Spotlight with Sword Partner Steaphen Fick

Spotlight with Sword Partner Steaphen Fick

We’re are incredibly excited to be working with our new Sword Partner, Steaphen Fick. We thought it would be fun for you to get to know a little bit about our newest Sword Partner.

Sword Experience (SXP): What is your background in Martial Arts?

Steaphen Fick (SF): I started training in medieval armor in 1989. I was part of a traveling tournament group that traveled around California and performed and competed at Renaissance Faires. I did the tournaments for about 7 years, and then in 1999 I went to Europe for 6 months and studied in Edinburgh and competed in tournaments, duels, and reenactments while I was there.

Once I started teaching, I was going to international workshops around the US and trained with practitioners from different European traditions as well as sharing my experience and knowledge.

SXP: We noticed that you started off in your garage and then eventually expanded. Can you tell us a little about the growth of your school and how it has affected your life since 2000?

SF: I did start in my garage, and I was working in my yard and then when I outgrew the yard, I moved to a friend’s yard that was larger and allow me to work with more students. In 2002 I was able to rent a space in the back of a fruit packaging plant. I had the first dedicated Western Martial Arts school in the US.

I stayed there until I was forced to move for safety concerns. I moved into a different location but it was in a better location. I moved from there when they tore it down to build condominiums. From that time on, I moved when I outgrew the location that I was in.

It is because of my wife that I was able to move into the full-time position of teaching. In fact, we met and were married at a Renaissance Faire. Once I moved into professional teaching, I have been able to teach all over the country and in Mexico, Canada, UK, France, Holland, Australia, and New Zealand.

We now have a school chapter in Las Vegas, NV and Midland, TX as well as the main chapter in Santa Clara, CA.

SXP: What kind of classes do you offer for DEMAS?

• SF: At DEMAS we offer a Renaissance Track, a Medieval Track, and a Modern Track.
• Medieval track: longsword, dagger, grappling, armor, Dragon Slayers (children’s class for ages 8-13).
• Renaissance track: rapier (into rapier and dagger), side sword (into sword and buckler), sword and shield.
• Modern track: firearms training, women’s self-defense, Italian stick fighting, and Pugilism.

SXP: What does it mean to you to be a Sword Partner for the SwordExperience?

I saw Highlander in 1990, and when the TV series came out, I didn’t miss an episode. Getting to work with Adrian Paul and the Sword Experience means that I get to ‘go back to my roots’ and share an early love that meant so much to me when I was early in my sword career. I will also get to offer fans of the show the opportunity to meet and work with Mr. Paul in a school dedicated to the study of sword martial arts.

SXP: For those that are interested in learning more from your programs, what is the easiest way to contact you?

SF: The best way to learn more about the classes we offer at Davenriche European Martial Artes School is to visit our website at www.swordfightingschool.com or go to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/swordfightingschool and we can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/davenriche and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/swordfightingschool. I can be contacted by email at info@swordfightingschool.com

Our school is one of the largest in the world and we have built our student family through word of mouth and by offering not just a martial arts school, but a community that supports and helps one another.

SXP: Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions Steaphen, we look forward to partnering with you for our future events.

Now for another special piece for our blog, Adrian Paul discusses the evolution of the Sword Experience, as well as the development of his targeting system and how it will apply to future Sword Experience events. So, get ready to learn how the Sword Experience can…

Upgrade Your Life Part 2

Beginners, experienced martial artists and sword handlers alike all had recurring themes. Along with the feedback we were getting from the Sword Experience, I saw the need to improve the way we taught and not just make our experiences one-time events. We also realized that taking the Sword Experience events on a regular basis was not available to everyone, that finances to travel, or the timing to attend, would sometimes be limited.

So, we decided to launch The Sword Experience Academy, a place to be able to work on the individual aspects of Fitness, Technique, and Performance.

By doing this, the benefits were not just an improvement in technique, knowledge, and fitness, but a belief that with hard work anything could be possible. So, we developed a fitness regime that tested, balance, stamina, and mobility; a technique system that worked on targeting, flow, and sword handling; and finally, a performance session to put everything you learned in a test of communication, memory and space awareness.

