This week at the London Longsword Academy.

 

 A lot going on this week, Monday got off to a wonderful start with a good turn out at the Barbican rapier class despite it being a bank holiday.  We started with a method of finding the opponent's blade, then closing the line with the thrust. We put the same exercise into practice with a game, one person in the middle attacking a circle of people who each adopted a different guard. On the first circle the middle had to find the blade and enter, on the second circle the outer parties disengaged stealing the tempo. Great fun and a fantastic learning tool.

As soon as we finished the drill we went straight into sparring, taking full advantage of the extra space. Nice to see Robert attempting some of the disarms he learnt from Reinier in Delft, but special mention has to go to Fleur for changing her fight to di Grassi mid way through her bouts and using her left hand to some effect.

All in all a fantastic evening, thanks to all of you who made it.

What else this week?

Tuesday in Beckenham it's staff and spear.

Wednesday at the Blackfriars/Waterloo class it's sword buckler & shield.

Thursday is burn night, intense, aerobic drilling with multiple weapons.

Friday of course is the fantastic new longsword class in Highgate.

Hurt from the high ward.

Here is a little clip from di Grassi expliaining the attack from the high ward and the counter to that technique, taken from this wednesday's sword and buckler class.     It's tempting to go charging in with an overhand thrust from the high guard, but what is actually intended is a scooping screwing motion from high to low that gathers any incoming thrust and covers in the low ward itself. In this clip I go through a couple of the issues that make the counter technique work, namely the holder of the high ward actually trying to thrust at you and the ever present threat of a thrust from his opponent's right side. I hope you enjoy the clip and find it useful, if you want to see more clips like this, don't forget to like our facebook page

Happy Mondays.

I came back from Delft a little rough around the edges and of course feeling a little under the weather I felt it best to make us all sweat, so...
Monday's class consisted of little gems I borrowed from the other instructors in Delft.
A matched pacing warm up from Ton Puey, the beats and entries from Marcelli as shown by Francesco Lodà (very similar to Olympic fencing, a great way to warm the muscles learn timing and practice the footwork from di Grassi). Both were fantastic ways to warm up and blast through some core skills in a very short time.
Then it was time for a little bit of di Grassi, again working on the hurt from the high guard we looked at not only the footwork and thrust itself but also the psychology of the entry, dividing the opponent's mind between wishing to attack the obvious line and defending, while this schism is occurring entering in such a way that scoops up and crushes the counter before it (no doubt at this point there is some lamentation, then some milk based alcohol and a discussion about what is good in life).
We then looked at the counter to this from the low ward, applying a similar mind set. It is remarkable how much this style gives an almost Musashi five rings feel to your fencing, either overwhelming your opponent or flowing deceptively around them, one action and mind set made possible by the threat of the other.

We will have a few more weeks of di Grassi before going over some Cavendish and Thibault, but we will return to this often, it is simple, brutal and so much fun.

Dastardly doings in Delft.

Well it's been pretty damn busy at the school. Of course we have the new class starting at Jackson's Lane of the 25th of April, but that hasn't stopped me from rushing off to Holland to teach at the International Rapier Seminar, it was an honour to teach alongside such notables as Thibault Ghesquière, Francesco Lodà, Ton Puey and of course our gracious host and co-instructor Reinier van Noort. I taught Cavendish which is proving to be a pleasant experience with most people seeming to move through slight disbelief, gradual comprehension then utter joy at slapping swords out of people's hands with gay abandon. 

It is an unusual system but very effective and also very well informed, Cavendish it seems was a clever fellow. I will post a little more about it soon, but in the mean time thanks to everyone in this picture, it was an absolute pleasure to be there.

   

Class news. 
Barbican Mondays: Rapier for a few more lessons - we will work on di Grassi, then back to more Thibault and Cavendish.
Beckenham Tuesdays: Staff & spear from Mair.
Wednesday Blackfriars/Waterloo: sword and buckler/shield, again di Grassi then back to I.33.
Thursday Clapham: Burn night, the most intense way to drill. Several weapon sets, hi rep and very fun.

Friday: Class opening in Highgate on 25th April, contact me for details.