Recently while cycling through the delight that is Aqueduct
Park in Rome I came across a bunch of people fighting with swords.
Now, the area they were in is used extensively by keep-fitters exercising and even has it’s own outdoor gym of sorts, comprising pull-up
bars, static bikes and various other bits and pieces. I’d seen a lot of people
working out in that area before but never like this.
Stopping for a rest after a healthy jaunt along the ruins of
what used to be the main supply of fresh water for the Roman Empire, I saw that
this was longsword practice (i.e. both hands on the hilt) and the swords were big.
One of the instructors saw me watching and came over to say Hi.
During a brief chat he told me that they are ASD Custodes Cervi HEMA Roma, which translates roughly to "Hema Rome Deer Keepers ". They practice a couple of times a week and during the nice weather come to the park to have a go. The moves they were demonstrating at the time involved using your sword hilt to trap your opponent's blade and then move it to one side allowing you to strike with your elbow to their face. I got a phone number and Instagram account of the club and said I’d call them for a “prova” (trial lesson) soon.
About three weeks later I had a free Saturday and took a trip to
the gym where the club train (the nice weather now declining, they had moved
back inside). About five of use were there, with a couple of latecomers
boosting the class, and we got into a warm-up.
Now, having done Krav Maga for about 7 years and also having
trained as a Kids, and General, instructor* I know the fundamental
importance of a good warm-up. Muscles, bones and sinews do not work well when
cold and it is very easy to get hurt if you leap into an intense or even moderate
workout before your body had been heated up, stretched and oiled. One way to
spot a McDojo** is if the warm-up is brief, non-existent or doesn’t focus on the
appropriate areas of the body for the training. The routine we went through
here was at least twenty minutes long and I was aching in my inner thighs for
three days due to the extensive lunges they had us repeating around the gym floor.
I do yoga every day but don’t work that particular bit so felt it big time in
the following days. After we were nice and sweaty the instructors then got us
to do some moves with the practice swords.
There were two types of sword for training: wooden ones and flashier, sexier metal jobs with crafted hilts. The instructors mainly used the latter to demonstrate, and one or two of the other students had them. I got a wooden one but was grateful to only be wielding that as I had never trained with a sword before, apart from a brief “class” at a comic convention with a Jedi*** offering lightsaber tuition.
The first move was Porta di Donna (Woman's Door) and involved stepping and parrying and the footwork was fundamental. Having learned open/close as part of self-defence training I was able to do this reasonably well and the move started with the sword on your right shoulder and ended at the left.
After repeating that and drilling it for about 15 minutes we moved to the parallel side, where the technique was slightly different and Denti di Cinghiale (Boar's Teeth) and then to my favourite which was the Porta di Ferro (Iron Door). This move entailed creating a barrier across your groin with the hilt and the blade held horizontally to defend against low attacks. While we were learning this, we got taken out one at a time to practice repetitive striking of the previously learned techniques with one of the instructors.
Finally, to finish off, we had a session of breaking free from
a strangle hold without the swords, but in a way that I hadn’t learned
previously in Krav or self defence training. The session finished with a salute
to the instructors with our weapons. Right, left and forward. Kind of like “kida”
but more flamboyant.
I really enjoyed the class and it was refreshing to take part
in something as unique as this. The warm-up itself proved that the instructors
knew what they were doing and the focus on only 3 techniques with swords and 1 unarmed,
showed that the focus was on quality and not quantity.
It was easy to see that these guys knew what they were doing
and coming from a Krav Maga background, the best way to describe this was that it
was Krav with swords.
It’s only 40 Euros a month to join so I’ll be up for regular
training once the Covid-19 restrictions ease off (as I write this we are now in
a further extension of the lockdown).
A lot of fun so give it a go if you are in the area. The club train at Swim & Fit gym in Largo Preneste, Rome (near to the Teano Metro stop on line C) and can be contacted via phone on +39 06 331 702 4330. Instagram is @hema_guardiani_del_cervo and on Facebook as ASD Custodes Cervi HEMA Roma.
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