A Peek Inside the Swordplay Masterclass
What makes something a Masterclass?
This term has become increasingly more popular around the Internet over the past year in particular. I see advertisements for “Masterclasses” nearly anytime that I open social media, or Youtube. They’re offered by filmmakers and artists, business executives and artisans. It’s hard to know what’s really inside but the promise is engaging: a deep immersion with a passionate expert.
So why not swordplay? This is the question that gripped me in the Fall of last year. So many people are at home, their swords sitting idle, passionate but unsure about how to train in their present environment in a way that is meaningful and impactful.
Being able to effectively apply solo training is fundamental to achieving mastery in any discipline, partnered or otherwise. It has been paramount to the building of my own expertise. From day one I have spent hours every week on my own focused on body mechanics, precision, accuracy, and deepening my theoretical knowledge. Throughout the past three decades this has helped me make tremendous leaps as a martial artists, competitor, and teacher. Yet I fully relate to how hard it is to know how to really spend your time effectively and how to stay inspired and connected to your training day after day and week after week: enter Swordplay Masterclass.
Visit https://swordplaymasterclass.com today and sign up to receive important email news and class updates!
The Format
The masterclass is broken into a series of five weekly units that begin with foundational topics like movement and attacking mechanics and progress to tactical and strategic implementation. Each week begins with an online foundational workshop where I lead people through the topics, teach a series of forms that embody the technical repertoire of that subject, and dig into the nitty gritty details that help unlock high level proficiency.
Following this workshop students get a series of assignments for the week that include video course work, daily training plans, forms to learn, skills to assess, and discussions to dive into. This is where students get to really immerse themselves into their learning and drive their practice each day.
At the end of the week we have a live Q&A and coaching session where we explore challenges, and questions that have come up through that week’s learning, deepen our knowledge further, and help students through their blocks and plateaus.
Inspiration for Everyone
I have found the entire process incredibly inspiring so far. I have been thrilled to have such a large group of committed, passionate, and engaged practitioners from all over the world showing up for every class, lesson, and assignment each week. There is nothing more exhilarating for a teacher than having students who want to absorb everything you have to share.
It has been thrilling to watch people transform the way they train. Developing mastery takes thousands of hours of meaningful work. The students in this program have been eating up the training plans and immersing themselves in their learning. The work is paying off. I’m seeing students make dramatic leaps in their competence even after just a couple weeks. Increases in precision, flow, connection to the weapon, and capacity to conduct complex actions. I’m excited to see where this group of students is able to get in the next few weeks and how this change in how and what they train impacts their longterm results as martial artists.
A Peek Inside
I want to offer all of you who read the blog and follow Duello.TV a chance to take a peek inside some of what I have been sharing in the Masterclass. This past week in the Q&A I dove into the mechanics, context, and tactical outcomes of how and why to send the weapon well ahead of you in combat. We explored the strongest and weakest ways to position your sword and how to dominate weak positions an opponent might form. I’m sharing all of this in three bite-sized videos with all our members over the next couple weeks. Click here to check the first one out. Keep an eye out for the second and third parts in the weeks to come.
What’s Next?
I am neck deep in this Masterclass and enjoying every moment of it yet I’m already thinking about the next one. We’ll definitely be diving into longsword again in the not too distant future but I’m thinking about rapier or sidesword as our next focus. There is so much to learn and share with these two beautiful weapons. Which do you think we should offer next? Let me know in the comments or send me an email and share your thoughts on where you want your next deep dive to be.
I’m excited to share it with you.
Devon
Responses