normally moved around randomly in small movements known as “milling”, similar to how boxers mill their fists in order to keep opponents guessing. This technique makes it very difficult for someone to hit your fingers, whether you are blocking, attacking, or holding guard.

The stick should be held in your primary hand and held in line with your body, not too far forward. Wrist supports may be advisable.

Seanbhata, Stances and Guards

A guard or stance is a kind of “ready” position, from which you are prepared either to strike or to defend. Different guards have different strengths and weaknesses, one might be useful if someone is trying to grab your stick, another might be better for protecting your legs and so on.

The first and most important guard is called the Crann Cosanta, The Tree Guard, and is one of the most common guards depicted in historical images. The stick is held high and in line with the body.

This contains all of the key elements of seanbhata—the three-finger grip, the one-third from the bottom hold, the offhand raised, and the positioning of the feet.

In the tree guard (as in all actions and guards in seanbhata) the stick should be “milled” or moved around slightly in random motions to make it more difficult to hit and predict your next action.

The offhand should be kept raised over the upper chest, ready to protect the throat, ears, face, side of the head, and the stomach. In this position it’s also ready to grab, push or strike an enemy with palm, fist, forearm or elbow if the opportunity arises.

The leg beneath the stick should be kept forward, and the other back, resting on the balls of the feet like a boxer, ready to spring forward or backward.

Some depictions indicate the other foot should be forward instead, which would add more power to strikes, but the individual bataire should decide for themselves.

Footwork (and Form) Wins Fights

The single most important factor in successful sparring is your footwork. Your feet will get you into striking distance and will get you back out of reach and trouble again—and if you can’t be reached, you can’t be harmed.

Good form, or body mechanics, can also add a lot to your performance, multiplying the power of your strikes, keeping you balanced, and enabling much quicker blocks.

There are exceptions to most rules in seanbhata, albeit rare, but in general you should remain on the balls of your feet and keep moving. If your heel goes down it does provide a solid base which can be useful sometimes, but it’s also slower to move off.

Ideally you want to minimise the profile you present to an opponent, so angle your offhand shoulder back and your striking shoulder forward, making yourself longer than you are wide. This offers the benefit of bringing your striking arm slightly forward. A slight crouch helps to keep your centre of balance low so you can move your weight between your legs easily.

Crossing your legs or standing on one foot while within striking distance of an opponent is almost always a recipe for disaster. It limits your ability to move quickly, sets you up to be knocked over, and makes a mess of your centre of balance.

Always step first with the foot on the side you want to move towards but never step so far that your feet cross over.

Pivots are an instance where the front foot rotates on a pivot point and the back foot and leg move around at the same time.

To turn in this manner, keep the front foot fixed to the pivot point and use the back foot to choose the direction we want to face. Maintain your balance at all times.

Side, back and forward steps can all be combined with pivots to produce various different effects, whether offensive or defensive.

Adding a forward step to a strike can increase the power of the blow considerably. Striking while stepping backward provides good defensive cover and may open an opportunity to inflict damage on your opponent’s hand.

It is highly recommended that the basic footwork be practised regularly, and in combination with various strikes and blocks.

Advanced Footwork:

There are several different kinds of advanced footwork, most of which infringes on or breaks the guidelines about balance, crossing legs, and standing on one foot, so should be used with caution and judgement. Kicking, for example, can be an important part of seanbhata which usually breaks all three guidelines, but that’s a very particular exception.

Lunging is where we prepare a blow and then step, almost leap, far forward with the front foot, either jabbing or striking hard. This gives a great element of surprise and multiplies the power of the blow, but if it doesn’t work—where “work” should be interpreted as “removing the target’s capacity to strike back”—you’re left exposed.

Slipping the foot is when an attacker strikes at our forward foot, knee, or shin, and we pull the foot and knee back on to the toes, so avoiding the strike while still barely keeping ground contact with the slipped foot.

