By the way, only the tournament is open to the public. I think I implied earlier that the workshops would be as well. Unless you have a rapier and $100 to spare, just come on Sunday.
Rasa
Speaking of swords, I just picked up an old sabre the other day which belonged to the infamous mobster Frank Ballistierre.
The sabre requires a lot of finesse. In the word of my teacher’s teacher, with a heavy German accent, “ze sabre is ze cruelest veapon. It must be shtudied.”
I can just see this Italian dood in a pinstriped suit standing over my shoulder, chomping on a cigar, saying, “don’t use the Force, use force!”
SCA Fencing
There are some talented fencers in the SCA, to be sure. Many of them have years of competitive training, which usually engenders good instincts and combat reflexes. However, as an institution, SCA fencing has serious problems.
There is no quality control whatsoever. A decent sport fencer can pick up a rapier, read a text or two in translation, and proceed to call himself a master and give Italian rapier lessons. He and his students may score some hits, but this in no way means that they are fencing properly. SCA style is tremendously unorthodox, largely due to the unsystematic way the material is approached and the fact that the instructors are usually ill-informed.
At my Salle, we study it as a martial art. We train hard. We hit hard. And with practice, we fence well and in accordance with the primary texts. Several SCAdians have gravitated to my school over the years. Their initial complaints are always the same: we work too hard and we hit too hard. They fence with us for a few months. They go back to the SCA and eviscerate all of the fencers in their canton, or whatever. They return to us, and usually don’t fence with the SCA anymore.
Most real historical/classical fencing salles have a tradition of pedagogy and weapon mastery that stretches back to the beginning of the 19th century. My fencing master’s master fought duels on German warships, trained some of the greatest fencers in Hollywood (Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Tyrone Power, etc), and even danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet ensemble. His master was a French mystic, and one of the greatest warriors in Europe.
As much fun as SCAdians may have, you just can’t beat hundreds of years of tried-and-true pedagogy. Essentially, our teachers know what they are doing.
MR
Check out the AHF site to see what events you can make.