Gray School of Arms academia Da Espdada Ireland
host Master Ton Puey
Ton Puey and Nathan Gray.
Gray School of Arms was happy to host master at arms Ton Puey for a 3rd time back in June 2018 for one day workshop for Academa Da Espada Ireland members.
Saturday:
Ton arrived on Friday evening, Saturday was spent with personal one to one training with Gray School of Arms instructor and academia da espadas representative Nathan Gray.
The private training began early in the day at 10am with footwork and drill work for an hour, this was quickly followed by response training and free fencing.
Sunday
Before the workshop began Nathan underwent another two hours of personal training, this time focusing solely on free fencing. The session began at 7am and ended 10 minutes before the workshop.
The workshop began at 9am with members of the school arriving and preparing for the event.
Around 9:30 the training began with a brisk warm up with students running laps and performing a hard circuit with intermitted stretching periods
By 10:30 the students began footwork practice and drills with each student being analyzed and assessed by both Ton and Nathan. Foot work being the bases of all fencing, the students were drilled hard on single drills before partnering up for joint footwork drills lasting an hour.
11:30 the students began sword work, each picking up their rapiers and beginning practice first with cutting and thrusting work with parrying and counters.
The students then moved onto point control drills and working in the bind, honing their ability to manipulate the opponents blade and also move their own sword around the opponent.
12:30 students were given a talk about the history of Destreza and about the weapons before breaking for lunch at 1
2pm the students where back again starting with a brief warmup and then immediately put into response training and slow controlled free fencing. By 3pm the students then began free fencing before the workshop ended at 5
Dinner was held at 6 with further talks about fencing among other things late into Sunday night.
