January 5th First class of the new year and also the firs class of the new quarter. Katie led the new students in the beginnings of fencing, and Maestro Dante led the class through footwork and parry drills. The rest of the class was introduced to the first of the new lessons called repartee's. Repartee number one was introduced to the class in one line doing the entire repartee and then the class faced off in two lines and practiced the repartee's in two parts. The last part of class was spent doing practice bouting.

January 12th Katie led the newer students through an introduction to footwork and a few of the beginning parries. Andrew and Seth led the class through  footwork and parry drills. Then the class practiced repartee number one as a group and then practiced repartee number one in two lines facing each other. As Debbie and Maestro Dante called out the repartee cues the class practiced. When a level of proficiency was reached then the class rotated throught the two lines. The latter part of class was spent doing free bouting.

January 19th Maestro Dante and Seth led the class through footwork and parry drills. Katie continues her instruction of the newer students through more footwork practices and a few more parry drills. The class worked on repartee number one and was introduced to repartee number two and then worked on that one. The latter part of class was spent doing free bouting.

January 26th The first part of class was spent doing footwork and parry drills which were led by Andrew and Seth and Maestro Dante. Katie continued with the newer students in the beginning footwork and parry drills. The newer students can now join the class in doing repartee number one and two. This evening the class was introduced to repartee number three. The class welcomed the newest member of the ranked students, Don who achieved the rank of novice, Huzzah. Announcements were for the upcoming Renaissance faires and the Guild meeting will be on February 5th.

February 2nd Andrew and Seth led footwork and parry drills. Announcements were done at the beginning of class for the upcoming Guild meeting. Announcements were for the Renaissance faire gatelist for Angel's Camp, the Guild meeting on the 5th, and the class tournament next Wednesday on the 9th. The class went through repartees number one and two and then ran them all together into one practice. The better part of class was spent in pratice bouting to get ready for the class tournament next week.

February 5th THE GUILD MEETING We had thought that maybe 10 people would come, but we hoped for 15 people. Instead the response to our invitation to start our own guild was overwhelming as close to 30 people showed up and participated. Both fencers and non-fencers were interested in becoming a serious guild with goals for the upcoming year. The by-laws for the guild were adopted, offices were filled and lots of suggestions were passed around for different ideas. We went over the calendar of events and what the responsibilities and benefits are to being a guildmember. Everyone had a good time and the next meeting was set for April 30th at Chris and Katie's house. This meeting will also be a workshop for making gorgets, putting together garb, creating persona and everything that goes with interacting with the public.

February 9th The evening started with the room being changed around to make two aerrics for a Valentine's fencing tournament. Armor and weapons inspection was done by Matthew and Vlad. Katie and Debbie were list mistresses. Vlad and Maestro Chris were the marshals of the evening. Eleven fencers signed up for this three round tournament. The first round was fought with single sword, the second round was sword and dagger while the third round was sword and fencer's choice of offhand weapons. Seth and Kevin La Teur took first and second place, Matthew and JB came in third and fourth place. With still much time left over for class after the tournament, Katie took the newcomer students aside and continued their beginning fencing instruction, while the rest of the evening was devoted to free bouting and socializing. There was a break in between the tournament rounds and the championship rounds to celebrate the 18th birthday of Patrick/ Fessick with cake and refreshment. Huzzah

Class Diary Oct to Dec '04

Class Diary Apr. to Jun. '05

February 16th Class footwork and parry drills went smoothly. Maestro Chris devoted most of the time in class to the critiquing of students as they bouted using the single sword. Students were encouraged to work on specific techniques to develop their own particular style and to improve in certain areas of bouting with the single sword that Maestro Chris noted while they were bouting.

February 23rd This evening's footwork and parry drills were led by Matthew. A short time was spent in repartee` review. Then the newer students went to work on basic material with J.B.. The ranked students bouted wih each other with an emphasis on using weapons that were at the next rank. For example, students of novice rank were to begin using dagger, students of usher rank were to use any of the other offhand weapons, students of cadet rank were to bout using brace, students of scholar rank were to use brace of rapier but with only specific target set by Maestro Chris. Class announcements were for the upcoming Calaveras Celtic Faire and the signing of forms to attend. Also announced was the starting of a new class on March 7th at the Lakeside room at the old school location across from Chana High School, by the Auburn Rec. Gym. next to the disc golf park.

March 2nd Class footwork and parry drills were tonight led by Maestro Chris. There was a short review of repartee number one. Then the class split into many groups depending on rank and level of skill. The main body of students were with Debbie bouting using advanced offhand weapons in connection with their rank. The bouting styles were critiqued and helpful hints thrown in. Fencers bouted in two pits for an hour or more. Maestro Chris worked on advanced rapier techniques with a few of the students who wanted to practice that. Matthew worked with the nearly ranked students getting them ready for bouting. Katie had two very new students who needed introductory information. Crystal worked with other students who were unranked but had some experience in our class. Everyone did very well and there were announcements about the new class on Mondays, announcements about the Calaveras Celtic Faire, and a request for the guildmembers to get their dues in ASAP because Katie needs to pay for the insurance now. A reminder that the Monday class is paid for separately from the Wednesday class. And next week since it will be the class  before a faire, it would be fun to come in garb for the evening.

March 12th and 13th

March 16th

March 23rd

March 30th

March 9th Class footwork and parry drills were led by Maestro Dante. Then a review of repartee` one and two. Katie continued her introduction to historical fencing with the newest students while Matthew worked on finishing Dustin and Morgan's preparation to become ranked someday soon. Debbie marshaled two pits of bouting where the fencers were to use offhand weapons that would prepare them for the next rank and Dante tested Mark in preparation for his novice rank. Class ended with pick up bouts throughout the class and then Katie and Debbie bouting with long rapier and dagger. Class welcomed out newest member of the Diamond Rose ranked fencers, Mark, huzzah!