Swindon had a guest tonight when one of Oxford’s students came to join us in our exploration of all things buckler. Despite some very advanced work, there were good levels of concentration, with everyone showing marked improvement by the end of the session. A good session all round.
We had a good turnout of nine fencers for free play this morning in Broadwater Park. For those entering the upcoming Wessex League tournaments we held some judged and timed bouts to simulate tournament conditions.
Tonight at our Swindon Chapter, our students looked at feints with footwork. A lot of good work, playing with measure and tricking our opponents. We also did some more prep work ahead of Safety Tests next month.
It was the second day of our Coming of Age event, celebrating the 21st anniversary of the School of the Sword. After a hearty breakfast, students jumped into a selection fo workshops taught by instructors from across School of the Sword’s four chapters.
Josh taught some Fabris Rapier & Dagger, Phil introduced students to dall’Agocchie sidesword, Fran ran a Sword& Dagger masterclass, Emilia tackled Longsword disarms, Adrian ran a workshop on introduction to single rapier, and Matt taught rapier and cloak. We then gave out a bunch of awards before leaving the afternoon for people to pack up their tents and engage in a little sparring.
Thank you to everyone who came. It seemed the event was a massive success and the perfect way to celebrate our 21st anniversary. Here’s to the next 21!
Not everyone was at our Coming of Age event this weekend, and for those Oxford students who weren’t, there was still the option of our weekly sparring session.
Sparring gives students a chance to exchange with opponents they might not have sparred with before, practise weapons that might not currently be in the training curriculum, as well as get some much needed time to incorporate new techniques and tactics into their swordplay.
After a busy first day of workshops and sparring, what better way to unwind than a cruise down the Thames. Attendees from all four chapters at our Coming of Age event this weekend, boarded a boat and set sail for an evening of food, drink and conversation.
It was a jam-packed day of workshops on the first full day of our Coming of Age celebration event. Students from all four of our chapters gathered on the banks of the Thames to partake in a wide range of workshops put on by our instructors.
Lizzie gave an introduction to Spadone, Dan looked at Alfieri humors, Apollon gave a Rapier masterclass, Kirstian taught an introduction to Longsword, Adrian gave a masterclass on use of the buckler, Simon looked at Godhino’s Montante, Luis introduced us to grappling, and Mark gave a workshop on Agrippa. All were well attended with lots of happy students enjoying the perfect weather.
We ended the first day of workshops with Simon and Josh from our Reading Chapter completing the final piece of their Spadaccino grading. Spadaccino is the most senior rank in the school and as part of it, they have to engage in a number of fights including a weapon they’ve never used before which in their case were peasant flails. Congrats to both of them for a well deserved honour. which has required huge number of hours of dedicated training as well as written pieces.
Given the pandemic and how it messed with everyone’s sense of time, it’s hard to believe that School of the Sword Oxford is now five years old.
Lovingly known as Soxford by our members, School of the Sword Oxford brought a change to our core syllabus and got us to finally embrace longsword as one of our core weapons.
Congratulations to Head of Chapter, Emilia, who has single-handedly built our Oxford chapter to what it is today. And now with some of her original students becoming instructors in their own right, we’re excited to see what the next five years hold!
This weekend sees our 21st Anniversary celebration with a range of workshops from instructors from all four of our chapters. However, before the weekend could begin, we needed to partake in a little light liquid refreshment as we made our way into the town of Marlow for some pub food and celebrate the first time that students from all four of our chapters have gathered together.
The food was excellent and the company was brilliant, setting us up for what promises to be an exemplary event weekend.
Our Oxford students gathered tonight at our normal training venue for their regular weekly training. Emilia continued to teach sword in armour – half swording or ‘mezza mella’ according to Fiore dei Liberi. There was a good turn out and a lot of fun had.