Hopping is for experienced batairí; this is when both feet leave the ground at the same time—usually only a tiny height, a few millimetres— in a  short hop, allowing a very swift attack or retreat. This gives the appearance of “gliding” forward swiftly.

Equilibrio

The curious concept of equilibrio was alluded to in earlier descriptions of Irish stick and swordfighting, but the most complete description comes from Thomas Page, who recorded the principles of Scots-Gaelic Highlands broadsword fencing in great detail. Many Irish-Gaelic customs and cultural artefacts found safe refuge in the Highlands after the English repeatedly laid waste to our culture.

It was noted that this technique allowed Scottish Highlanders to generate enormous amounts of power in their blows while not over-extending themselves.

Essentially, equilibrio means that if you strike forward with your right hand, move your left arm back and rotate your body accordingly. This keeps your centre of balance straight down the middle of your body, so you can move very quickly and precisely, while maximising the force applied. Likewise blocks can benefit from this counter-rotating movement.

The treatise in question can be found here, with the relevant parts quoted below:
https://linacreschoolofdefence.org/Library/Page/Page.html

“Principle the First.

A Body is said to be in Equilibrio when the Center of Gravity is in its Center of Magnitude; or when both are Perpendicular over its Base, that Body is in its firmest Situation, for then any Part of it can be mov'd round that Center without falling:

And in this Position it is that the Swordsman uses all his Limbs with the greatest Freedom and Activity, and yet with the greatest Strength and Firmness, whilst he preserves this Equilibrium, and whilst his Right Hand is varying the Center of Gravity every Moment by continually Throwing from Side to Side and guarding every part successively; the Left is its Counter Balance, and by moving Diametrically Opposite, preserve the Center of Gravity in the Center of Magnitude, and both still perpendicular over the standing Foot.”

Body Mechanics

Equilibrio is a demonstration of body mechanics in action, but we can also gain a better understanding of the idea by trying a simple experiment.

Standing in front of a punching bag, just reach out and punch it. Now, try the same thing, but swing your upper torso as you punch. Lastly engage your legs, all the way down to the heels and toes, twisting your whole body in support of the punch.

An impressive difference in the amount of energy generated will be readily observed, from the same punch, simply by using more of your body in delivering the blow.

The same principle should be applied where possible throughout seanbhata, keeping in mind that whole body strikes may be more difficult to recover from unless they have been practised extensively.

Other Concepts and Terms

A stop-hit or a beat is where an attacker is trying to hit you, and you snap or hit their stick out of the way instead. The energy from their own attack can be used against them with stop-hits. This is different from passive blocking which simply aims to block incoming attacks.

Ripostes are where you respond to an attack before the attacker has a chance to withdraw and recover into a guard or defensive position.

A feint is where you pretend to attack one area, but instead change your approach and attack another area instead. This very popular and effective technique is why fencing is sometimes called “a conversation between two liars”. Feints are also why it can be a bad idea to over-commit to a defensive block, since this may open you up in another area.

Your line of attack is the main direction of an attack (high/low, inside/outside), often mentioned along with the parry or block that must be made to deflect the attack.

Preparation is any action that precedes the launch of an attack, usually consisting of actions against the opponent's stick to take it out of line, or to provoke a reaction.

Inside - the direction to the front of the body, left for a right-hander.
 
Outside - the direction away from the front of the body, right for a right-hander.

Recovery is a return to a guard from any other position, by pulling backwards into the guard.

Chapter List (click to read):

1. Foreword
2 The Irish Language
3. Reading
4. Making and Shaping
5. The Physical Gael
6. The Warrior Gael
- The Crios Belt
- Open Hand Traditions
- Collar and Elbow Wrestling
- Gaelic Weapons
- Seanbhata
- Seanbhata Basics
- Seanbhata Guards
- Seanbhata Strikes and Blocks
- Seanbhata Close Fighting
- The Heroic Feats
7. Tradition and Culture
8. Organisation