Via!Hup!

Last October, I was invited by a friend to visit the Fencing Master's Program, located in San Jose, California. This was an opportunity not to be missed,as the FMP is one of a kind: a rigorous training program intended to produce some of the finest Classical Italian Fencing teachers in the world. Founded at San Jose State University in 1979 by Dr. William Gaugler, who holds a fencing master's diploma from the Accademia Nazionale di Scherma in Naples and was trained by such greats as Aldo Nadi, Umberto Di Paolo, and Giogio Pessina. The program's certifications are internationally recognized and endorsed by the Italian Fencing Masters Association.

My experience of the Fencing Master's Program was a positive, if somewhat grueling one. I attended two sessions over the weekend, an hour and a half on Friday night and then five hours on Saturday. The sessions included a brief footwork session which doubled as a warmup, then a division of attendees into teachers and students, myself in the latter category. On Friday night, my instructor was Mr. Jeremy Tavan, who thankfully was patient enough to clearly explain some of the finer points of the Italian system. Earlier that afternoon I had also received a short lesson from Mr. David Cogley, who had been kind enough to invite me down to San Jose. The teaching system of the FMP is based off of the old Scuola Magistrale in Rome, and so is entirely a classical method of fencing, in its turn being based off of five centuries of dueling practice. On Saturday, I received an excellent five-hour lesson in fioretto (foil) and sciabola (sabre) from

Maestro Gary Murray. In addition, I recieved pointers from both the Maestri Sahms. I don't know how many lunges I did over the weekend, but I was definitely sore afterwards. I really enjoyed myself, however, and learned a lot about the Classical Italian system, both in terms of technique as well as the interrelatedness and unity of Italian theory and tactics. Via! Hup!