June 2012 Multi-Format Tournament
Sign Up NowDo you have the courage to face an unending tide of opponents? Do you have the skill to protect yourself when the stakes are high? Do you have the endurance to slug it out with the most skilled of your peers until only the best fighter remains? There is only one way to find out…
Although the classroom and exam floor are excellent ways to learn and display skill, there are few ways to test skill and understanding of swordplay that are as honest as competition.
On the 23rd and 24th of June 2012 Academie Duello is hosting its annual Multi-Format Tournament Weekend. Over two days skill at arms will be tested with sidesword, longsword, and rapier. This tournament is open to all interested parties who meet the entry requirements, not just Academie Duello students.
Overview and Schedule
A variety of tournaments for the core weapons studied at Academie Duello, encouraging participation from external schools and non-Duello Western Martial Arts (WMA) enthusiasts. Each weapon style will have three or more tournament formats, to allow for a broader-range of rulesets and fighting conditions.
The tournament is split up between two days:
Saturday
- 2:00pm – Longsword gear check
- 2:30pm – Open longsword tournaments start
- 4:30pm – Longsword wrap-up, sidesword gear check
- 5:00pm – Open sidesword tournaments start
- 7:30pm – Day one awards
Saturday evening hangout/dinner/fundraiser with the CNAT crew!
Sunday
- 9:30am – Door open, beginner rapier gear check
- 10:00am – Beginner rapier tournaments start
- 12:00pm – Beginner wrap-up, open rapier gear check
- 12:30pm – Open rapier tournaments start
- 2:30pm – Open wrap-up, championship gear check
- 3:00pm – Academie Duello rapier championship starts
- 5:00pm – Day two awards
Participants can sign up for one or more of the open categories. Beginner rapier is restricted to beginners, and in order to participate in the Rapier Championship, you first have to qualify!
Entry is $15.00+HST for all three tournaments in one category, with an additional $5.00+HST for each additional category. There is no fee for the Rapier Championship if you qualify for it.
Proper Arms
Academie Duello always uses the most accurate simulators of the weapons and armour for the martial arts we teach and practice. All of the tournaments will be fought with rebated (blunted) steel weapons.
The sword is our teacher. Superior technique will only come from working with the properties of your weapon and your body. Thus by maintaining the most accurate environment to what you would face in a fight for your life, we create an environment where the best techniques will always come to the fore, whether these are researched or found through experimentation.
Proper Respect
Respect the deadliness of the weapons and the deadliness of an opponent using proper technique. Even when practising and competing with blunted blades, it is important to always maintain awareness that the real weapon is sharp and contact with your opponent potentially deadly. To become a great practitioner of the arts we teach, you must approach each engagement as if it were life and death.
Respect is also always given to event officials and fellow competitors. We are an academy of gentlemen and gentlewomen practicing an art that throughout history has been based on the highest ideals of honour. This is something we know all of our students and guests will maintain.
Entry Requirements
In order to participate in one of the open tournament categories, someone must vouch for your ability to conduct yourself safely and with respect for your fellow competitors. Academie Duello green and blue cord students, as well as uncorded longsword and sidesword students, need the permission of a lead Academie Duello instructor to participate. Non-Academie Duello students may provide relevant SCA fighter authorization, or have the sponsorship of the head instructor of a WMA school. If your school is not listed on the Currently Qualified Schools page, please have your instructor contact our director. If you are not affiliated with a school, you can still seek out the sponsorship of either a lead Academie Duello instructor or the head of another school.
In order to participate in the beginner rapier tournament, you must be a currently active student at a WMA school that provides progressive (i.e. ranked) teaching in the arts of rapier fencing, and you must be of the lowest rank allowed to participate in free fencing. You must also have the sponsorship of your school’s head instructor, to attest to your readiness for freeplay as well as your ability to conduct yourself safely. Academie Duello green cords may participate with the permission of a lead Academie Duello instructor.
In order to participate in the Academie Duello Rapier Championship, you must first qualify by winning one of the qualifier tournaments. All of the beginner and open rapier tournaments count towards qualification, as do select other tournaments leading up to the event. Any spots not filled by tournament winners will be offered to the highest ranked participants in the open rapier tournaments.