“A characteristic of adolescent games is that they are preparation for adult games and sport. Organized tournaments, for instance, were for adults, but adolescent males began to train for ritualized or real fighting. The city fathers were against such training, because … it would simply lead to a disruption of civic order if urban youth…
Read More... from Youthful Sword Press News for February 2018
Recently, many female identified practitioners in my life have been bravely and gracefully sharing with me their challenges in being students in martial arts. One of the main things that comes up time and time again is how difficult it is to be a student when their, typically male, partners seem eager to constantly offer…
Due to unseasonably late snow, we have decided to delay starting the Riding Level 3, Jumping and Riding Level 4+, Jumping courses at Red Colt for two weeks. This will give the ring time to recover from its late-season slush and firm up enough for jumping. These courses will now start on Saturday March 17th. Note that all…
Read More... from Schedule Change: Jumping Courses Postponed
In his Jogo do Pau training seminar in Vancouver in 2016, instructor Luis Preto demonstrated a basic fact of learning. To get good at catching a ball, there's little utility in rehearsing the catching action in isolation; you need to have a ball thrown at you. The mind is an incredible problem-solving machine. It can…
Snow may have fallen this week, but that didn't keep us from riding and practising mounted combat. And with spring just around the corner, we have many more course offerings to get you out of the salle and into the saddle. Spring Courses at Red Colt Mounted Combat Mastery February is sword & shield month,…
Cutlasses. A lot of people talk about cutlasses, but nobody does anything about them. Few people in society practice a form of HEMA; and of those, even fewer are sailors. Which could account for the dearth of credible information on historical cutlass combat within our community. British Naval Swords & Swordsmanship brings to our attention…
Read More... from Book Review: “British Naval Swords & Swordsmanship” by McGrath & Barton
This past weekend, I was on an examination board for the first Provost of Armizare at the Chicago Swordplay Guild (CSG), Jesse Kulla. Provost is the rank before Master in most schools that follow an Italian martial arts tradition. I sat on a board with Sean Hayes, Maestro of Northwest Fencing Academy, Marco Quarta, Maestro…
Read More... from Student Trials: Examination and Initiation
Over the month of January, Academie Duello and Duello.TV (our online video learning channel) hosted a 30-day swordplay training challenge. Each participant engaged in the goal of at least 30 minutes of swordplay training per day for 30 days. Participants represented dozens of schools from all over the world and the range of disciplines practised was…
Read More... from Advice from the 30 for 30 Swordplay Challenge
Red Spur Swordplay from the Ground: Playbuilding When you were earning your Blue Spur, you demonstrated the ability to conduct isolated plays using attacks and defences from all quadrants. Now we want you to show the ability to connect a series of attacks and defences, or in other words: Demonstrate the ability to carry on…
Read More... from Keep Calm and Carry On: Playbuilding for Skill & Strategy
Dawn came to Marylebone Fields and found Albemarle and his second waiting with swords and pistols. Townshend arrived late and apologized. "Men of spirit don't want apologies", said the 'showy man'. "Come, let us begin what we came for."[1] Yes, we’re late with both January ‘and’ December, Allons-y ! Release the Kraken! THE GUARDIAN (Charlottetown,…
Read More... from Unapologetic Sword Press News for January 2018
Last Saturday morning at 5:30am I began a trip from Vancouver to the town of Monroe in Washington state, about 3 hours south of Vancouver, with five of my students from Academie Duello. It was our yearly trip to a rapier tournament held by the Society for Creative Anachronism called Ursulmas. This particular tournament gets…
Competitiveness plays a big role in sport. Cultivating the competitive spirit is often used to drive one to harder training and to overcoming one's opponents in a game or tournament. It can be a font of energy positively harnessed. Yet, if it's based on making negative comparisons to others, I think competition is something you…
Red Spur Swordplay from the Ground Last week we looked at the general advantages and disadvantages the combatant on the ground faces when up against a rider. This week I'll get a little more specific and give you some plays you can use. This is a sample only, not an all-encompassing toolbox of tactics, but…
Read More... from Two Feet vs Four: Defeating the Mount Opponent