O.K. It wasn’t anything like Twenty Years After, or even the Return of Sherlock Holmes. But it did have a few similarities, like nearly-forgotten aches and pains. And a few brand new ones.
A brand-new Old Sword Club
The factors which conspired to bring back the Sword Club in the 1990s were nothing like those which created the original.
– In 1992, the SCA’s Midrealm had sanctioned fencing. SCA members wanted lessons and a place to practice.
- Dr. Jeffrey Singman (now Forgeng), a medieval scholar (now a well-established author and museum curator) had moved to Ann Arbor and needed a partner to help him study Di Grassi’s fencing methods. We started with English Sword in Hoornstra’s back yard on Lohr Road, but an indoor site was needed.
– There were students at the Y, like Bill Emerson, Kevin Bloom and Terry Krueger, who were looking for more advanced practice and lessons.
– Terry Gruber was ready to get back to fencing too.
The time was right. Hoornstra found a dojo in the Colonnade shopping mall where fencing time could be rented. So off he went to the Y to collect a portion of the equipment the Sword Club had left there. Young Jason Radine, who had kept the fire alive, graciously yielded up a fair share (less than half). David rented Master B. C. Yu’s dojo on Wednesday evenings.
Hoornstra and Gruber re-started the club in an atmosphere radically different from the pre-Y days. No classes, no pressure, no hard-riding lessons. Instead, a relaxed, supportive, not-too-competitive atmosphere. They did give lessons to those who asked, but the emphasis was on a spirited fencing experience with old hands. For the first year, modern fencing prevailed.
The Pittsfield Union Grange
After a couple of years, Master Yu installed a foam floor throughout the dojo. When we showed him what an epee might do to it, fencing there came to an end.
Once again the time was right. The Pittsfield Union Grange, one of the few preserved from the age of agrarianism, has a terrific dance floor and is rented by music and dance groups. An opening for Tuesday evenings had just occurred, and Hoornstra, who had rented the hall for the SCA group a few times, was able to gain acceptance for our activity.
The Grange upstairs alone being bigger than the dojo meant we had room to handle a bit of growth. Early on. all our growth was in historical fencing. |
