Bill Grandy
Stop Complaining & Get Training: A Simple Challenge for 2014
by Bill Grandy, Virginia Academy of Fencing, USA (Author’s note: Before anyone calls me a hypocrite, let it be known that I am training while I write this. I’ve set the requirement for myself to do 20 squats before typing a new paragraph, with the first set starting the moment I finish this sentence… hopefully this […]
The Elderly Master: Unarmed Techniques from Fabian von Auerswald
by Tim Hall, David Rowe and Bill Grandy – Instructors at the Virginia Academy of Fencing, Historical Swordsmanship Division Fabian von Auerswald was a German Renaissance master of Ringen (wrestling). In 1537, at the age of 75, he completed a beautifully illustrated treatise on wrestling called Ringer kunst: funf und Achtzig Stücke (The Art of […]
From Drills to Free Play: Putting Practice into Practice (Part II)
Bill Grandy, Director of Historical Swordsmanship at the Virginia Academy of Fencing In Part I of this article we explored a few variations of drills to help develop both tactical proficiency as well as fluidity between actions under pressure. Those drills allowed more dynamism than static drills, and yet they are still a step apart […]
Kunst des Fechtens: German Fencing in the Liechtenauer Tradition
There were many fencing traditions that were recorded from medieval Europe, but perhaps one of the most prolific traditions is that of the German master Johannes Liechtenauer. We know very little of the man himself, save that he probably lived in the 14th century, and was a fencing master lauded by students of his art […]
From Drills to Free Play: Putting Practice into Practice (Part I)
Bill Grandy, Director of Historical Swordsmanship at the Virginia Academy of Fencing So you’re a student of Historical European Martial Arts. You’ve read your historical fencing treatises dozens of times. Your guards are perfect, and you’ve practiced your attacks and counters so often that you could do them asleep. Despite all of your practice, though, […]
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