Musketeer Highlights June 2019
Musketeer Highlights June 2019
It’s that time of the month again where we honor the Musketeers that have been doing excellent work for the Sword Experience. With the help of these wonderful individuals, the Sword Experience continues to be the best fitness and travel event around the globe, because our Musketeers hail from all over the world!
Our top Musketeer in June is Priscilla Manriquez. Priscilla is a long time Musketeer who has attended many of our Sword Experiences. She is active on social media and runs her own fan Facebook page, constantly interacting with our social media team, retweeting and shouting out the website. Thanks to her active participation online, she has shared the message of the Sword Experience to countless people and as a result has brought new participants to several Sword Experience adventures.
Thank you, Priscilla, and keep up the hard work.
Like every month, it is always a difficult decision as to who is the top Musketeer of the month, so we have two honorable mentions.
First up is KioneFarish. Kione is a relatively new musketeer from the United Kingdom. She has been doing fantastic work promoting our European events on social media and has generated buzz for our Irish and English experiences.
Thank you, Kione. Your work has not gone unnoticed.
Our second honorable mention is Claudia Mehelm. Claudia is one of our most valued Musketeers. Claudia, a German Musketeer, helped us put together a very successful Germany trip last year and continues to be a proactive member of our online community by engaging with our social media and promoting our various events.
Thank you, Claudia. Hopefully, we’ll see you at this year’s Germany retreat!
If you didn’t see your name on this month’s top Musketeers list, fear not. Each month we will shout out those Musketeers that continue to do great things for the Sword Experience. Just continue to actively participate in our various social media outlets and keep spreading the word about the fantastic benefits that the Sword Experience has to offer.
Sword Culture
We at the Sword Experience wish to continue to be your best source for all things sword and sword related. We’ve asked one of our favorite Musketeers and sword maker Chris Fields to talk about The Perfect Sword as a serial piece for our blog. In this week’s blog post, Chris discusses the various swords throughout history and reminds us of the practical uses of various swords from their specific periods.
Chris Fields has been training in martial arts and various forms of swordsmanship for 29 years, and instructing for 23 years, including choreography for stage, theater, and film. Critically acclaimed for his choreography work in the St. Petersburg Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet and Richard III, he has worked in several independent film productions and film festivals throughout the Southeast. Chris 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 3
In our quest for the perfect sword, it is wise to look back throughout history and see and understand how swords developed, why they take the shapes that they do, and how they fit the functions they were designed to serve.
If we look at the history of swords from all over the world, a great variety of shapes, sizes, and designs are present. Everything from single-edged curved two-handed swords, all the way to double-edged short single hand swords, and everything in between. Wide blades, narrow blades, fullered blades, diamond-shaped cross section blades, even blades with no sharp edges but only a sharp point, numerous amounts of designs exist.
So, why is this? Well, at the most basic level, you can take each sword design and attribute it to a relatively small number of variables that drive its design. These variables include the materials available, the armor it has to pierce, whether used with a shield, or on horseback, and finally, cultural influences, traditions, and art of the time.
Another fundamental trait that most people forget or may not realize is that swords, for the most part, were never primary weapons. They were typically the secondary sidearm that backed up either a spear and shield or lance or another sort of primary polearm or in later years, a firearm weapon. A typical trait for most cultures that cannot be forgotten when thinking of various swords and sword designs throughout history, and it adds much-needed context to different sword designs.
Materials available are most likely one of the main driving forces in designs, especially of early swords of the Bronze Age and early Iron Age. When you see an original bronze or early iron age sword, a few things might surprise you. These blades are typically very short (less than 25″), extremely flat, but have a very large ridge, or ribs, that run down the length of the blade. These ribs were required to stiffen the blades as the material of the time wasn’t strong enough or able to produce a flexible enough blade as the lengths increased.
This can be found in blades from ancient China to ancient Greece, and even amongst the ancient Celts. Greek hoplite swords, falcatas, Egyptian khopeshes, Celtic swords, and Shang to Han Dynasty swords all have these similar traits. These thin and light blades could cut through the mostly fabric armor of the times or exposed areas of the body behind the shields.
Another common trait of these early bronze blades is that they all lacked any substantial guard for the most part. Mainly because these types of swords were almost always used with a large shield of the period, and not designed to be used by themselves. Hand and arm protection were provided by the shield, and the sword did not require a guard as we typically think of a sword guard today. And to reiterate, these swords were secondary weapons, backing up the primary spear or polearm weapon for most cultures, and spent most of their time hanging from a belt on the warrior’s side.
What is a Sword Experience Retreat?
The Sword Experience has many different events that we offer. In our previous blogs, we’ve talked about the Con Experience and the Elite Experience, but what exactly is the Sword Experience Retreat? The Sword Experience Retreat isn’t just about physical fitness and sword choreography. The Sword Experience Retreat is a travel event like nothing you have ever experienced before. The goal of our retreat is to give you time to learn sword choreography and technique in a unique and fascinating location, a more relaxed version of our Elite Experience that takes place over several days. Our intention for the retreat is to open your world view to new experiences and cultures while also gaining valuable physical fitness skills at a relaxing pace.
Our first retreat in Belize was a smashing success. Participants in our Belize event had a blast with our numerous daily activities planned out throughout the week that included fitness, joint mobility, snorkeling, and sword training. The culmination of their training ended with a choreographed fight set against gorgeous Mayan ruins. These retreats allow you to fully immerse yourself in the Sword Experience for several days while creating a relaxing travel experience that you will be talking about for years to come.
Coming up very soon is our retreat to Ahrensburg, Germany. Each retreat offers a unique travel experience, and our Germany retreat is no exception. Join Adrian Paul as he trains you in the art of sword handling, fight choreography, and physical fitness with the gorgeous Ahrensburg castle as the backdrop for your travel adventure. Participants in this year’s retreat will get to have a movie night with Adrian Paul, where you will watch Highlander: Endgame featuring choreography that you will learn on your retreat. Pick Adrian Paul’s brain with an exclusive Q&A after the movie. Most importantly, though, experience the fantastic food and culture that Germany has to offer in this unique travel event. Hopefully, we’ll see you in Germany this year for the Sword Experience Retreat, and for those of you that cannot make it this year, keep your eyes open for a next retreat and join us for what is sure to be a best fitness and travel event that you will ever experience.
