Working...

There’s a lot of things going on at the moment. Not only are we pressing forward with the Espoo Association of Historical Fencing, but also other things as well.

Late next week I will head to Italy to take part in a competition organized by Guardia di Croce, where I will perform the Primo Assalto of the sword in two hands of Marozzo.

I have been somewhat diligently practicing – I could’ve done more – but the circumstances have been quite demanding. Regardless of how well I will perform in the competition I’m looking forward to a relaxing and enjoyable trip, meeting a lot of new people and getting to know the Italian part of the HEMA community.

Exciting times. With some other stuff going on in my personal life, which is no point mentioning here, it has been taxing. But I remain in good spirit, looking forward to great times of progress and learning on many fronts.

Regarding the progress of our new club, we are still looking for space, and are organizing training equipment and suchlike so that when time comes to start the training, we will be prepared.

This also means that I am writing up a curriculum for teaching – to help myself and assist those who will be covering classes when I might be prevented from doing so. Theory is easy to pack up, but analyzing and choosing basic exercises that would form the foundation for starting students is challenging; the amount of material covered by the original sources is vast, and since much of it is simply different ordering of the basic actions to create (sometimes very) inspired combinations it is a though call to decide which ones to pick as fundamental.

On the other it does not make such a great difference, since any actions will serve just as well to teach the basics: the guards, strikes, parries, turns and steps. Through a great array of examples the students will eventually learn to freely express the basic theory and actions.

The new club has already generated a lot of interest – it is my humblest wish that when the time comes this interest will also show in way of participation for the classes. I promise to do my best to make the time invested worthwhile!

Meanwhile there will be a seminar on the Bolognese fundamentals at the School of European Swordsmanship Salle on 13th of November. More details will follow on that!

While of course that news might interest more those from Finland, if someone from abroad finds themselves near by during the time, they are most welcome to participate!