For those who know and want to skip the intro, click this link to jump to the bottom of the page.
Hard to believe, but these 2 gentlemen (and I use the term loosely) are the brains and the brawn behind the School of the Sword.
The one on the left is Master Turk. He is a certified martial arts instructor. He is certified to teach in 3 bladed arts. So even though there is some joking around, this stuff is for real. What you learn can be applied for self defense using anything you have handy.
The other picture is his lovely assistant Master Wolfe. He is one of Turk's students and assists in the training during sword school.
As far as I know,
GLMF is the only faire with something like this. Simply because
there are no martial arts instructors that volunteer their time
at faire.
This all came about in 2001. A couple of his students suggested
doing a medieval faire to show off some of the skills they had
learned. Since they did not do tournaments, Master Turk thought
it was a good idea. Luckily, they ended up at GLMF.
For those who truely enjoy
Sword School, make sure you let the faire know.
Every year it is not a sure thing that they will be back.
So if you want Sword School back again, take a few momments and
drop the faire a note telling them how much you enjoyed it and
want to see it back again.
Email them at
questions@medievalfaire.com
or brookhall@medievalfaire.com
Or better yet, phone them at 1-888-MEDIEVAL
I am sure a phone call would carry a little more weight than an
email.
For those that prefer to actually mail a letter:
Great Lakes Medieval Faire
PO Box 376
Rock Creek, OH 44084
Memories are short. So reminding the faire just how important
Sword School is can only help.
They do not teach you to fight like a knight! We are instructed in the use of a short sword. Not one of those big huge broadswords that the knights used. Those were used more like clubs. They weighed around 5-8 pounds, and were used primarily to knock an armored man down then run him through. That or to just keep bashing until bones broke and your enemy could not defend themselves any more.
We are trained in
how to use the common man's weapon. It is a short sword that
looks similar to a machete. It is edged along the top 2/3 of the
front of the blade, and the top 1/3 of the back of the blade. It
was basically a farm implement. Used for cutting branches, tree
roots, underbrush, digging, hammering, prying. Every farmer had
one. You can still find similar tools on a farm today. It was an
all purpose tool that everyone had. Back in the dark ages, a town
would hire a sword instructor to come in and show the people how
to use a sword to help defend their land. Let's face it. Knights
were not always around, and a person had to defend their own
property. They would learn the drills, different attacks and
defensive moves, and gain basic knowledge of how to use their
weapons.
That is what happens at the School of the Sword.
I know, doesn't sound glamorous, but it is effective. The Romans
staid in power for a heck of a long time using mainly a short
sword. It was slightly different, straighter blade, edged on both
sides. It works much better in close quarters. Doesn't require
the arm strength.
How do I know all
this?
I started coming to Sword School in 2002. My daughter and I made
our first trip to faire that year. We attended Sword School and
were hooked. Went 8 days in 2002, and hit class every day,
sometimes twice a day. This year (2003) we have been to class
about 14 times already. So I have heard the speach that Master
Turk gives so much, I could probably recite it in my sleep.
Sword school is interactive. That means you get up and go out on the field and actually do the drills your self. You get a practice stick to work with. This is a stick about the same size as a sword. Saves on the paperwork. No one gets cut to pieces that way. Besides, it is a lot easier on the arms. Even the short sword gets heavy after you use it for a while.
There are only a
couple rules for school.
Kids that are 6 or younger need a parent (or other older
responsible person) to stand behind them and actually help them
move their hands around.
Anyone who has had too much ale to drink should stay on the
bleachers and watch.
After you get your
stick, everyone lines up in two rows (4 if the class is big).
Everyone faces the instructiors who demonstrate what they are
talking about as they do it.
Then we go over the very basics. Everyone holds up the stick in
their right hand, then their left hand.
Have to make sure everyone is on the same page.
After that, then
there is the explanation of the differnece between cutting
strikes and hacking strikes.
Then we get started on some basic drills. With a large class, and
everyone having only one stick, it is usually something like a
forehand high, backhand high, forehand low, backhand low.
Here is a forehand high strike.
After everyone goes through the drill a few times, and gets the hang of it, then you get to turn and face your partner. Then you do the drills on each other. If you and your partner do things right, then no one gets hit. The sticks meet and cancel each other out. Basically, you are attacking and blocking all in the same strike.
Then, after you get it down pretty good, and think you are all that. Then they throw in a twist. One or both people have to kneel down while still continuing to fight. Or they will have you move around while you fight.
All in all, it is a ton of fun. No two classes
are the same.
They also teach different drills at each class. Sometimes they
are the same drills, but we learn something new almost every
class.
Here are some pictures from another class. This time they are working on some 2 handed drills.
If you stick with it, then the instructors will
show you a few new things after class as well. You even (on very
rare occasions) get to use the real steel! The pictures above are
of Hank helping Steve show a drill to a couple other students.
Wolfe was busy showing us something else, I paused to get some
quick pictures.
Last season, Britny and I got to do some drills with the blades
too.
That is one of the coolest things about the classes, if you stick
with them, they will keep showing you new things. That way you
can advance the difficulty of the stuff you learn. That is how
you learn fun stuff like the 'feed and follow'. Which is a 10
count drill with no 2 strikes/blocks being the same.
This was our first year at faire, and the first we stumbled on these guys. We had fun at the first class. So much that we practiced the stuff at home, and kept coming back. They kept showing us more fun stuff. By the end of the first year, I think we knew about 5 or 6 drills (both 1 and 2 handed), and started learning the feed and follow.
We started playing around with chaining during
the off-season. Wouldn't you know it, that was one of the new
twists they threw into the mix this year also. Chaining is where
you take a couple drills you know and do them together. Also
learned a lot more new drills after class. Finished learning the
one handed feed and follow (well, at least we knew all the moves
with the right hand. My daughter got a bit impatient with me
though because she picked it up faster than I did. I still have
trouble with using the live-hand)
Also got to meet another one of their students. Cy. He came up
one weekend to help out.
This year was really cool! We started learning
long sword drills! (actually it isn't a long sword, it is a
hand-and-a-half sword. Which means you can use it with one or two
hands). I love these drills. This size sword just feels totally
natural to me. Thanks to using this size weapon, I caught up with
my daughter on picking up the feed-and-follow. Now we can do it
left or right handed, and have started working in a little body
motion to it. Next is doing it two handed.
Also got to meet more students/assistants. Jones, Jenna, and Max.