On the weekend of June 1st, 2018, Academie Duello hosted our third annual Vancouver Martial Challenge. This is a weekend focused on the joy of sparring in a relaxed and collaborative environment. Each day all of the participants endeavour to spar with one another (in a diversity of disciplines) and at the end of each day…
Read More... from Event Report: Vancouver Martial Challenge 2018
A slightly different type of how-to topic for today—though it still involves swords! This past weekend we held a charity event at Academie Duello called Duelling with Cause. It featured a tournament, swordplay demonstrations, and a lot of cool audience participation. One of the things that the attendees got to try out was sabering a…
I'm a big fan of sparring games and other exercises that help bring a skill from drilling into a more fluid and combative environment. The Five Things Exercise is a sparring game that allows you to focus on five different techniques or ideas with just this goal. Exercise Structure Set a timer for a period…
There are two ways that I love sparring these days: With a simple jacket, light or padded gloves, gorget, and mask. In a full suit of plate harness. What I like about both of these environments is their close relations to how the martial arts we teach and practice were performed traditionally. A bulk of…
Read More... from Why Fight Light? Using Less Gear When Sparring
Over this past week, I have been working on a post about understanding who you are as a practitioner and using that self-knowledge to help you find the training strategies that work to help you keep motivated and achieve your mastery goals. Well, it's proven to be a more interesting and challenging post to create…
This past weekend, I had the special honour of seeing one of my senior students, Matheus Olmedo, elevated to the rank of Provost (the fourth level, just before Master). I wrote about what was involved in this gruelling two-day ordeal in last week's post. It was a superb thing to be a part of, along…
Duelling with Cause returns on Friday, June 8th 2018! House Stark stood upon the stage of last year's event victorious. Now they challenge the fighters and supporters of the great opposing houses to return to Academie Duello to fight for honour, fun, and charity! Join Academie Duello and Mission-Possible for one of this year's most…
This Saturday (May 5th, 2018), we have an exciting event occurring at Academie Duello in Vancouver BC, an examination for the rank of Provost. Matheus Olmedo, who has been a student at Academie Duello for the past 8 years, has been diligently preparing himself. Everyone in the school is excited to witness and support him…
Feeling in a bit of a slump in your sparring? Perhaps overwhelmed or under-challenged? Sparring games, where you create restrictions and alternate objectives, can be a great way to up the strategic challenge and interest or allow you to focus on a smaller subset of skills. The first batch of games I'm presenting are all…
Read More... from Sparring Games: Alternate Target Objectives
The ever-popular Beginner and Intermediate Horseback Archery workshops with Robert Borsos are back this Saturday May 5th. These workshops happen rarely, so don't miss out! Sign up here. Beginner Horseback Archery Whether you are an expert rider or archer, or a complete beginner at both, this is your starting point. You will spend about…
Read More... from Horseback Archery Returns Saturday May 5th
One of the awesome things about Historical European Martial Arts is that they come from a rich historical tradition. And this tradition includes a wealth of instructional books written from within the period where those arts were most actively practiced. Picking up a 15th-century fighting manual is by no means necessary to learn, practice, and…
Read More... from Eat the Book: A Process for Understanding Historical Sources
A heads up to all of you with your Riding Level 3 signed off: we have opened a new Sunday class to help you towards Riding Level 4. Due to complex scheduling this six-class series runs over ten weeks, so there are no classes on April 29th, May 13th, or June 13th. Sign up now…
Classes are a great place to learn, but proficiency comes from learning in between sessions by practising on your own. Here are five ways you can make the most of your personal practice time: Keep your commitment small If you're new to home practice, make a commitment that you feel very confident about keeping. In the beginning,…