Musketeer Highlights May 2019

Musketeer Highlights  – May 2019

Our Musketeers are the heart and soul of the Sword Experience. Without these wonderful people dedicating their time and effort to help Adrian and his staff, our events would not be as successful as they are. These men and women have helped us find unique and exciting locations to hold the Sword Experience.

They’ve tagged, retweeted, and shared us out on social media, and helped us engage our message of sword culture and physical fitness. We’re proud of the work they’ve done with us and so today, we’d like to highlight a few of you that have stepped above and beyond the call of duty and thank you for all that you do.

Musketeer of the Month.

For those of you that have been following the Sword Experience for a while, it should be no surprise that Stephen Fisher is our top Musketeer of the month. Stephen has done so much for us over the years, but this year’s Bowling Green event shows just how dedicated he is to the Sword Experience’s mission.

Stephen is not only our Sword Partner for the event, but he also offered to host the event at his Bowling Green Fencing Academy. Stephen also found the best spot to film the climactic final fight for the event at the Historic RailPark & Train Museum. A perfect fit for the choreography you’ll be learning from the episode “Methuselah’s Gift” from the Highlander TV series.

Stephen spread the word about the Sword Experience and helped us grow our family of sword culture fanatics. He helped us find the best videographer and photographer in the area to ensure that every moment of the Bowling Green event was captured beautifully.

We consider Stephen to be a shining example of what a Musketeer’s relationship with the Sword Experience can be. He loves swords, he loves physical fitness, and he loves to spread his knowledge of both with the world. So, from the bottom of our hearts, Stephen, thank you for all that you do for us at the Sword Experience.

Musketeer – Honorable Mentions 

First up is Richard Ganey. Richard may be a newer musketeer, but his service to the Sword Experience community has not gone unnoticed. Richard helped us as a Sword Partner with our recent Elite Event in Lakeland, Florida. He also brought the Sun n’ Fun event to our attention which was a great location and we were happy to attend.

Our second honorable mention is Rileah Ringo. Rileah has been a long-time supporter of the Sword Experience, the PEACE Fund, and all of Adrian Paul’s work. She’s one of our most valued musketeers on social media and continues to spread the word about the various events that the Sword Experience holds. Rileah also helps run a fan-made Sword Experience Facebook page. We’re proud of the work that both of these Musketeers have accomplished and we can’t wait to see what else they have in store for us in the future.

If you don’t see your name listed here, don’t worry. We know a lot of you are doing incredible work for us, and we see you. This Musketeer Highlight will be the first of many, as each month we plan on focusing on those Musketeers that go above and beyond in helping the Sword Experience community thrive and grow. This month’s top Musketeers list was not an easy decision considering how much you all do for us.

We have so many events on the horizon, so if we have an event in your area, don’t forget to ask us for your referral discount code so you can start earning points as a Musketeer while also helping your friends save money on the best fitness and travel event that they’ll experience all year.

If you’re new to the Sword Experience and want to learn more about becoming a Musketeer, click here. Otherwise, keep up the great work you have done as one of our valued Musketeers, and who knows, we may be writing about you next month!

Sword Culture

The Sword Experience has traveled all over the globe practicing the art of sword choreography, physical fitness, and fandom since 2015. Over the years, we have developed the Sword Experience into one of the best fitness and travel events across the globe. Our goal is to find those who have a common interest in physical fitness, film and television, martial arts, and swordplay and share in our knowledge of these interests.

We here at the Sword Experience strive to be the best source of information regarding sword culture, so we asked one of our musketeers, Chris Fields, to write a continuing series about what makes the perfect sword.

Chris Fields has trained in martial arts and various forms of swordsmanship for 29 years, and instructing for 23 years, including choreography for various stage, theater, and film. Chris is critically acclaimed for his choreography work in the St. Petersburg Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet and Richard III, as well as various works in independent film and film festivals throughout theSoutheast. He is also a sword maker and smith of 25 years, and owner of Sterling Armory, providing quality functional swords for various industries. When not working on swords and martial arts, Chris is a Senior Aerospace Engineer working for Honeywell Aerospace, a NASA subcontractor and affiliate.

The Perfect Sword Part 1 by Chris Fields

If you are a sword enthusiast, or a fan of 80s movies like Conan, Highlander, Beast Master, Excalibur, and the Highlander TV series, you may have thought about and dreamed of what the perfect sword is for you. Back in the 80s and 90s and even today, Hollywood portrays swords as indestructible weapons and symbols of famous warriors that can slice through anything and do impossible deeds without receiving even a scratch.

History, though, teaches us something very different. And it takes leveraging a bit of both to find the perfect sword, or at least, the perfect training sword, or bokken, to help get the most out of The Sword Experience. In reality, historical swords, even the best swords ever created, can and did get damaged, and were far more fragile tools than what we’ve seen portrayed in Hollywood. Real swords are also much lighter than most modern perceptions and are very agile and quick weapons for the most part.

Most of the modern blades available 10, 20, and even 30 years ago, fell into 2 basic categories.

• First is what is commonly called “wall hangers” and are typically stainless-steel blades, which not made to actually be used, but instead to hang on a wall as decorations. These swords are typically extremely beautiful pieces of art.
• The second type was the complete opposite, usually found in renaissance fairs and theaters around the country, and are plain looking swords usually referred to as “Stage Combat” swords that are typically extremely overweight compared to their historical counterparts found in museums all over the world.

Back in the 80s and 90s, most of us didn’t know the difference, even those of us in martial arts, theater, and film. It was through the popularity of these 80s and 90s movies and shows though, that the history of swords and sword usage and combat techniques from all over the world became much more explored, researched, and studied.

Thus, today, if you know what to look for, you can find a variety of options that you may consider to be your perfect sword.

What Is the Con Experience?

The Sword Experience offers a multitude of options to get the most out of your sword training. The Con Experience is one of those options, but what exactly is the Con Experience?

Adrian Paul loves to visit with all of his fans and the easiest way to get to spend time with them is by visiting various conventions around the globe. After many years on the Con circuit, chatting with fans interested in swords, fight choreography, and film, Adrian had an epiphany. He could bring his Sword Experience directly to his fans as part of his time at the convention.

Conventions usually have quite a bit to offer, but no one was giving fans the chance to reenact their favorite fight scenes. So, Adrian created the Con Experience.

During the three and a half to four-hour Con Experience, convention-goers are given the opportunity to learn sword safety, sword basics, sword choreography, as well as fantastic film industry insights. The most basic package of the Con Experience even offers fans the chance to take home a Hollywood edited video of their final fight from the choreography learned throughout the experience.

Fans receive access to all the photographs taken at the event by a professional photographer. For those that want to practice the sword choreography they learned at home, simply upgrade your ticket to the Silver Con Experience and take home your very own bokken dedicated by Adrian Paul

With the Gold Con Experience, you can customize the blade length on one of our beautiful Classic White Oak Sword Experience bokken with a carbon-Kevlar cast of a traditional wrapped Japanese tsuka as its handle.

The Gold Con Experience ticket must be purchased 4 weeks prior to the Con itself because we send the bokken directly to you before the event.

We here at the Sword Experience want your convention-going experience to be more than just the usual con shuffle. Our goal is to share with you Adrian’s vast knowledge of physical fitness, sword training and fight choreography to provide a Con Experience that is unlike anything you’ve had before.

Don’t miss out  –  Past participants have described as “The best con experience I’ve ever had!”