STF

Hand-to-Hand Training

Posted April 1, 2021, 7:08 p.m. by Ensign George Anderson (Scientist) (Riley W)

Posted by Ensign Randal ‘Randy’ Farquharson (Yeoman Second Rate) in Hand-to-Hand Training

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman) in Hand-to-Hand Training

Posted by Ensign George Anderson (Scientist) in Hand-to-Hand Training
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>

She nodded back at Ford and then turned her focus to the pad. The first jab was about like the ones before it - a nice ‘smack.’ She got the rotation the next time but didn’t follow through with it. She shook her head at herself, rolled her shoulders and tried again. This one hit and the difference was noticeable. She looked up at him and grinned and then went back to it. She finished out the 15 with varying degrees of power but she was confident she understood what she was doing even if she hadn’t mastered it. She switched sides and the second one landed with enough force to get someone’s attention.

After making sure his legless friends were settled in his quarters, George glanced through a ship schematic. Noticing that there was a Gym on board and excited about the prospect of getting some healthy exercise, he grabbed his gym bag and started on his way. The officer went through the change rooms and got dressed before emerging into… what seemed like a combat training class. He glanced over to see a man who seemed to be in charge. He took a step towards him, then paled slightly as he realized that he recognized that face from the picture he’d seen of the Chief of Security. George had reported to one of his Department Heads - the Science Chief. But not this one. Oops.

Anderson, Sci/Sec

After a few more, but before she was finished, she stood up standing at a slight attention and nodded behind Ford - habit and training. “Lt. I think he’s looking for you, or accidently found you,” she said guessing from the ensign’s body language. Then she went back to finishing her set, either with or without the pad depending on Ford’s preference.
Yeoman Rand

Ford nodded as she continued to work on the pad, eyebrows raising as she hit with a solid smack. When she stopped he cocked his head and then looked over his shoulder to where Rand indicated. “Mr. Anderson,” he said. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.” He nodded for Rand to continue, then looked back to the newcomer. “Will you be joining us?”

He expected the man, as a dual-specialist, to have some basic combat training already, so missing what they’d already done wouldn’t set him back far.

George wasn’t sure why Ford had said his name in that specific way. It felt like a reference, but clearly one he didn’t know. He didn’t worry about it though. “I suppose I might as well. I just came for some exercise, and I suppose some combat training would be nice to brush up on the basics.” He gave the man a wide grin. “I focused more on Diplomatic Security at the Academy, but that doesn’t mean I can’t throw a punch.”

COS Ford

He knew 21st century movies! Rand grinned, her rhythm off by a few seconds as she contemplated that. She loved theatre, stage or recorded. She refocused on the pad and jabbed at it, making a solid hit and following though adding a bit more force to it. Rand’s voice was too feminine to pull off the correct roughness and depth for ‘Agent Smith,’ but she felt this line was very apt in regards to Ford’s seemingly innocent questions. “You hear that Mr. Anderson?… That is the sound of inevitability…” Maybe because she was not so intensely focused on the pad because she had been momentarily distracted, but this time when she rotated into the jab it flowed better, and she actually moved his arm from the force of it.
Yeoman Rand

Okay, something was definitely going on. “Uh, you can just call me George… you guys are saying my name… weirdly.” He glanced from Yeoman to Security Chief, sure there was some hidden joke between them but unable to figure it out.

Ens. Anderson, Sec/Sci

Ford’s eyes flicked to Rand and widened slightly. She actually caught that, he thought, before focusing back on the security-slash-science ensign. “George it is then.” He tossed the man the pad he’d been using with Rand. “This is Rand, and just call me Ford. We’re working on jabs from a basic boxing stance. She’s just about done, and then she can hold the pad for you to get some in.”

Rand’s expression didn’t change, but she had a sudden flash of anxiety. She’d offended him? Or maybe he didn’t get the reference. She was unsure to explain. “Nice to meet you George. I’ve only got three more in this set.” She made her last three jabs and then took the pad from him. Remembering Ford’s earlier instructions she held the pad out, chin high for George.

