Friday night saw The School of the Sword’s annual Xmas social. Students from both Reading and Godalming met up for a festive meal. Both Fran and Matt gave speeches giving thanks to all those who have assisted them in the past year and allowed the school to continue to grow. There were also a number of awards given out.
Wednesday saw the last training session of the year and Godalming’s Bring-A-Weapon party.
Students got to spin a wheel to choose the weapons they would fight with, leading to some interesting and entirely one-sided fights. It also gave students a chance to fight with weapons they may never have used before. Good fun was had by all and it was the perfect way to finish what has been a very busy year for the school.
It was the last training session in Reading for the year on Monday, which could mean only one thing… our annual Bring-A-Weapon Party.
Students brought every weapon they could lay their hands on from small swords & montantes, through boken and bo staffs, to weird and wonderful from science fiction & fantasy. Students who felt brave could pick weapons from the hat of doom which lead to weird and wonderful (and entirely one-sided) match ups.
We ended the evening with a melee where it wasn’t exactly clear who was on which side at any given time.
Last Wednesday we officially welcomed and celebrated three of our “crossover” members, students who trained elsewhere before, or alongside their training with the School, with some excellent fights in their investiture assessments.
Part of the exam was a technical display which all three brought their own fighting expressions into. Well done to Mark, Lynette and James!
It’s once again that festive time of year when we eat too much, drink too much and training venues close for the xmas break. Therefore students should be aware of our last training sessions of the year.
Reading – the last session of the year will be 19th December 2016. HOWEVER, please note that due to the venue closing early the session will be at the earlier time of 7pm – 9pm
Godalming – the last session will be on 21st December 2016.
Of course, that does mean those sessions will be our traditional Bring-A-Weapon parties where all those who have passed their safety test get to fight with any weird & crazy weapon combinations they care to try. Tomahawk and Montante anyone?
Monday saw our regular training session in Reading with multiple streams of training on offer to our students.
Matt continued his work with the rapier stream on rapier & cloak, Pim looked at deep targets with sword and buckler in the Bolognese stream, and Stewart worked with the students who recently passed their safety test.
Despite being that time of year when family commitments, christmas shopping and office parties get in the way of training we had a good turnout on Wednesday with three streams of training.
Fran worked with the beginners progressing towards their safety test, whilst Pim took theBolognese stream through some sword & buckler. Meanwhile, Lynette continued her work with the rapier & dagger group on Fabris.
The School of the Sword has a long record of producing excellent fighters. A large part of this owes itself to the fact that we spend a long time on the fundamentals. When new students join us as candidati they spend many weeks learning the cuts and guards of Bolognese swordsplay, demonstrating control and efficacy. Only when they are ready do we put them through the safety test where they pass to the rank of Studente and can partake in our main training streams.
It takes some work and dedication to reach that stage so naturally, we’re very proud when we see students progress.
Congrats to Dave, Kip and Steven for being the latest additions to the Studenti
Our exploits at the recent Reading Comic Con made it onto the GetReading website. Reporting on the event we not only featured in their gallery (where we get called the Swordsman School for some reason – we can assure everyone we have a whole spectrum of genders in the school) but also in a little video as well.
Thanks to everyone who came and helped as well as the members of the public who came and watched us fight and asked us a load of great questions!
It’s that time of year where many of our candidati who started back at the end of summer have reached the stage where they are ready to take their safety test.
The safety test is an in-house examination where the student must demonstrate control, efficacy and knowledge of the cuts and guards of bolognese swordplay. Only upon passing this will our candidati rise to the rank of studente where they will be able to partake in our other streams of training leading to full sparring.
Jake and James are the latest of our Reading candidati to pass the test and rise to the rank of studente. Congratulations to both of them for putting in such hard work and dedication
+
