With our new class schedule at San Diego Swordschool, it was time to update the first iteration of our progression system to something more capable of handling multiple martial arts styles. I worked to ensure we can honor the people currently progressing through the system we have now while also allowing growth more organically for our members.
Fiore's text is built on three major sections: Wrestling (Abrazare, the foundation of his system), Dagger work, and sword work (Armizare, the use of weapons within his system). By splitting our progression system into these pieces, we can be more modular, allow people to progress in their preferred area, and still build a "complete martial art" as Fiore wanted us to.
We have multiple iterations of sword classes during a week (this will continue to be the most prominent class at SDSS; we do have "SWORDSCHOOL" in our name, after all). But we also now have multiple dagger and wrestling classes, allowing people to attend the courses they are most interested in. Progression will be for each specific pillar and the way they work together.
Unarmed Combat Pillar (The Elephant)
Fiore believed a solid grounding in unarmed combat was essential for properly utilizing weapons. So, one of our main pillars will be advancing in unarmed combat, whether this be striking arts, wrestling arts, or a combination art. We will continue to teach wrestling classes focusing on Abrazare, Ringen, and Glima, but we will also accept belts and experience in other arts outside of San Diego Swordschool. The Elephant represents our ability to grow metaphorically and physically in our grounding and strength.
In the Unarmed Combat Pillar, students can attain the Initiate, Scholar, Free Scholar, Provost, and Maestro ranks. And will test up into these ranks at San Diego Swordschool wrestling classes or other martial arts Dojos that we respect the systems of.
Small Arms Pillar (The Tiger)
The next aspect of Fiore's martial art is the ability and willingness to use and stand up to small arms; this takes speed, ferocity, and accuracy, embodied by the Tiger. We now have several dagger-specific weekly classes that will educate students specifically in this pillar. Our classes will focus on using the Rondel, but we will also begin to have seminars on using other small arms, both historical and non.
Students can also attain Initiate, Scholar, Free Scholar, Provost, and Maestro ranks in the Small Arms Pillar and test into these ranks at dagger classes; we will also be respecting experience in other small arms arts like FMA and Apache Knife.
Large Arms Pillar (The Lynx)
The final pillar of Fiore's martial art structure utilizes large arms, such as swords, poleaxes, and spears. Fiore focuses on sword-in-one-hand and sword-in-two-hands simply because of the period that Fiore lived in. All swords and larger weapons fall into this category, and we will have classes in Arming Swords, Side Swords, longswords, Rapiers, Smallswords, Montante / Zweihander, spears, and polearms in the coming weeks and months. All these weapons primarily rely on understanding distance, timing, and tempo, traits the Lynx best represents. These will still be the most numerous classes at San Diego Swordschool simply because it is the system's most varied pillar.
Students can attain Initiate, Scholar, Free Scholar, Provost, and Maestro ranks in the Large Arms Pillar. Achieving the rank can happen in any large arms; you do not need to know or study them all. You can rank up by testing in the class of the specific arm you are studying.
The Heart Pillar (The Lion)
No Fiore-based system would be complete without the Lion, the heart of a warrior. This heart is metaphorical and literal; by attending classes in all the other pillars, our members' courage and strength of character will evolve and progress, representing their growth in their metaphorical hearts. They will also be growing a literal center (heart) of their understanding and application of martial arts.
Students can achieve Initiate, Scholar, Free Scholar, Provost, and Maestro in this pillar but cannot "test" to achieve these ranks. Their ranks in other pillars combined determine their rank in the Heart Pillar.
For example, someone who has achieved the rank of Maestro in the Unarmed Pillar but only Initiate in both other pillars will have the rank of Scholar in the Heart Pillar.
Whereas someone who has achieved Free Scholar in every other pillar will have the rank of Free Scholar in the Heart Pillar.
How will progression work / be acknowledged?
As mentioned in each pillar explanation above, progression will happen in the classes that fall into each pillar. This will allow us to break apart "testing" to make it so that more students can progress promptly than our current system allows. Students can also focus on different pillars at different times, meaning digesting all the information they need to progress is more manageable.
When students achieve a new rank, their overall "score" will be calculated, and they will be informed how their heart pillar has developed from that rank up. Students will get special patches for each rank up in each pillar to use as they want (decorated gambison, anybody?).
How will this work for those who have already progressed in the old system?
For those who have already progressed in the old system, your current rank will translate directly to the new ranking system across all the pillars. For example, if you are a Scholar overall, that represents your new rank in all the pillars. If you have experience in a martial art outside of San Diego Swordschool, and want to see if your rank can be higher, please talk to Ian at your earliest convenience.
Got Questions? Ask Ian at the Studio.
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