Schola Saint George

Material relating to the first module of training within the core curriculum, the First Masters of Battle course that follows Brian's book, the Sword in Two Hands. These fundamentals include footwork, weapon movements, the poste, posta transitions, striking to cover, colpi, punte, and the six core plays of the module. Within this section will be found additional videos, class syllabi, and drills, although most of the course content is covered in the book.

This course revolves around fighting with the sword in two hands from Fiore's twelve guards or poste. The objective of the First Masters of Battle Course is to have students working between the poste in order to find a positional advantage from which they can strike the opponent with safety. Ancillery concepts are the making of cover, the preservation of intiative, and the biokinesthetics of striking with efficient power using both the edge and point.

Primary objectives of the First Masters of Battle Course are to:

• Give a sense of who Fiore was, the different weapons within the system, and of the principles-based nature of the curriculum.
• Acquaint students with the fundamentals of movement, including the poste, footwork, grip and primary strikes (fendente, mezani, sottani) and thrusts (punte).
• Introduce the concepts of making cover and striking to cover, two profoundly important ideas.
• Give students the tools to deal with basic attacks using control with cover, pressure and capture. These concepts are illustrated through our six plays of the zugadore.

At the end of the course students should be able to complete progression testing according to the Yellow testing requirements.

Independent scholars should follow the course syllabus, working through it section by section, focusing primarily on the written material in Sword in Two Hands, on the SSG video, and on the clips / notes included in this section. When ready, there are two methods of testing, video and in-person. In person-tests may be done at any SSG event where progression testing is planned. Video testing may be done by posting or sending video to the Schola instructors.

Study groups should also follow the course syllabus, working through each concept step-by-step until one concept is largely mastered before moving on to the next, also relying on the provided training materials. In larger or more established groups, many study groups have a senior student lead the First Masters of Battle course while other students work on more advanced material.