Académie de l’Éclair and other tales of FightCamp.

First of all congratulations to Tim Fuke on winning rapier gold. Our first scholar and a fine teacher in his own right, Tim is always notable for understating his considerable skill. Great to see him take this well deserved win.
   *In case that isn't enough, Tim then went on to win silver in the longsword and bronze in the mixed. Please apply all the above compliments again:). Congratulations also to Ties Kool for taking gold in that event. Tim, we are proud of you.




 I ran a dagger and a dussack workshop, both of which Iam happy to say, went down very well. I wanted to say thanks to everyone that attended, I often have issues with folk not cooperating and trying to win the drills at the cost of not understanding the technique. I went to FightCamp fully expecting this to be the case again. I was however hugely impressed with everyone in both of the classes. A huge degree of co-operation, extreme effort to give a partner the right pressure and generally working to understand specifics and minutia. This allowed both classes to cover far more than I originally intended. Brilliant work, those of you who took part can be rightly proud of yourselves, thank you.

     
And finally our great tale of woe, lost hope and sadness. Or at least it could have been. Sinan (pictured here) was given a lift by two of the lovely folk from our school. Sadly mid journey his rapier left the roof of the car to become lost in the English countryside. I know that those that drove and Sinan were all secretly mortified. I had a quick chat with Marco Danelli who made the missing item, his solution "Why don't you give him the one I made for myself?" What followed was a quick dash around the students who all chipped in to cover the cost of Marco's materials and I was able to rush Sinan's new improved rapier to him on the same day. To all of my students, I am in the greatest company I could hope for.

I.33 in depth. The torture begins.

Given the heat I could have maybe gone easy on them. 
 However, yesterday was an exacting lesson.

A full break down of the connection between first ward and half shield, the nature and meaning half shield and making it work safely when many methods leave it unsound and flawed.
A demanding lesson that I think made even the heat seem noticeable.

 
 We also explored the siege in far more detail than a simple counter posture, and bring us all the way to the relationship between crutch and first ward.

 

A demanding lesson that I think made even the heat seem noticeable.  Fantastic work from the whole class.

Days of the blade.

As usual so much is going on. 

In the buckler class we have been ploughing through Lignitzer, but at last found a little more time to get back to I.33 and add a little Mair as well.

We have been playing with Mair's Opus more and more throughout our classes, it is a work I am gaining more and more respect for the more I understand it.

His wresting is delightfully well explained.

Of course our favourites are never left behind, Thibault is so elegant and hard hitting.

 Then there is of course the spear. Mair using the staff to teach in a manner needing (at least a little) less exacting control. 

Most of the classes are on waiting list. But openings do crop up, so if you want to come and have a look do contact us.

Spears at the Palace.

 

A busy week, mainly fighting, with a touch of Indian clubs. 

These shots are from the early class at Crystal Palace. This week was spearplay, and rather wonderful it was too.

 

We  are also putting out a few clips to help people who wonder what HEMA looks like.

A few of these I will post up here as I get time.

 

The first of these is a gentle run through. Please be aware that these points, although not fully sharp as perfectly capable of entering the body. So my partner's caution is fully understandable. 

What's on at the academy.

Monday in the Barbican. We are on rapier and rapier and dagger, for a few weeks working through Mair.

 
          
 Wednesday at Blackfriars. It is the wonderful Lignitzer sword and buckler.    

Thursday Crystal Palace. We have two classes, one after the other. Usually spear followed by messer and dussack, but for a few weeks the spear class is working on dagger.

             
The Thursday class is currently the only group not on waiting list.

Friday Highgate. Again working through some Mair longsword for a few weeks.              
All of the classes have their own focus but follow the same principles of reach, feeling and application/reaction to force.

If you are interested in joining a class, contact me at londonlongsword@gmail.com and please include a telephone number.

Bucklering like a boss.

Last night we split into three groups.

Club swinging:
 I picked a simple heart swing that brings that if the body is turned rather than using the military club form, allows us to practice a vertical strike moving into plunge.
A lot of benefit in this, everyone was using the size 3 club which is not too heavy but encourages you to flow through the cut.

Set piece: Each pairing picking a play or section of a play from Lignitzer and working through it, focusing on the element that they find hardest.

Solver: Free responsive drill, breaking down each play from Lignitzer into its component parts. Rather than saying I must start at point A, choosing the piece of the sequence that most matches the necessity of the situation and proceeding from there.

Each group worked for twenty minutes before rotating to the next.
Excellent work from everyone, a fantastic way to come back off holiday.

The LFHA Club Training Day with Mike Simpson and Steve Angell.

This weekend I had the pleasure of hosting an event on behalf of the LHFA (London Historical Fencing Alliance). I very deliberately chose something that wasn't a fencing event, but also offered exercises extremely pertinent to swordsmanship, the Indian Clubs. I train clubs often. I use it to teach some beginner students structure and flow within the cut, but I was glad to have a day off and hand the reins to some gentlemen with much greater experience than my own.

 Enter Mike Simpson and Steve Angell.

 

 Wearing their Aloha T-shirts: Steve on the left, Mike on the right.

We only had four hours for this first seminar so Mike went very swiftly into getting folk moving with and without clubs. Taking everyone through a twenty minute warm up that also allowed the few late runners time to slip quietly into the class at the back. I was dashing all over the place but I was enjoying hearing Mike talk about using complex sequences to switch your mind off and achieve the simple thing you thought you couldn't do. I paraphrase there, but I think this is an important truth and (I believe )one of the aims of Meyer's cutting sequences.

 

That done, a section of the class split to help Steve get his gear to the outside training area to set up the heavy clubs (Meels and Jori). From that moment we had two classes running in tandem: the lighter more dextrous club work, and the strength and structure meels.

Throughout, Mike remained tireless in his energy and enthusiasm, giving people brief moments of respite as he solo demonstrated, but keeping the movement confident and constant. I suspect if I had not suggested a break for everyone between swapping over that he could of carried on right through.

Steve's class was by necessity a little more broken up. The additional weight making endurance swinging less of an option, a perfect mix of drilling and chatter about the origins of the meels allowed people to push themselves without being broken.

Both Mike and Steve dealt with everyone in a kind and hearty manner throughout. Both exhibiting a great professional attitude to training. Both with the overbrimming passion for their subject that carries people along. I had a lot of feedback from people after the seminar, all of it positive.

 It was very much a pleasure to have them down to teach, I hope that we will do so again soon.

Mike Simpson's web page.

Steve Angell's YouTube channel.