George did a jab, starting a little soft then slowly increasing the strength behind his jab. He was a big guy and Rand was smaller than him, so he didn’t want to jab too heavily. His stance was good, well practiced.

He walked around the class again, making minor corrections where needed. He watched to make sure George got his reps in as well before walking to the front again.

“Okay, so that’s the jab. Now we’re going to work on the cross. This is punching with the rear hand - it crosses the body, hence the name.” He assumed the basic stance and demonstrated the motion of the hand from guard to target. “And just like the jab, we’re going to rotate our hips and shoulder. You’re going to notice almost immediately that this punch hits much harder than the jab, because of the amount of hip rotation we can add. Try some air punches first, and I’ll come around, and then we’‘ll move to the pads again.”

COS Ford

Rand set the pad down and switched her stance to place her dominate leg to the back and practiced the cross. Her arm stayed straight and she was careful to make sure her knuckles stayed lined up. Even though she wasn’t hitting the pad at the moment, she didn’t want to scrap her knuckles again, or sprain her wrist on the pad. She added the rotation, the jab only requiring a small rotation so that’s all she was giving to the cross. Without the pad for a target she wasn’t aware she wasn’t putting enough rotation to it.
Yeoman Rand

George stood next to Rand and did a few small stretches, then performed a few cross punches into the air, focusing on form and technique. He didn’t pay much attention to correcting Rand, not sure if Ford would be unhappy with him for doing his job for him. Plus, for all he knew, he himself had picked up some bad techniques over the years and needed some correction of his own.

His stance was a little lazy, his punch not always hitting the same spot in the air.

George, Sci/Sec

Ford’s trip around the room returned him to George and Rand, and he eyed both of them. “Make sure you’re aiming at a consistent target,” he told George. “Pick a spot on the wall and aim there, so you gets used to throwing at a target. Maybe spread your feet just a little, to open your hips up.”

He turned to Rand and watched a couple of punches. “We need to get some more hip rotation in,” he told her. “Try turning your back foot toward the punch as your throw it - pivot your toes. It will force your hips more forward, drive some more of your weight into the punch - just don’t lean into it.”

He called out to the class, getting their attention, and explained that last part to everyone. “There’s a lot more hip rotation in this than the jab. Rotate that back foot on the ball of the toe to let your hip rotate more. It will give you much more power and penetration.” He let them go back to adding this to the punch and wandered again, making corrections.

COS Ford

En Anderson had said anything and so Rand didn’t either. Outwardly she appeared totally focused on what she was doing. For the most part she was, but in the back of her mind she was beating the proverbial dead horse over what she did wrong in that particular situation. In the end she decided she shouldn’t have replied to the reference. Ford was the teacher, she and George students. In the middle of the class was not the time for talk. She’d been pleasantly surprised at Ford’s reference though and had responded in kind. And so the circular thinking went, building that anxiety.

Rand listened and nodded as Ford came back around and critiqued her punches. She slowed her movement down leading with her hand and adding the push/pull rotation at the end. She had varied success for a few repetitions, ranging from not enough rotation to too much. Once she got a feel for it she starting building back up to speed.
Yeoman Rand

George closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them, letting his focus snap to a point on the wall. He shifted slightly, widening and settling his stance, then twisted and put his fist forward, punching the air. He grinned slightly, then did several repetitions of the motion.

“Why were you guys so weird about my name?” He asked quietly after a little while. “Like, was there some kind of referential humour I just didn’t pick up on??”

Ens. Anderson, Sec/Sci

Ford shook his head. “My apologies, George. I didn’t expect anyone to notice. It was a reference to an old Earth film… vid. I picked up a love for them during an Earth entertainment history elective at the Academy.” He swung his eyes to Rand. “Not quite sure where Rand picked it up,” he added with a smirk.

Rand wasn’t sure what to say, and was glad that Ford had answered George’s question. She noticed Ford’s glance her way but wasn’t feeling brave enough to get into the why’s and how’s.

“Looking good everybody!” he called out, getting all eyes to turn to him again. “Let’s work a simple combo - the classic ‘one-two’.”

