TRAINING

Anyone is welcome to attend Schola Gladiatoria, just contact us first.

Advanced workshop sessions are also held in Ealing on some Friday nights for students who have reached the required standard.

Classes currently cost £5 each and last approximately 2 hours, between 7.30-9.30pm. You are welcome to come and watch for free, but please contact us first. Frequency of attendance is up to you, with members coming to train as often as they like or are able. As with most physical skills though, the more you put in, the more you will get out.

All ages are welcome, from 16 upwards. Of course both men and women are welcome, and we currently have a healthy number of sword-wielding women in the group.

If you want to start training with us you do not need any equipment to start off with, we'll provide it, though a pair of gloves is useful if you have them. Just come in comfortable clothes. We can later advise you on the best and cheapest places to buy your equipment, in addition to the equipment page on this website.

What do we do in class?

Classes start with stretching and then warm-up games. After this we move onto whatever weapon is to be studied first that evening (sometimes we concentrate on one thing, sometimes several things), normally starting with solo drills, then moving onto paired drills with a partner. Drills progress from completely compliant to less and less compliant. Classes are sometimes finished off with some sparring. None of the class is compulsory and you can bow-out of an exercise for any reason.

Apart from teaching just techniques, we think it is important to teach fundamental basics of the martial art, like how to move, balance, generate power in a strike etc. And of course to try to get to an understanding of fighting theory, rather than just collecting techniques.

Training is conducted in a relaxed but disciplined manner, as is necessary where weapons and people's health is an issue, with training being catered to each person's abilities and preferences as much as possible.

What other things do we do?

Occasionally we do special sessions concentrating on one specific training form, like test-cutting specially picked targets with sharp swords, or sparring with assorted forms of practice weapon. The frequency of sparring/freeplay is dependent on the level of proficiency of the students present, as safety and control have to be learnt and proven, but we do encourage people to get into sparring when they are ready.  We feel that free-fighting is an important part of recreating the historical martial arts. As a group we have a good track record of performance in competitions, though entering such contests is completely down to the individual.

At times we liaise with other groups and have guest teachers or lecturers, and we visit other groups elsewhere in the country and abroad when we are able to; any member of Schola Gladiatoria being welcome by us to visit any other practitioner or group and train with them if possible. Some of us travel to most of the big HEMA events throughout the year, in the UK and abroad.

Is it social?

Yes, very! Aside from getting to know people in class we usually head to the pub after training and at HEMA events you can meet people with common interests from all over the world. Some of us have made our best friends though HEMA.

What do we train with?

More advanced students train with blunted steel weapons, and everyone also uses professionally produced hard-wood weapons (just as bokken are used in Japanese martial arts). We freeplay (fence) or 'spar' in a controlled manner with adapted weighted kendo shinai (laminated bamboo swords) and appropriate body protection, including fencing masks. Sometimes the more advanced members freeplay with steel weapons. For test-cutting we use sharp accurate replicas of original surviving swords.

How historical is it?

It is important to note here that we do not fabricate techniques, unlike some forms of 'historical weapon use' you may find out there - We spend a lot of time and energy devoted to interpreting the original historical sources written and illustrated by masters who really knew what they were doing, and this interpretation is a continual process of improvement. We continually question the interpretations with colleagues in the UK and around the world and seek to improve our understanding and experience.

A good training resource is to start looking at the original source (Fiore dei Liberi) for yourself - Members are recommended to look at our own translations here and at the Exiles site.

Want more?

If you are interested in coming along, feel free to pay us a visit, to watch or participate, any time.  Just drop us an email, or ring Matt Easton on 07730 785 794.

You can also ask us more questions on our forum.

Contact: schola-gladiatoria@hotmail.co.uk