SEBU’s activities
- Training
- Specialized seminars
- Organizing international competitions
- Lectures and demonstrations
- Events for children and adults
Fighting styles
- Long weapon style
- the long staff (quarterstaff, spear, halberd, two-handed sword)
- Short weapon style
- the medium staff (club, two-handed axe, bastard sword)
- the short staff (sword, rapier etc.)
- Curved weapon style
- the curved short staff (falchion, sabre)
- Dagger style
- Wrestling
- blows, holds, movement technique
- Throwing weapons
- knife, axe, javelin
- Archery and crossbow
- hunting and combat
A new member undergoes a short period of training (usually 3 to 6 months) to learn
the essentials, which are steps, lunges, dodges, the basics of the long staff, and begin
to develop coordination and agility. By basics we mean the offensive and defensive zones,
parrying and some of the easier techniques.
The moment it is evident that he is sufficiently able, he is invited to take
an examination, after which he may become a Scholar. Usually, he will only be admitted
to the exam on the recommendation of one of the Warriors. During this exam he must
demonstrate and prove his accumulated knowledge before a board of examiners made up of
the Condottiere and three other older Warriors.
After completing the exam, it is time for the Scholar to choose his own path. He has the
opportunity to choose the weapon he will be applying himself to, the methods of using
it and so forth. In particular, a Scholar is expected to work independently towards the
rank of Warrior and to participate in the Society’s activities (seminars, training,
competitions, work etc.).
Warrior is the title that a Scholar receives after passing an examination in his
chosen weapon specialization. Concurrently, he must successfully try to fulfil
the Warrior’s Code and participate in the Society’s activities (seminars, training,
competitions, work etc.). Warriors are expected to act independently, to take part
in training the novices and to participate in organizing events for SEBU.
For proven ability and competence before the Society’s Council, for results in
competitions, constant performance, personal character and services to the Society,
the Society’s Condottiere confers the title of Warrior:
- Warrior with the quarterstaff
- Warrior with the two-handed sword
- Warrior with the two-handed sabre
- Warrior with the bastard sword
- Warrior with the axe
- Warrior with the one-handed sword
- Warrior with the rapier
- Warrior with paired swords
- Warrior with the sabre
- Warrior with two sabres
- Warrior with the falchion
- Warrior with the dagger
- Warrior in knife throwing
- Warrior in axe throwing
- Warrior in javelin throwing
- Warrior with the bow
- Warrior with the crossbow
- Warrior with the sling
- Warrior in wrestling
On receiving the title, a Warrior may use the Warrior’s mark of his weapon and wear
a blue cloak with yellow or red edging with the Society’s symbol of a lynx in yellow
on the left shoulder. He has a duty to use his Warrior’s skills for defending Truth,
protecting those weaker than himself and spreading the Society’s good name.
The Warrior receives his title kneeling on one knee, grasping the blade of the
Condottiere’s weapon halfway along it with his right hand between his thumb and
extended fingers. He then intones the Society’s motto: "In nocte videre".
The title of Master and Master Teacher is conferred after the fulfilment of certain
criteria, which are currently these:
- Achieving six titles of Warrior, which must consist of:
- Warrior with the quarterstaff
- Warrior in one category of throwing or shooting
- Warrior in wrestling
- Warrior in three further weapon specializations (titles 2. - 12.)
- 20 successful Scholar’s examinations
- 5 Scholars who have achieved the rank of Warrior
- Original style
- Active participation in SEBU’s development
- At least 7 years membership in SEBU
As the title of Master has never been conferred in this form, we may consider these
conditions as a base from which, in the future, the ideal conditions for conferring
the title of Master and Master Teacher shall be shaped.
Specialized seminars
SEBU organizes, among other things, seminars, which are intended primarily for
extending knowledge in individual areas (lectures on ethical behaviour and methods of
combat, on schools of defence, on weapons, etc.), appropriating the acquired knowledge
(combat technique with the quarterstaff, combat in confined spaces, combat on stairs,
slopes, and so on) and also for the rehearsal of demonstrations and public displays.
Organizing nationwide competitions
In the year 2004, SEBU will be organizing its 10th Spring Gathering (Jarní klání)
consisting of competitions in archery, throwing weapons and hand weapons.
For many years now, experienced sportsmen from all over the Czech Republic have been
gathering to measure their skills and to prove just how much can be achieved.
Over the course of years we have witnessed beginners who could only dream of performing
the more difficult feats (such as throwing instinctively after turning) gain amazing
speed and accuracy. After a pause of several years, the Spring Gathering will re-include
competition in the technique of hand weapons. Competitors must prove their understanding
of their weapon and also their accuracy, speed, decisiveness and variance of technique
and its philosophy against opponents in the form of wooden figurines. As for archery,
it may be briefly noted that it is currently undergoing its Renaissance and we can only
marvel at the boom in combat and instinctive archery, which year after year have
increasing numbers of enthusiasts.
If we look globally at all the competitions organized by SEBU, we see how every year
the results in individual competitions improve rapidly, how the goals are continually
pushed higher and how new ideas are conceived that push the boundaries of achievement
to unbelievable heights.
Events for children and adults
As one of the goals of SEBU is to propagate historical martial traditions among the
general public, we participate in events where we give demonstrations of our training
methods in the form of displays (combat, lessons in defence, archery, throwing weapons,
etc.). Our members then invite the visitors among us and offer them a chance to learn
some more about hand weapons, to shoot with a bow or crossbow or to try out throwing
with knife or axe. This year it has mainly been events such as 'Weekends at Krivoklat',
'Father’s Day at Castle Sovinec', 'The Garden Festivals at Mecholup',
'Kite-flying in Rokycan' and others. You can learn more about these events at our
website: www.sebu.cz, where they are most
adequately described in individual reports that are complemented by a bountiful
photo-gallery.
In conclusion
The difference between mediaeval fencing groups and our own should by now be quite clear.
While the purpose of these groups is to revive history through theatrical performances,
the purpose of our existence is to bring the art of our ancestors to the current age.
We wish to establish a school of defence (and hopefully have succeeded in doing so),
which chooses only the very best of bygone ages and creates thereby its own unique style.
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