He waved George up with the pad and had him hold it at chin height. “This is a jab” - his left fist shot out and hit the pad - “followed by a cross” - his left hand came back and his right hand flew and hit the pad. He pointed to his hips. “The push-pull motion of the hips will really help generate a lot of power - we’re pulling the side for the cross back during the jab, giving us even more room to generate power when we rotate it back around.”

He showed the combo off from each side and the front, so they could see it from all angles. “Practice this on the pads, so you have a good target for both punches.”

COS Ford

Since George had the pad Rand squared off to him and worked through the combination, taking the first few slowly. She found that the combination of both actually made the rotation easier. Again once she was sure she had the concept down she returned to speed. The jab made a satisfying ‘rap’ against the pad followed by a punctuated ‘smack’ of the cross. Her knuckles lined up correctly and she had good follow through. The next few the power built as she figured out how to use the push/pull from the jab through to the cross.

Randy had snuck into the gym and was working out on various pieces of resistive equipment that was wonderfully high tech rather than the old weight plates. He was actually there to keep an eye on his sister and the COS but if he could get some sick gains why the heck not? He was listening to the conversation, the rooms designed for sound to travel or at least not to dampen it’s movement as he called out. “She played Trinity in a stage adaptation of the ancient video.” He was doing bicep curls at the moment, thinking like he looked like hot stuff while in actuality it was probably not the most impressive for the ginger man with arms of noodles to be ‘pumping iron’ but he thought it was good anyways!

Randy, Yeoman

Rand had no idea Randy was even in the gymnasium. She’d been focused on the class. The sound of his voice got her attention and then his words registered into the silence of the thumps and smacks of the practice. She was startled enough she aimed wrong on the cross and scraped her knuckles. Her face paled as she shook her hand and flexed it against the sting. She was going to kill Randy, if she could catch him. She took a deep breath muttering unlady like things in Gaelic about her brother and started again.
Yeoman Rand

Ford shot a glare at Randy and paused Rand before she could punch, looking at her knuckles. “Just let me know if you need the handwrap,” he told her. Louder, he continued. “And I’d ask that you not interrupt my class again, Ensign.”

Randy knew he was invading his sister’s space and even though he wanted to be protective he was far from the picture of bravado and machismo. He stood up and put the weights away gingerly, not wanting to cause any more of a disruption given that he was sure what his sister said under her breath wasn’t the most polite and the glare from the COS was rather clear. Randy wasn’t a fighter, and from what he had seen of Ford before the man was respectable and courteous, even then Randy wanted to just be sure. After all Ford was putting his hands all over his sister and he had caught that glare, who did this guy think he was? Perhaps it was time to keep a closer eye. He shot Rand a look, almost one where he was apologizing but not backing down before he grabbed some wraps and started winding them around sloppily, he had no idea what he was doing but Randy had an idea. He approached Ford, Rand, and the other officer that he wasn’t acquainted with and said, ” Randy, nice to formally meet you. I can’t interrupt if I’m a part of class now can I? Have another spot open?” He asked with a mixture of light sarcasm and genuine interest.

She paused, so Ford could examine her knuckles. She was starting to feel that need to escape brought on by the attention and notice too many people. She nodded to Ford’s comment about the hand wrap. “I’m okay.” Feeling embarrassed and totally missing the by play between Ford and her brother. She finished her last couple combinations.

“Switch,” he called out then, for them to switch who was holding the pad.

COS Ford

George handed the pad to Rand. “Your hand okay?” He asked, balling his fists and waiting for her to signal that she was ready for him to do his reps.

Ens. Anderson

Rand took the pad, “It is, thank you,” and slipped it on, holding it chin high for him, keeping her arm straight but not locked to allow her to absorb some of the impact. Then she nodded to Anderson. That tunnel vision focusing on the pad and holding it steady. But the buzzing had started in her ears.
Yeoman Rand

Yeoman Randy

Anderson nodded slightly and got properly into position. “Pop-pop,” he commented as he threw a jab followed quickly by a cross, bringing his hands up to guard his face while sending punches to the pad. He seemed to be getting the hang of it, slipping back into some practiced work from a long time ago.

Ens. Anderson, Sci/Sec


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