Way of Honour has become one of the highlights of my tournament calendar over the years, and with good reason.
From a fighter’s perspective they have done it all. accommodation, feeding, water, shelter (event shade inside the list!). a solid dependable list and there’s always a crowd! they make it easy to be there! The event is also well staffed and runs well from my point of view as a fighter. I think this is what attracted so many teams to WoH year after year and seeing a reliable and high level following inspires other teams to make the trip. this year saw 37 teams from 15 nations, from as far afield as the USA and Australia.
So how did it go for us in White company? Well, my event started with a journey beset by traffic problems resulting in me arriving at 0200, meaning a short rest before kitting up for the first group! Being on first was a mixed blessing, while I missed out on a lot of sleep and preparation time, I did avoid the worst heat of the day! The heat is an expected problem for a fighter to face at WoH, but it was almost unbearable and I was glad to have missed the midday sun! Our group was good, my only complaint was to be matched up against another UK team the northern wolves, who are a great team, but we fight them a lot. It would have been nice to cross swords with another team we rarely meet while the opportunity was there. We took the top spot in our groups with a combined fight time of about 5 minutes.
I personally didn’t feel it was my strongest performance. I put this down to poor prep the week before, and honestly atrocious prep the day before. Little sleep and poor nutrition is a bad way to start an important event. So that was something I intended to correct for Sunday. Having our fights done early meant I had plenty of time to make sure I was well Fead, rested and hydrated for the next day. In addition to this it gave us plenty of time to digest the fights we had and talk about how things had gone. For good and bad, you should always do a post action review!
Sunday morning dawned and I felt in much better shape. This was the day that performance mattered. 7 other teams had fought their way out of their groups and were looking to prove they had what it took to take the gold. As the returning champions we were fighting to stay at the top.
Our first fight was against the Italian bastards, a team we have met a few times on the field and we delivered strong performance and knocked them out in two rounds. After the first round of play offs 4 teams had made it, White Company, the Texas Warlords (USA), Team Kraken (AUS) and Prague trolls (CZE). These are all tough, experienced teams. They would not be intimidated, nor beaten down. Whoever we drew we were in for a solid fight, and this is what we came for!
First up: Kraken! Coming all the way from down under these fighters brought the fight to us. Solid wrestling and a well-practiced play book brough us to a stalemate in the first round after I got caught out by my first take down of the tournament by Sam Wride, a slippery and skilled fighter. This round took as much time as the whole days fighting the day before! After a drawn round we came together and regrouped. An early take down and better coordinated team work led to cleaner win in the next two round. In no ways easy, Kraken made us fall back to an older style of fighting, with more grinding and patience.
With this win our path to the finals was paved! And our opponents would be the Texas Warlords. This team is a fast-paced, experienced group with many dominus fighters in their ranks. We enter the list for the fight of the year! The first round saw a cautious start from both teams, both lines met in the centre of the list and exchanged probing strikes. But before long our centre pushed there back, and the warlords attempted a blindside run. This failed after I broke way in protection, an from here we broke into our own fights. An unlucky double fall in one corner, and a skilful takedown by a warlord behind me left us out numbered and me watching my teammates get attacked across the list. I had to do something, and so I launched a powerful take down attempt, but unfortunately, I was too desperate and put too much force in, and I hit the floor with my opponent. This led to us losing a round for the first time in quite a while. And I feel I was to blame for this. But the fight wasn’t over yet. I was subbed out in the next round so had to watch my team go in to fight for a win. If we lost this it was all over. This was a tense round, with teams swapping take downs to begin with, but slowly we took them to the list and ground them down and snatched the round! The third round, one win a piece. This was it; the winner would be decided here and now. I joined the line, and we walked forward. caution was very much thrown to the wind by now, and their centre attempted an early and fast break though, I interrupted this, and his follow up attempt at a head rip. From here I dragged him to a corner and started the grind. Around me I could see tough fights. Agan, slowly but surly we ground them down, and started to take the advantage until Bohurst came to help me, and we coordinated together for a hard fought take down against a determined opponent. When he hit the ground, the flag came down! We were the Champions of Wy of Honour again!
For me this was the third year in a row, and one of my proudest achievements in recent years. But there is no time to rest on laurels. There are Allways lessons to learn. In this tournament i have seen that you need to look after yourself. The basics of sleep, food, water. Proper planning can help all these. I’ve seen that being pushed in to action can lead to desperation, and a loss of control. But I have also gained even or faith in my team. As when the going gets tough, and maybe the new tricks and tactics Aren’t working as well, we can knuckle down and drag our opponents to the deep water and win with hard work and determination! An excellent event, with great atmosphere and top level fighting. If you ae on the fence about going, get your team there next year! And hopefully I will meet you in the list!
Barney
