Three ‘historical’ swords from three different countries. Respect for, interest in and, at times, adoration of the sword as a cultural or historical symbol is not restricted to any one country or group. One of the real pleasures that We’ve enjoyed over the past couple of years is the chance to discuss (by phone, Scype…
Bringing a 500 year old wrestling system back to life
A few weeks ago I was in Eugene, Oregon teaching a seminar at the Northwest Fencing Academy. The day after the seminar I got together with school director Sean Hayes and his senior student Mark Kruger to work with them a bit on an historical intepretation project of a 1537 wrestling manual written by a…
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Taking a Turn
Swordplay from the Ground: Turns of the Body Last week's post on the Mounted Combat Green Spur Curriculum covered moving forward, back and side to side. This week we're adding turns to menu. Demonstrate the three turns of the body. 'Volta' is the Italian word for 'turn'. (Dressage riders will recognize it from 'volte', which…
Video Lessons: Recovering Cuts, Sidesword Lines; Longsword Defenses and Counter-Cutting
This week we're going to be using the cut to get ourselves out of some challenging situations. With the rapier at level 1 (Green Cord), we're going to be using a cut to regain control of the opponent's sword. At level 2 (Blue Cord) we'll be building our precision and fluidity in sidesword cutting. At…
Cherished Sword Press
Older swords dominate this week, some of which qualify as gifts to be carefully wrapped and lovingly placed under your modest editors’ Christmas tree! As a historian, We find it ‘scary’ and depressing when We consider just how much history we loose each year as old items decay due to a lack of care; are…
"Yeah, but when will I use fencing in real life?"
Brilliant stuff today, great for the novice and experienced fencer alike.Occasionally, when I talk to someone about fencing the conversation turns to applicability outside the salle. "It's just good for killing people with a sword. What are you going to do when you don't have your sword?"There's so much wrong with that (besides the grammar).We…
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Out Cold: The Real Danger of Concussions
Here's an infographic related to my previous post: Concussions R Bad. Created by MastersInHealthcare.com, it is sourced from the following: www.cdc.gov/concussion www.silive.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/10/scary_statistics_about-concuss.html www.mayoclinic.com/health/post-concussion-syndrome/DS01020 usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/nhl/story/2012-01-23/costly-concussions/52762290/1 Safety in Training and Reality In class, we avoid striking the head, even when wearing protective gear. To be a good partner, we either move slowly, change the target (do a…
Martial Movement
Swordplay from the Ground: Movement Last week I covered the essentials of a balance and martial stance. Now we need to add mobility, without losing the effectiveness of that grounded posture, for the second item in the mounted combat checklist: Demonstrate methods of movement The movements we are looking for are: 1. Advance: take a…
Video Lessons: Stringere via the Cut, Sidesword Shield Positions; Longsword Quadrant Defenses and Counter Cutting
We're into the second week of our month on cutting at Academie Duello. This week we're exploring the use of the cut to control the sword of the opponent (Green - level 1), the use of the buckler with the heavier sidesword (Blue - level 2) and the core defences of the longsword against various…
All-Slavic Sword Press
Eastern Europe is a ‘happening place’ for large scale WMA/HEMA/SCA-themed events – and they’re usually conducted with the support of local civic and provincial officials. We’ve selected the most prominent for the last thirty-days and offer them up as ‘snippets’ for your further exploration, amusement … and maybe, just a little envy. ИА REGNUM (St…
The Gift of Stage Combat
The month of December is like a gift of stage combat. It ends with the Paddy Crean, and everyone is preparing for it for the weeks leading up to it. The Paddy Crean Workshop I've written about Paddy Crean and the workshop in his honour before. It's one jam-packed week of stunts, stage combat, and…
Use goals to check up on yourself, not beat up on yourself
We've been talking a lot about goals at the school and on the blog over the past few weeks and its led to many interesting discussions on the impacts, both positive and negative, that goals can have in your life. One of the core reasons to set goals and work to achieve them, is to…
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Taking a Stance
Last week I gave an overview of the Mounted Combat portion of the Green Spur program, which includes Swordplay from the Ground, Swordplay Knowledge and Mounted Swordplay Knowledge. For the next little while we'll look at each of those checklist items in a bit more detail, starting with Swordplay from the Ground: Stance and Posture…