Swordfighting Classes

Swordfighting: The Core of the Aegis Academy of Martial Arts

(Offered in both Ann Arbor and Quad Cities)

The Aegis Academy of Martial arts teaches Western European Swordsmanship, a Sicilian style that's more than 1,000 years old. We teach real swordfighting, not stage combat. As an Aegis Swords student you will learn how to use the swordfighting techniques in defense of yourself and others. As you progress as a swordfighter you will also be offered the opportunity to learn knife-fighting and hand-to-hand self defense skills.

Swordfighting is a mental art as well as a physical one. Come to class expecting to expand your horizons, to work hard, and to play hard.

Above all, swordfighting is fun!

The Aegis Academy of Martial Arts Swordsmanship Program is broken down into the following six-month classes:

• Basic Swordfighting: Learn how to stand, walk, and take care of yourself like a swordfighter. Begin expanding your horizons with observation. Learn the basics of how to build and wield a sword; learn how to defend yourself with a shield without injuring yourself or your sparring partner. Increase your stamina, strength and flexibility as you work toward your final goal for the class: your first swordfighting tournament.

Are you ready to begin? Are you 18 or over? Email us to sign up for the next available Basic Swordfighting class!.

• Intermediate Swordfighting: Basic laid the groundwork; now it's time to deepen your personal understanding of the art and expand on the options available to you as a fighter. Begin learning new styles: knife fighting, single sword with open hand, and fighting with two swords. In Intermediate you will begin understanding and developing your personal fighting style, increase your self-confidence, and begin learning how to fight in teams and as a class unit.
  Prerequisite: Successful completion of Basic Swordfighting; instructor approval
• Advanced Swordfighting: By Advanced, the “moves” you've learned have become natural to you. Now it's time to become a thinking fighter; someone who can take a mental “step back” from a fight, observe patterns in your opponents' movements and strategize for a victory. You'll find that you've become a faster, smarter fighter as you continue to fine-tune and individualize your skills. You'll learn how to better assess the effects of the “damage” you take in a fight and how to fight around your “injuries.” And you'll continue to learn new styles, including: shield as an offensive weapon, polearms including glaive and spear, the great sword, and unarmed combat/grappling.
  Prerequisite: Successful completion of Intermediate Swordfighting; instructor approval
• Lower Specialties:: You've come a long way in the past year and a half! Now it's time to take your time and become an expert in the fighting styles of your choosing.
  Prerequisite: Successful completion of Advanced Swordfighting; instructor approval
• Upper Specialties: Upper Specialties is Aegis Academy of Martial Arts' equivalent of a black belt. The rules for this class are simple: Sal will teach you anything he knows that you want to learn. Upper students have studied advanced hand-to-hand, battlefield tactics, and even how to make a perfect waffle. In Upper, you continue to apply everything you've learned as a now-expert fighter to the wider realm of your life.
  By Invitation Only

If you're ready to begin, we're ready to have you! Email us today to sign up for the next Basic class or to learn more about what we can offer you.