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.