*As posted on the EH announcement yahoo site*
Sword Knight Boot Camp
April 29 & 30, 2011
Dunstable, MA (about an hour from Logan International Airport)
Nearest city when looking at a map: Lowell, MA ...Dunstable is northwest of Lowell.
Site: YMCA Camp Massapoag
Arrive early on the 28th for ditching and start classes on the 29th.
Sword Knight Boot Camp is an event run specifically to teach the details of foam sword fighting. It is sponsored by a committee of Amtgarders who believe in improving the quality of fighting skills (called FWACK). The event is not officially organized by any kingdom, park or regional Amtgard body. The event generally uses Amtgard rules (although some exposure to Belegarth or other systems is also part of the event). Whether you can receive credits or any other Amtgard notice from the event is an issue for local leadership to decide.
The format of the event is that Friday and Saturday are spent in intense class setting teaching. Event attendee sign up for the classes they are most interested in. These classes contain a mixture of lecture, drill and exercise. In between classes students and instructors ditch to practice what they have learned.
At SKBC most of your meals will be taken care of and in general the whole event eats together. This provides an ideal environment to seek out more of the instructors in a casual setting and keeps the focus on talking shop as regards foam fighting.
The event’s narrow focus on fighting skill development means that there won’t be battlegames, quests, feasts or A&S. These are all wonderful parts of Amtgard but not in the scope of this event. The level of the classes is geared from the basic to the relatively advanced so anyone who is interested in improving their fighting skills can benefit from this event.
The instructors are chosen from among the elite fighters of foam fighting games. From Amtgard, FWACK only invites instructors who have earned a Warlord and/or a Knighthood of the Sword from their own kingdom. We also invite a few of the best fighters and instructors from similar foam sports on the basis that those different environments breed different techniques and there is a benefit to all of us from sharing such information.
I thank Ursus Bear and his team from Golden Vale for getting this ready to happen and I am excited to start the planning.
The new site is up but we haven’t finished the details yet.
http://swordknight.com/TigerHawke's NOTE: still waiting for the cost of the SKBC weekend. Will post when I find out from Bear or it gets posted somewhere.
If you have never been to New England ..it's gorgeous! The site is not too far from the ocean and coastal historical sights like Salem, MA. (1 hour or so away) Make sure you have GPS or really good directions ...NOTHING...as far as roads or highways are laid out grid style around the Boston area. Once out of Logan Airport and a bit north on the highways, traveling is easier to get north to the Lowell area and beyond to Dunstable.
Also you can fly into Manchester airport in Manchester, NH. Driving from there isn't all that much further and you will certainly miss all the insane traffic coming out of Logan airport.
