Class Diary 2006c

July 5th
Class footwork and parry drills were led by Seth, then by Andrew and then by Matthew, getting in a good warm up and practice. Class then lined up facing each other to practice the repartees; one, two and three. After a short break, class split into groups of two each to do target acquisition against archery targets placed on the wall, and then to practice lightest touch using tennis balls on strings. After this was done for awhile, sponsors praticed with the students who were wanting to study in preparation for rank advancement. Bouting in erics was done by only a handful of students who needed to pratice using all the offhand weapons.

July 7th
Pirates of the Carribean II at the Regal Cinema. Eleven Diamond Rose members showed up to bout and show off in front of the waiting crowds. There was a lot of room to bout in front of the theater. Fencers got a good workout and could bout using whatever weapons were on hand. Thank you to Andrew and Cody for waiting in line for hours to secure us the best seats. Thanks you to everyone who showed up to play.

July 12th
Class footowork and parry drills were led by Matthew this evening. Class then geared up to play various melee games. After the light faded, Sponsors practiced with their students until the end of class. The last few minutes of class were spent going over advanced footwork moves, such as; balestra, balestra with lunge, passat asoto, passat sobado.

July 19th
Class footwork and parry drills were led this evening by Andrew, who threw in some advanced footwork for us. Class then split into lines facing each other and practiced two new repartees, numbers eleven and twelve. These repartees focus on sword communication with an opponent who is fighting with the sword in the opposite hand. These repartees were new to the class, and they picked it up quickly and efficiently. Class then split up to do bouting in two erics with the marshal evaluating each fencer's form. Class then split into smaller divisions with fencers grouped according to the rank they were studying to attain. Class announcements were regarding the upcoming guild meeting and the Pioneer Park event in Nevada City.

July 21st
Pioneer Park Children's Renaissance Festival - The Diamond Rose was one of many organizations who turned out for this fun event. As the Queen's guard for the day, the Diamond Rose led the procession in the morning anf the evening. Otherwise, we spent the time fencing and instructing the little one's who were very entertained by the swordplay of everyone who attended. Thank you to everyone who came early to set up and stayed late to tear down,and brought food or drink.

August 2nd
Class footwork and parry drills were led by Debbie and Matthew. Class then went outside to bout. The first scenario was a round robin. The next games were all melee games of differing scenarios. Maestro Chris led the melee games while Debbie tested students for promotion. Bouting continued ater the class returned indoors. The last part of the class was spent having Sarah play her prize for the rank of cadet. She bouted each fencer holding a rank higher than hers, using each different weapons form. After much thoughtful deliberation by Chris, Debbie, Matthew, Patrick and Andrew, Sarah was given her brown rosette followed by three cheers from the class. Huzzah.

July 26th
Class footwork and parry drills were led by Patrick. Class then split into two lines to practice repartees eleven and twelve. Sponsors then met with their students to train and prepare for their next rank. Bouting was in two erics for the evening. The last bouting of the evening was melee games of two on two and three on three. Class announcements were for the upcoming guild meeting.

August 9th
Class footwork and parry drills were led by Debbie and Matthew. Class then split into two lines to practice a few repartees. Unranked fencers stayed in the classroom for instruction, while the ranked fencers went out on the lawn for a few melee games. After the light waned, the whole class enjoyed a snack break of fresh pie. With the renewed energy, fueled by pie, fencers bouted each other one on one with a focus on feints.

August 16th
No drills or footwork tonight. All students came to class in Renaissance garb to enjoy a tournament atmosphere and to celebrate Chris' birthday and Sarah's bon voyage. Listmistress Katie and assistant Marc kept the fencers on deck and fencing for a double elimination tournament. Seth and Patrick bouted in the final round, with Seth coming out the victor. During a break, cake and refreshments were laid out for everyone to partake. After the break, class bouted and Sarah was able to play her prize before leaving for college.

August 23rd
There were no footwork and parry drills this evening. Maestro Chris had everyone gear up and bouting commenced and continued throughout the entire evening. Class announcement were regarding the upcoming tournament and Renaissance Faire in San Francisco, carpooling and caravaning and rules of the St Michael's tournament, etc..

August 26th
The guild of St Michel's put on a wonderful tournament. Listmistress Christine saw to it that no entrant in the tournament would be bouting against someone from their own group during the first three rounds of swordplay. For the final round, seven names were called, six of them belonging to the Diamond Rose. The last bout of the tournament was between Matthew and Nate, with Nate coming out the victor of the day. Queen Mary was on hand for the final round and all prizes were awarded by her. Third place went to Steve and second place went to Matthew. Also in the final round were Chris, Debbie and Jason. Huzzah to all the fencers of the Diamond Rose!

August 30th
Class footwork and parry drills were led by Andrew this evening. Class then plit into two groups for repartee practice. Ranked fencers then geared up and went outside on thelawn for melee games with Maestro Chris. Some of the games were practice for the upcoming Day in the Woods on September 16th. Debbie worked with the unranked fencer until dark. Class then went inside to continue mele games of two-on-two. Class announcement were for the Day in the Woods and for the Grass Valley Celtic Faire.