It was a busy night at our Reading Chapter tonight. Matt looked at Marozzo, feints and fighting styles leading onto a friendly Bolognese tournament, whilst Simon and Josh continued their block on single rapier. However, all attention was on the newly-improved peasant flails (first debuted at the Coming of Age event), which made a welcome return to sparring at the end.
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!
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.
Last night our Ssudents from Swindon were busy practising their best Matrix moves, as we played on the edge of measure with feints of the body. Some excellent voiding by all, and it was great seeing some students able to use the drills to unlock massive level ups that they were able to take into sparring.
In Godalming tonight we continued our Sword and dagger block with an evening of defence at the stage drills. The longsword class looked at Meyers square and the beginner’s group looked into body mechanics with the aid of spadone.
Tonight at our Swindon Chapter, students got to look at feints with the sword. Despite some very complex blade work required in the various drills we went through, students picked it up and were then able to utilise it in their boffer sparring at the end of the night.
Tonight at our Swindon Chapter, students continued looking at the various attacks and counters from Guardia di testa as per Manciolino. Despite some complex counters, students showed a good degree of insight and analysis. Brilliant work by all.
