I’m excited to announce that Academie Duello has set dates for our next Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) instructor training program. The 50 hour Rapier and Longsword Instructor Intensive will be starting up with an intensive from June 20th to 24th, 2016. The last intensive filled up in less than a week, so I wanted…
Before I get into more conversations about mastery, and what this means when I apply the term to swordplay, I want to share some information about our next instructor course, which I’m very excited about. Registration for our next Instructor Intensive (taking place from June 20th to 24th) will be opening on April 10th at…
Read More... from June Instructor Intensive, and Some More Thoughts on Mastery
The arts that fit under the umbrella of Historical European Martial Arts or Western Martial Arts are still young in their return to the world. It has really only been about 20 years that there has been earnest pursuit and only in the last decade has there been a serious increase in practitioners. There is…
Not at all. Whether you approach your practice as a martial sport or a martial art, defeating your opponent can be a useful measure of your ability. However, it's the wrong place to be looking until a fair ways down the path of setting a martial foundation. There are many techniques, tricks, and traps one…
Read More... from How Much Should I Worry About Winning At The Beginning?
Any skill you want to keep should be rehearsed weekly. Any skill you want to improve should be practiced daily. Spaced repetitions In the case of learning new vocabulary, or memorizing names, we have a lot of good data from psychological studies. It is well known that there is a certain frequency of reminders that…
Whenever I teach dance, or martial arts, body mechanics are a big part of the foundation that I try to build with my students. There are many similarities to the mechanics required in partner dancing to those required in swordplay. When you get into lifting and dipping your partner, the crossover starts to even more…
This post first appeared on VictorianMartialArts.com and is republished with permission. Indian clubs are a quintessential staple of any (real or imagined) scene depicting a Victorian Gymnasium or training hall. As they grow in popularity due to their current revival in fitness circles, it’s easy to miss the fact that these useful tools are not…
Recently a group of Academie Duello members participated in a rapier tournament at Ursulmas, an event hosted by the Society for Creative Anachronism in the state of Washington. The tournament was based around the concept of martial challenges that the organizer called “labours”. These challenges pitted individuals up against an opponent who outmatched them in…
This week I have been leading an instructor training intensive at Academie Duello. 50 hours of instruction in Italian swordplay technique, theory, and teaching methodology. So far it is living up to its name — intense — for both the students and the teachers. That's not a statement of distress, simply one of fact. The…
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a piece called Three Things You Should be Saying to Your Martial Arts Students, where I encouraged teachers to reinforce for their students that practice matters more than talent. I received a lot of great feedback and got into some great discussions. The piece was even translated into…
When you're standing in front of your students you have an opportunity to not only convey martial arts technique but also to positively shape thinking. The psychology with which we approach learning and practice is incredibly influential over our success at that practice and our energy to keep at it long term. Here are some things…
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Academie Duello's Spring and Summer Camp, Knight Camp (for kids), is coming up in March so I wanted to share a video of a talk I gave in 2014 about how the camp changed from its early beginning as Sword Camp, more than a decade ago, to a camp focused not only on swords but…
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This past Tuesday night, I got home from the school at about midnight. After class, which ends at 10pm, I spent another hour and a half with Greg committing more rapier and sidesword exercises to video. This is our third week of shooting this particular content. To support this month’s 30 for 30 Swordplay Challenge,…
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We're one week into the 30 for 30 swordplay challenge and here are a few things I’ve been reflecting on: The appeal of swordplay is broad. Participants who have been reporting to our group have been from all over the world including Russia, Serbia, Germany, France, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, N. Ireland, Brazil, and…
Read More... from Reflections from 30 for 30 Swordplay Challenge Week 1
The third annual 30 for 30 Swordplay Challenge is just about to start on January 2nd! If you’ve heard of yoga challenges, you know what this is about. It’s like that, but way cooler… there's swords. The challenge: practice swordplay for 30 minutes per day for 30 days in January from the 2nd to the 31st.…
Read More... from 30 for 30 Swordplay Challenge: January 2016 Edition!
This past week I wrote a post about posture and my journey to build it in myself. How we hold, carry, and move our bodies is essential to our practice as martial artists in two ways: Effective Martial Arts Requires Effective Mechanics The heart of martial arts is body mechanics. Every technique you can perform is…
Several years ago I wrote a post about how I was working on fixing my posture. You see, I’m a tall guy, and as is the case with many tall guys, I had started to roll my shoulders forward to get a little closer to the world. Also, years of fencing -- and most likely…
Read More... from How I fixed my posture and how you can fix yours
Tricks and secret techniques have been a part of sword fighting since the beginning. From masters who advertised their “botte segrete” to teach for a special price, to those who ever only taught the one or two techniques they felt would get you out of a tight corner. Even more expansive writers such as Ridolfo…
Read More... from Learn the Language of Swordplay -- Not Just Its Tricks