Additionally, a Prize Playing for Senior Free Scholar in Long Sword was held Saturday morning wherein Provo Study Group Leader, Steward Feil, successfully earned his ranking! Following this, 5 members earned their General Free Scholar rating. Congrats to Stew and his classmates: Casper Bradack, Brian Hunt, Kimberly “Maru” Doyle, and Patrick Driscoll (provisional), and also to Derek Wassom who came out from Colorado to receive his evaluation (provisional).
I thoroughly enjoy my visits to work with the Provo gang and I am consistently impressed with their enthusiasm, sincerity, scholarship, and discipline. They are in my opinion the most disciplined Study Group we have in ARMA and are only a step or two behind what I am doing in Houston with my own students. Their discipline is evident in the quality of practitioner they produce and the noticeable results they achieve, as evidenced for example in senior Free Scholar Jake Norwood, their previous Study Group Leader.
As others noted about the Provo members who attedned our Gathering last summer, they take our Study Approach to heart and put sincere effort into following our Training Methodology ---and it shows. Once again I was impressed with their dedication, camaraderie, and insights. I always learn something new on each visit and this was no exception, as they shared new interpetations on material from Mair, Meyer, Fiore, and the Codex W.
Played in public before an audience of his family and friends and a few guests and gathered onlookers, Stewart Feil’s Prizing on Staurday morning consisted of a total of 81 bouts against 10 opponents over the course of a mere 58 minutes. The first 41 bouts were with wooden wasters and consisted of two separate hits against each opponent. The next 21 bouts were with padded longswords for single hits. The remaining 19 bouts were against mixed weapons, from sword and buckler to greatsword, sword and dagger, and polearm. Four of these bouts were with blunt steel longswords. Of the 81 consecutive bouts, a total of 66 were scored as either wins or losses with the other 16 evolutional fights being non-judged. Stewart scored 49 total wins out of the 66 tested bouts for a 74% victory margin.
Stew displayed the fortitude, endurance, flexibility, control, and skill to face his peers and show himself a well-tryd and proven man in this weapon. I was particularly impressed with Stew’s disposition, his calm demeanor, and quiet intensity. His technical ability and strong form were exceptional and his handling of a steel blade particularly sound. In all, it was a fine and impressive public display under test conditions. I was both proud and humbled by his performance. I want to thank everyone who made this possible and also members Morgan and Mary for assisting. Once again, congratulations to all.
Get ready for next year, Eli and Casper!
John C.
ARMA Director
