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…
Category: Programs
Feeding (and Watering) the Beasts
Horsemanship Level 4: Feeding The Feeding section of the Level Four checklist is quite large: 4. Feeding rules & how implemented. Common grains, concentrates & processing methods. Own routine & ration. This week in the blog we'll take a look at the rules of feeding, and next week we will examine types of grain. In…
On Talent, Practice, and Patience
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…
The Practical Grooming
Horsemanship Level 4: Full Practical Grooming For Level 3 you had to identify and show knowledge of all the items in a complete grooming kit. For Level 4 you will need to put them to use: 4. Full practical grooming, complete kit. The good news is we do not watch you groom. Instead you are expected…
The Conclusion of the 30 for 30 Swordplay Challenge
Over the month of January Academie Duello and I hosted a training challenge that set a goal of 30 minutes of swordplay training per day for 30 days. Whether this was over and above your usual training quota or simply reporting on it was up to each participant. Specific additional training goals could also be set…
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Stable & Pasture: the Good and the Bad
Horsemanship Level 4: Stable & Pasture The Stable & Pasture assessment for Level 4 requires you to: 2. Identify good & bad features of setup, emphasizing safety. Clean a stall, choice of tools. This means you now need to apply judgement to your knowledge. Very few stables are ideal. We often wish our pastures, paddocks,…
Three Things You Should Be Saying to Your Martial Arts Students
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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A Workmanlike Turnout
Horsemanship Level 4: Turnout Horsemanship 4 is the first level in our program in which you will be examined on your appearance. 1. Candidate’s turnout. Safe, tidy, clean, AD shirt, footwear, hair, gloves. At first glance it may seem superficial or trivial to have a dress code. Indeed, at earlier levels we only require that…
How Virtues Changed Sword Camp into Knight Camp
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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The Red Spur
As with its cousin rank, the Red Cord, the Red Spur requires a concerted training and study effort to achieve, and will probably take you about three years to get there from the point at which you win your Blue Spur. However, it is the journey itself that is rewarding whether it takes you two…
How to Create Tangible Results from Martial Arts training
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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On Horsemanship
The final item on your Blue Spur checklist is: Read and demonstrate an understanding of Xenophon’s On Horsemanship. Written around 300 BCE by Xenophon the Greek, On Horsemanship is the oldest known complete work on the care and training of riding horses. (There is an older Hittite treatise on conditioning chariot horses, and an incomplete…
Reflections from 30 for 30 Swordplay Challenge Week 1
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…
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30 for 30 Swordplay Challenge: January 2016 Edition!
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.…
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Throwing Your Weapon Away ... from Horseback
Blue Spur: Throwing a Spear from the Saddle The final Mounted Games item in the Blue Spear checklist is: Safely throw a javelin from the halt and walk without emphasis on accuracy. Since we don't even ask you to hit a target, this is, (in a sense) even easier than the earlier requirement of hitting…
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Body Mechanics and Martial Arts
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…
Learning to Let Go: couching and releasing the lance
Blue Spur Mounted Games: couching and releasing the lance At the Blue Spur you are not expected to do actual combat with the spear, or even joust against the quintain. However, we do want you to be able to: Demonstrate couching and releasing of the lance. Couching 'Couching' refers to holding the spear in one…
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How I fixed my posture and how you can fix yours
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…
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