Description
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The practice of the sword is good for mind, body and soul. The mind is improved through concentration and the development of theoretical understanding. The body through healthy and varied exercise. The soul through the constant striving for perfect form, the intellectual and moral honesty the Art demands, and through the depth of personal interaction that fencing with your peers creates.
The practice requires:
1) A complete and thoroughly consistent theory of the application of historic Swordsmanship
2) A system for developing the requisite technical skills (technical drills)
3) A system for developing the ability to apply the theory (tactical drills)
4) Supporting training such as joint-strengthening exercises, so that the techniques may be done without injury.
5) A safe environment for training.
The School exists to:
1) Provide high quality instruction in Swordsmanship
2) Provide a safe, friendly and appropriate environment for practising the Art
3) Promote the Art as a safe, fun, healthy, rewarding activity.
4) Conduct cutting-edge research in the historical sources, and create workable training systems from that research.
5) Provide high-quality equipment to avid practitioners.
Age and Disability Policy
Swordsmanship training is appropriate for any person who can behave as a reasonable adult. Every student should finish class healthier than they started it.
Our youngest student started at age 6; our oldest started at age 58. We encourage younger students (those under 16) to bring a parent with them to watch the first class, after which the school, the parent and the child together can decide if the child is ready. We require written permission from a parent or guardian for every student who is not legally adult.
We have never encountered a physically perfect human being, so everybody starts out somewhere along the scale from incapacitated to super-athlete. We define ourselves by what we can do, not by what we can't, and it is part of the School's mission to expand every student's capabilities as far as possible. In practice, students have successfully trained with a range of physical disabilities including severe bone malformation, amputated limbs, and partial paralysis. The school expects all students, as reasonable adults, to take their physical limitations into account when training- if an exercise is unhealthy for you, don't do it. Students with unusually severe disabilities should make time with the instructor (in free-training sessions, or in private lessons) to work out ways to adapt the Art to their particular body.
Training at the school cannot replace medical supervision or physiotherapy. If you have any doubts, consult your doctor and the instructor before starting training