It was a busy night in Reading on Monday with three different streams of training running simultaneously.
Matt worked with the Bolognese group, whilst Pim took the rapier stream. Meanwhile Stewart and Simon took the beginners through some more of the foundations of sword play as part of their six-week course.
The School of the Sword has taken both the gold & silver medals in the rapier & dagger competition at the Helsinki Open.
Alexander Makarov fought and beat Piermarco Terminiello in a close final that saw the match go to sudden death.
Congratulations to both of our fighters for doing the School proud.
Fantastic news out of Helsinki today as we’ve just heard that School of the Sword’s Pim Terminiello and Alexander Makarov will fight for gold in the rapier & dagger competition at the Helsinki Open this weekend. This means that School of the Sword is already guaranteed gold and silver.
We obviously couldn’t be more proud and wish we could be there for what is likely to be a truly epic fight.
Best of luck to Kristofer Stanson and Andreas Isaksson who fight for bronze.
Thanks to Afterblow for letting us know and use of their picture!
Our Godalming students gathered at Broadwater Sports Hall on Wednesday for our regular weekly training session.
Fran and Lizzie worked with the beginners, Adrian took the Bolognese stream and Pim taught a stream on the single rapier.
What happens when you can’t make training because you are on holiday skiing but still want to practise?
Answer: you improvise. A bunch of our students sent back these photos of them practising their skills in the Alps. Anyone have a historical treatise on the ski pole?
It was our regular training session in Reading on Monday night with a good turnout of students.
Stewart and Dan took the beginners through the second week of their foundation course whilst Jay took the Bolognese and Pim took the single rapier stream.
Students from both our Godalming and Reading salles gathered on Sunday for a special training seminar with School of the Sword senior instructor and former Swordfish champion, Phil Marshall. Phil looked at single rapier and covered a number of fundamentals and micro improvements that benefited both students new to the weapon and those more experienced. Everyone agreed it was a hugely beneficial day that will improve their use of the weapon.
Students turned up on Wednesday night for our regular weekly training session in Godalming.
Fran worked with the beginners progressing towards their safety test. Meanwhile Pim started an introduction to single rapier in the rapier stream, whilst Adrian worked with the Bolognese group on improving their use of the buckler.
It was Reading’s first training session of the year and a new intake of beginners. They worked with Stewart and Dan on the first week of their six week course on the fundamentals of Bolognese swordplay.
Meanwhile Matt took the Bolognese stream whilst Pim started a stream on introduction to single rapier.
Senior Instructor, Fran Terminiello, has written a few words about The School of the sword in 2016
Despite what’s gone on in the outside world 2016 has been a fantastic year for The School.
Whether we hosted or helped with events – such as the International Rapier Seminar, Astolat, the Illka seminar, our popular introduction courses and the Broadwater Bucklerthon – or attended, fought and taught at them, from local tournaments to world class international championships, we have received compliments from all over, been respected and admired for our teaching, our conduct, performance, research and style.
These are things the School has built upon over the 14 years since its founding. Our students consistently epitomise professionalism while remaining a friendly and approachable group of people. And it is this team spirit and openness that is key to our success; our achievements inspire one another and others, rather than intimidate. They show what is possible.
If the last three years since the School shifted geographically and culturally have been about recruitment and growth of the school as a whole, the next three will focus on the development and individual growth of our members.
We will concentrate on the people that we have, those who have shown us that hard work, loyalty and sweat can bear more than just medals.
We are going to level up our training, deepen our understanding of the texts and broaden our knowledge of historical swordsmanship. We are going to do this together, and I look forward to seeing where 2017 will take us.
