Whew, The last three months have been a whirlwind of activity for the guild. From our ‘Two Edges and a Point’ intensive, to Party in the Park, Streets Alive, and OKDF’s ‘Inconceivable’ event, the Guild has been busy trying to keep up with the fun.
The Whirlwind started with the Guilds summer intensive ‘Two Edges and a Point’ where we taught the basics of sword handling to everyone who wanted to know. This included Guild Members, some of our friends at OKDF, but most important, the public. We welcomed those who had no experience to try their hand at something new. The intensive was a success, and helped hone our skills at hosting so we can continue to host them in the future.
A short time after that, we attempted to attend the annual Party in the Park celebration held at Willard Community Center. Sadly the event got postponed till later in the afternoon, due to rain, which also prevented us from attending, as we could not ensure the safety of our participants due to the muddy/slick ground.
Then came the annual Streets Alive Festival, held at Upco Park. There we got to show our art to children and parents alike. Displaying, not only our athletic prowess, but some of the history of Italian swordfighting. Along with this, we brought peter the pell*, to allow untrained fighters a chance to swing a sword, without the chance of injury. Much fun was had by all parties.
Finally; Dan, Ian, Jess, Jordan, Nick, and Sophie rose to the challenge issued by our friends at the Omaha Kunst Des Fechtens Guild. Who hosted their annual ‘Inconceivable’ tournament. The tournament was setup for 3 categories of skills: Sword, Strength, and Strategy. Within the tournament, the participants bet on their own skill, wagering tokens to challenge other participants in one of the three categories. Each category having its own color of token, meant that you could be terrible at one, yet come out the winner of another, and encouraged participants to work hard to win the category that best fit there own set of skills. Along with this, the tournament had 3 predefined skill challenges, one in each category, that everyone participated in. The first of these, Strength, was to take 3 strikes at a Pumpkin or Watermelon, contestants choice, with a sharpened sword. All 3 strikes counted as 1 point toward the contestant, failure to cut through the fruit, meant a win for the house. The second event was a contest of skill, where contestants were placed into teams, and a balloon affixed their heads. The goal was simple, pop the opposing teams balloons, while keeping your safe. The third I will let you find out for yourself, by going to the OKDF Facebook page, or better yet, attending the event next year.
All-in-All, We have been having lots of fun, and hope to continue the trend. Though we foresee a slow down in the next couple of months due to the holidays, we’re hoping to have another intensive early next year, Stay tuned for more details.
