The results of the tournament in the 12vs12 category are known, the winners got their awards, the rest of the participants gained priceless experience and commemorative tokens. It’s time to analyze the tournament in detail and summarize its results. Namely, what impressions and lessons were learned by its participants and organizers.
First of all, it is worth recalling that the Alexander Nevsky Cup 2020 is unique, because a new format of teams was used here for the first time. The teams were formed not on a usual club base but according to the Federal Districts of Russia. The teams of the Northwestern, Central, Ural, Southern, Volga Regions and the Bern team formed from Moscow and St. Petersburg branches of the club fought for victory in the 12 vs 12 battles.
According to the organizers of the tournament, such formation of teams by districts helps to participate in 12 vs 12 as many HMB athletes from all over the country as possible and gives them the opportunity to prepare as best for the selection to the HMB Russia team for the HMB World Championship Battle of the Nations 2021. Also, thanks to such an expanding geography of participants, a young and very spectacular category got an important impetus for development, which, since 2019, has become constant at the Battle of the Nations.
In addition, the 12 vs 12 fights are included in the Buhurt League rating system and will bring points to registered clubs, what is also important for the development of HMB clubs and Buhurt League plans for the final tournament of the season for clubs in 12vs 12 category in future.
Another important moment is the principle of forming teams to establish and strengthen interpersonal relationships within the HMB community. As Artemy Gershwald, captain of the national team of the Central Federal District of the country noted, this is the opportunity to strengthen relations between the fighters. Standing shoulder to shoulder with yesterday’s opponents, according to Artemy, relations are becoming much better and more reliable and it’s crucial for further work within the national team. It is also a good opportunity for novice HMB athletes to learn from more experienced teammates.
Rafael Namazov, the captain of the Volga Region team:
“We have fighters in our team from Saratov to Perm. In fact, we interact on an intuitive level. We put the beginners together with the experienced fighters. During the battle, novices just follow the example of their experienced teammates. At the team meeting we discussed everything. We have a goal, like any other team – to win. My guys are great, they don’t need the captain’s motivational speeches, they want blood!”
The important thing is that this is one of the first tournaments after a long period of isolation due to the spread of the Covid 19 virus. Participation in tournaments is essential for our athletes to get back to the good HMB shape.
Pavel Sherstnev, fighter of the Urals team, representative of the “Hansa” club:
“After self isolation it is difficult to return to the lists. The category is interesting. Rarely we have the opportunity to fight like this. It is not yet possible to put 12 fighters on our own team.
We are all from different clubs and it’s hard to get used to each other. But now we communicate more. In general, 12 vs 12 is a great category! The more fighters are on the lists, the better!”
The Bern team is lucky from this point of view, because they constantly communicate with representatives of their branches and often train together. According to Alexander Nadezhdin, a fighter of the Bern club, the tournament itself and the fights were excellent, but there was one circumstance that prevented the athletes of all teams:
“Today we have a team from two branches of the club: Moscow and St. Petersburg. We have known each other for many years. I fought in the Old Friends team in St. Petersburg. Many battles have been fought together. Everything is fine, the teams show themselves well, there are a lot of teams coming to fight today. In our first fight, we met with probably the strongest team from the Central Region. It was a good fight! But the ground on the lists is wet, slippery and it’s tricky. Many fighters just slip and fall”, said Alexander.
However, this fact did not stop our athletes from showing excellent fights accompanied by encouraging cries of support from the audience!
On this day, in the lists of the Alexander Nevsky Cup tournament, there were also women’s and men’s 3vs3 fights among HMB Academies from Moscow and St. Petersburg on soft weapons. The NRB team also took part in the men’s buhurts. In total, 3 women’s teams and 4 men’s teams participated in this block of the tournament.
Participation in such battles is an important component of the HMB fighter’s training. Here combat experience and real sports anger are accumulated, which only helps to reach new heights!
Evgeniya Kalyuzhnaya, fighter of the Peter 1 team:
“I’ve been training for about a year. I have started in the fall of 2019, however, given the quarantine, it turns out less than a year. Our team already has a little experience – we took part in women’s 3 vs 3 at the REKON 2020 festival. It was better today. Today it was really hard to win. There were tough fights with girls from Moscow. Also it was interesting to meet our girls from the Peter 2 team. I’m planning to take part in the “steel buhurts”. We have few girls who want to fight in steel too. We have excellent trainers in fencing, martial arts… Ivan Stepanov from Old Friends is our trainer in fencing and Alexey Naiderov – in martial arts. I hope they are not ashamed of us”, Evgenia said modestly.
On our own, we can add that the coaches of all participating teams can be proud of their students. They educate motivated and strong-willed athletes!
The results of the 3vs3 fights are as follows:
Female:
1. Peter 1
2. Peter 2
3. Moscow
Male:
1. Moscow
2. NRB
3. Peter 1
4. Peter 2
We just have to congratulate the winners once again and wish them new victories! We also thank all the participants of the HMB Academy tournament for the wonderful fights.
HMBIA News
