Swordplay
Our Arts Need New Masters
The arts that fit under the umbrella of Historical European Martial Arts or Western Martial Arts are still young in their return to the world. It has really only been about 20 years that there has...
Blog
Thoughts on swordplay, mastery, coaching, teaching, and living with intention.
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Swordplay
How Much Should I Worry About Winning at the Beginning?
Not at all. Whether you approach your practice as a martial sport or a martial art, defeating your opponent can be a useful measure of your ability. However, it's the wrong place to be looking until...
Uncategorized
The Secret to Good Knee Health
Whenever I teach dance, or martial arts, body mechanics are a big part of the foundation that I try to build with my students. There are many similarities to the mechanics required in partner dancing...
Swordplay
Martial Challenges
Recently a group of Academie Duello members participated in a rapier tournament at Ursulmas, an event hosted by the Society for Creative Anachronism in the state of Washington. The tournament was...
CoachingLearning
On Talent, Practice, and Patience.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a piece called Three Things You Should be Saying to Your Martial Arts Students, where I encouraged teachers to reinforce for their students that practice matters more...
SuccessSwordplay
Three Things You Should Be Saying to Your Martial Arts Students
When you're standing in front of your students you have an opportunity to not only convey martial arts technique but also to positively shape thinking. The psychology with which we approach learning...
Uncategorized
How Virtues Changed Sword Camp into Knight Camp
Academie Duello's Spring and Summer Camp, Knight Camp (for kids), is coming up in March so I wanted to share a video of a talk I gave in 2014 about how the camp changed from it's early beginning as...
Swordplay
How I fixed my posture and how you can fix yours
Several years ago I wrote a post about how I was working on fixing my posture. You see, I’m a tall guy, and as is the case with many tall guys, I had started to roll my shoulders forward to get a...
LearningSwordplay
Learn the Language of Swordplay — Not Just Its Tricks
Tricks and secret techniques have been a part of sword fighting since the beginning. From masters who advertised their “botte segrete” to teach for a special price, to those who ever only taught the...
LearningSwordplay
Accelerating Your Learning
Everyone has their own pace of learning. However, there are many strategies that can both help you to make the most of your capacity as well as enable you to learn faster and more effectively. Here...