To make this successful we needed to create a system that was easy to use and could be applied across the board. As a base, I saw, as did other professionals, the need to work on one of the most important aspects of sword work, Targeting. Whether targeting as a martial artist, a Hema practitioner, or for stage and film, the importance of knowing where to strike and how to strike, became glaringly clear.

So, The Sword Experience Academy numbering system came into being. Numbering systems are not new, but many times they come with names or terms, that most would have a hard time to learn in the time allotted at our events.

The basic 1-12 system we created, with attack and corresponding defense numbers, allows everyone to work on a level playing field. The moves also have corresponding footwork, to show a variety of movements that can be used.

These are by no means set in stone, since in many situations, either on a film set or in the real world, any fight needs to be fluid in the environment you find yourself in. You need to find what works best for you and like any system, we are finessing it constantly. Slightly different hand position, adjusted footwork, a change of timing, are some of the things we look at as we move it forward.

Plus, it can be applied to whatever your style, or sword you use, a katana, Broadsword, Claymore, Jian, Zweihänder, Longsword or any other long-bladed weapon. Of course, the technique for handling each is different but the cuts are the same and being precise is paramount to beating your opponent, or keeping your partner safe.

Most of the numbers in the twelve-movement system can be adjusted for different sword situations. For instance, our number 2 defense position is a right shoulder, tip pointed upwards, blocking parry. However, sometimes you may block with the tip pointing downwards, based on your particular technique, or your partner’s.

Our number 3 lower left hip blocking position, with sword tip pointing down and forwards, right hand in a supinated (palm to the sky) position, can be adjusted to pronated (knuckles to the sky) downwards block position. The technique for handling each is different, but the target and the corresponding cuts are the same.

So, how does this apply to the rest of the sword experience events? Well, later in 2020 we will be creating our grading system, challenging you to show us your ability to perform the twelve attack and defense system as a whole and then gradually performing numbers together in a variety of katas and techniques.

This will allow you to have a goal to rise through the grades and allows us to get to know your skill level better. That way, when you attend any of our events, we will know how much information you already have, which in turn will allow us to know what sword work would benefit you best.

We will be applying this at our upcoming SXP Academy in Chicago (November 2019) and in Los Angeles (January 2020) where we will be looking to challenging you to improve over a three-session course.

This cost-effective course will allow you to choose what you want to learn so that if you are just looking to improve your sword technique, or learn more about stage combat you will have an affordable fun and challenging way to do so. Watch the sword experience pages and our social media channels for upcoming special offers.

I look forward to seeing you at one of our Elite or convention events or better yet, watching you improve at one of our Academy events. Until then.

“If you cannot do great things today, do small things in a great way and tomorrow great things will surely come.”

Netflix Gems

There is a lot of content on Netflix that tends to get buried. We thought it would be fun to point out some Netflix Gems that you might not have heard of. There’s a wonderful documentary on Netflix called Playing Hard about the development of the video game For Honor.

It follows the story of Jason Vandenberghe and Stéphane Cardin as they create an entirely original video game property as well as the trials and tribulations that go along with developing an original concept.

Jason Vandenberghe had dreamed of developing a game like For Honor since he was a child playing with sticks in his backyard and pretending to be a knight. His dream was to capture the feel of sword fighting. The game itself is quite innovative as it created a brand-new fighting mechanic for the genre.

While most games with swords usually just amount to button-mashing which turns them into hack and slashers, For Honor attempts to create realistic sword fighting by forcing the player to be wary of their opponent’s positioning of their sword in order to properly block, parry, or attack. This creates very intense encounters as you must be constantly aware of your surroundings as well as your opponent’s movements.

Video games are the top-grossing entertainment industry right now with the gross profits doubling those of the yearly box office, but 85% of all video games are sequels.

Original concepts are incredibly rare as they present a huge risk to publishers. Producer Stéphane Cardin has an unenviable task of trying to develop Jason’s ambitious project while also appeasing his company Ubisoft and releasing a triple-A game on time.

The documentary is incredibly interesting to those who have a passion for video games and swords and shows just how difficult it is to develop a completely new IP. So, check out Playing Hard on Netflix. It’s definitely worth your time.

Note: Many of the developers at Ubisoft Montreal speak French and there are no subtitles for them unless you switch on Closed Captioning. A large portion of this movie is in French so it is vital to turn it on.