Jersey Village High School
Sword Workshop 2008

On February 20, 2008 the ARMA North Siders were invited back for the 4th year to do a beginning sword workshop for 125 future fight choreographers. ARMA Representatives included Kyle Cook, Sydney Yarbrough, Stacy Clifford, Eric Wagner and Wes White.

The workshop’s morning session started at 8:00 am with Kyle and Sydney, Wes and Eric, and Stacy each taking a group. The first group were shown Basic Foot Work, Primary Guards, and Basic Cuts for longsword. Wes and Eric's group worked on dagger fighting techniques. Stacy took the third group and showed Short Sword Guards, Cuts and Foot work. After the morning session, class broke for lunch.

Returning from lunch, the ARMA members demonstrated the proper uses of the Guards and Cuts in Free Play Sparring. Sparring was done with Long Sword, Short Sword, Sword & Buckler, Sword & Dagger, and the Messer. Kyle Cook and Sydney Yarbrough explained to the students what they were seeing during sparring.

The afternoon session continued with each of the groups learning more cuts and guards. They were also shown some cut/counter cut drills. The afternoon session concluded with students demonstrating what they had learned. Pairing up into groups of two or four, the students demonstrated choreographs of their own short fight scenes. The day ended with a group picture.