We had rank examinations in the Mastery program just this past Friday. Congratulations to all who tested, whether you succeeded or not. Congratulations to you because you have each put in a lot of effort to achieve level that you're at. For those readers not aware of how the Mastery program works: students must meet…
Abrazare: Wrestling That's Fun to Say
"Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right use of strength." - Henry Ward Beecher Abrazare Workshop Saturday, September 22, 2012 3pm-7pm Learn the art of Abrazare, the fundamental system of Italian wrestling that underlies the martial system of historical fencing master Fiore dei Liberi. This workshop begins with grappling and wrestling fundamentals,…
Closure: Collapse the Possibilities, Go All In
Keeping your options open is an attractive concept and feels like freedom. It permits room for debate, changes of opinion and forgiveness. In most circumstances, I believe that the gentleman and the rational person avoids taking sides until the most information is analyzed. I believe in science. I wanted to get that messiness out of…
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Compassionate Demand - Pushing your boundaries and enjoying it.
Last night in class I brought up this idea of being a combination of demanding and compassionate with yourself when learning something new. If you want to become an excellent practitioner of something (and that is a worthy goal) then you are going to need to call on yourself to do something you can't yet…
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Mille Grazie!
A thousand thanks to everyone who contributed some of their precious long weekend time to our double-barrelled work party on Saturday and Monday! On Saturday our team augured post holes, and made concrete footings for the post saddles in preparation for Monday's framing team, which measured, sawed, drilled and bolted the bones of the shedrow…
Beer-based Sword Press
“You’re a mule, Brennan, fitted neither to a rustic life nor a professional one – a bloody anachronism – a social mule, public school educated, trained to appreciate Chartreuse in a world where you cannot afford beer, taught to use a rapier in a world where other bastards use guns.” Plummer, D. Brian. ‘Lepus’. Coch-y-Bonddu…
[Videos] Rapier, Sidesword, and Longsword oh my!
It's September already! Many of our students in Vancouver are heading back to University for their new year and many old faces return after summer vacations. It's a great time to get back to fundamentals. This week we are focusing on rapier movement fundamentals, cutting technique with the sidesword, and core skills of giocco stretto…
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Competition Stage Combat
Taking inspiration from Major Wes' post on this very blog called Staged Sword Press, let's talk about competitive stage combat. Art Contests In sporting competition, there is obvious scoring with the ball kicked across a line, or touches with a sword tip. Artistic expression has its own competitions, but they must be scored by a…
Raise the Roof!
You are invited to a good old-fashioned barn raising! Okay - we're not raising a whole barn, but we are building a new shedrow shelter for our horses and we need a whole lot of talented, strong, wonderful people like YOU to help us! If you haven't been able to join us for a…
Academie Duello Appears on CBC French
If you speak French or at least like watching moving pictures, take a look at this spot that appeared last month on CBC Television French about Academie Duello, Knight Camp, and me. They did a fine editing job to make my French sound semi-reasonable. Also appearing are Sabrina and Cartson, french speaking Knight Camp students,…
Magical Sword Press
Swords and magic have been consistent companions since blades were first born of fire from raw chunks of rock. Even today, the ‘magical sword’ – be it blessed or cursed – is a mainstay in modern day fiction writing - and no little featuring in computer games!. Accessorise, accessorise, accessorise! SCHWÄBISCHE ZEITUNG (Leutkirch,…
Randy on.... sparring
Randy's at it again. This time some really good notes on why sparring is important to the development of the Art. There certainly is a difference between the theory of the art and its practice (Capoferro talks about it thus too). The lesson that I want to point out is that putting your theory into…
Bartitsu Bootcamp
This week, I'm taking over the 7am SwordFit Bootcamp, and naturally, we're using Bartitsu skills as the foundation of our movements. One-hour Class Outline Welcome and Salute Warm Up: Jogging Jump rope (Jumping Jacks for those without rope) Medicine ball toss and catch with joint rotations Boxing: Preparation: Shadow boxing Free punching focus pads Lead…