[Pamela Muir]

I would like to congratulate Bill Grandy and Tom Leoni for putting on a marvelous event. The three Muirs that were in attendance give it a two thumbs up. It was a fantastic training weekend. It had an extended seminar feeling to it with Bill's and Tom's teaching styles dovetailing nicely together and each class expanding upon and reemphasizing the material from each previous class. Well done, Gentlemen.

[David Rowe]

I would like to echo what Pamela said and say, wow! What a great and exhausting weekend. I'm extremely sore... but in a good way!

This is the first and only WMA event I've attended (and in fact know of) where every student takes every class together. While the "pick and choose" type of event format is great and allows for perhaps a wider or more specialized range of topics, the fact that not only does every student attend every class together, but more importantly that each class builds off of the previous class really makes this event stand out.

Starting with unarmed combat, moving through single-handed sword and buckler/rotella, on to polearms and finally spadone, each class emphasized the underlying principles that govern these arts in such a way that students can "connect the dots" so to speak; these are not disparate and isolated arts we practice but rather various incarnations of a broader Art. I think the attendees left with a much better sense of the connectedness of these arts and the universality of martial principles.

Furthermore, the repetition of the same concepts and techniques over various periods, styles and weapons allowed for the students to not only mentally understand their martial much better, but to be able to physically put them into practice in a much more productive manner. It was amazing to see some of the transformations of people who on the first day might have struggled with awkwardness and clumsiness in their movements and execution of technique, by Sunday were well on their way to moving martially and being able to make these Arts proud. It's always a joy to see practitioners of Western Martials Arts to moving, drilling, and fighting like martial artists.

Hats off to Bill Grandy and Tom Leoni for putting on a fantastic weekend! Can't wait for next year!

[Bill Grandy]

Phew, I'm only just now recovering from what was a weekend of serious martial training and fun. I have to say, as an instructor, this was one of the more fulfilling teaching experiences for me.

When Tom and I were in the beginning stages for planning NHSC, there were two things we really wanted to accomplish. First, we wanted to do something where everyone did the same classes, rather than picking and choose from several different and unrelated ones. This was in part because the former style already exists at most events, but also because we really wanted to push students to train from the ground up. Second, we wanted to take two separate but related martial arts (i.e. Liechtenauer and Bolognese) and use the similarities to boost students' understanding of martial arts in general.

Each day followed the exact same format: Unarmed (with a little bit of dagger), single handed sword alone, sword and shield, polearms and finally the big two hander. Each class directly built off of the previous, while allowing students to also get a taste of certain differences, which gave everyone a richer understanding of the arts.

We had a theme for each day. Day 1 was the fundamentals, Day 2 focused on tactics, and Day 3 focused on repertoire. I think Day 3 ended up being the most fun, because that was where students already had the tools, so we gave them the reigns to make the art "their own". It was where we really focused on drills that were more free form in nature to allow students to play within the guidelines of these arts.

By far, the most rewarding moment for me was in the last half hour of that last day during the Spadone class, when we gave the students a drill that saw one student surrounded by three or four others. The attackers came at the person in the middle with unscripted attacks, and the defender got to use everything from the weekend with the sword: Unarmed techniques, polearm, etc, but applied purely to the spadone. There were people at this event who were brand new to Historical European Martial Arts whom, by this point, were looking like they'd been training for months if not years. Tom and I were trying hard not to keep grinning from ear to ear as we walked around observing students "inventing" their own techniques that happened to look like they came straight from the treatises. (Though a second favorite moment was when we did the "two vs. two" sword and rotella drill, and a group of students applied the previously learned "abzug" principles by withdrawing defensively, posing in a Charlie's Angels stance, and then leaping into the air to "shield bump". )

David Rowe above often uses a signature quote on other forums from Joachim Meyer which happens to be very apt in describing exactly what Tom and I were going for with NHSC, so I'm going to quote it here.

"For as we are not all of a single nature, so we also cannot have a single style in combat, yet all must nonetheless arise and be derived from a single basis."
-Joachim Meyer

I really want to thank all of the attendees for making this a very amazing weekend. I was not only incredibly impressed with how hard everyone worked (we didn't have anyone sitting around just watching for all 3 of the 8.5 hour days, which was no easy feat), but also the enthusiasm and thirst for more really kept us as teacher pumped and excited the entire weekend. Plus during free fencing I got to do more dussack fencing, and I do love me some wacky dussacky.

We had an excellent photographer, so there should be pics up soon!

[Ed Toton]

I had a great time at this event! It was extremely exhausting, but I wasn't that sore afterward. I felt like I could sleep for days, I must say.

The classes had a unique structure in that they built off of one another through one long curriculum. By the end of the event, even for a beginner student there was a robust and rounded understanding that would coalesce, and allow for some creativity and improvisation that worked within the art.

And of course, I really enjoyed being able to go to an event like this that was local.

[Bill Grandy]

And we have photos! Thanks to Denis Loukonine, who was running back and forth between taking photos and swinging swords!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2240...4087331767

(These are set to publically be viewed, so you shouldn't have to be a Facebook member to be able to see them.)

[Tom Connolly]

Hello y'all,

I'm fairly new to the community still (I think I just finished my first year of training at the VAF) and this was my first big event. I'm not going to repeat what everyone else has said so far, although I agree with all of it. Instead I want to mention two other things I got out of NHSC.

About a week before the event I thought that maybe I had seen a very large part of the historical European Martial Arts. As mentioned I had almost finished one year and I'll be honest was feeling pretty good about where I was in terms of the skills I had learned. I don't mean I thought I stood out in anyway, but I felt fairly proficient.

Thank you, coaches of NHSC for correcting me. The event offered a broader view of historical fencing then what I had been exposed to and in doing so gave me a much greater appreciation for it. I knew little beyond what I now know to be an introduction to the messer and sword and buckler before this. Now I feel like I can confidently say I know a something about several different fencing styles and weapons that I would not have had a chance to explore if not for NHSC.

I also got the chance to bout with people I never would have otherwise met. At the end of all three days the students were invited to free fence with the coaches around to help out. As with any martial art, I think you learn a lot from going against a wide range of opponents, and I certainly got to do that. It was fantastic to learn with and from such a wide number of people in the community, and everyone who attended was great.

It was seriously a great time and I want to say thanks to everyone who worked to put NHSC together and those who attended. I hope to see you next year!

[Bill Grandy]

Just thought I'd give people a heads up that NHSC 2012 is going to be July 5-8. We are still hammering out details, but that date is set in stone at this point, so mark your calendars accordingly!

You may note that this year it is a four day event rather than a three day event. This year we're doing something a little different - You can pay per day. In other words, you can do the full four days (which of course we encourage), but if it turns out that you just aren't able to take off work on that first Thursday, or if you really have your daughter's birthday to attend on that Sunday, you can do a 3, 2, or even 1 day event, rather than feeling like you just have to skip the entire event all together. A more official announcement, with further details, will be announced soon!