Skip to main content

What to expect from your first lightsaber class

You’ve done it. Today is the day you finally signed up for that lightsaber school you’ve been hearing about. But you’ve never been to a lightsaber class. Or maybe this is your first time in any kind of martial arts setting. What have you gotten yourself into? What even is lightsaber combat? What's a lightsaber?

First....

Second, if you're unsure what a lightsaber is. Seek immediate medical attention or check out Indy Bat'leth Academy.



At Indy Lightsaber Academy we teach lightsaber combat through a fun and skill based approach. Each of our “forms” are based off a real world martial art influenced by the unique properties of a lightsaber. But don’t worry, you don’t need any martial arts experience. For our Tuesday classes, the only limitation is that you have to be over 12.

Our classes are good for the casual exerciser looking for something different, to the serious martial artist looking for a challenge.

Lightsaber Combat?


It’s what we do. Our forms while based off of mostly western martial arts (HEMA), aren’t intended to hurt anybody. After a few classes under your belt, more than likely you’ll progress to sparring. But again the intent isn’t to hurt, but rather learn a skill and sport. 

Pro-Tip: Reach out to us for any questions you might have before class.

When you show up:

Sign in at the front desk of the YMCA. You don’t have to be a member. If you’ve already bought a pass, you can skip this step. Otherwise your first class is $5. Just say “I’m here for the lightsaber class”.

Pro-Tip:
Try to show up at least 10-15 minutes early. To avoid wasting time looking for a parking spot right near the building, just cruise over to the adjacent auxiliary lot next to Lilly.

Checking in:You’ll be greeted by probably 10-20 students already in the room swinging around lightsabers. Usually there will be an instructor or volunteer by a laptop checking people in. If you find yourself here before you paid, we’ll most likely instruct you to go do that at this point.

Take this time to mingle and talk to people. There are a lot of cool cats that come here. They may even let you borrow a saber if you don’t want to use our practice ones.

Warming up:

Our classes usually start with a 10-15 minute warm up. Please take this at your own pace. If you have any medical conditions or physical limitations please let us know beforehand. Hopefully you’re reading this before coming. While not required it is heavily recommended you come in some kind of athletic clothing.

Class:

Once the warm ups are done you’ll be assigned an instructor and where to go. Everyone’s first class is an introduction to Form I.

What is Form I:

Think of Form I as “Lightsaber 101”. You’ll learn the basic ‘en guarde’ (on guard) stance, how to hold the saber, and 6 attacks and blocks. Form I is a mix of beginner long sword and various other styles (langes messer, Indian Tulwar and many others). Or just think of any 2 handed sword fighting technique you’ve seen in the movies. Point is, don't worry if you have no experience.

What now?Congratulations! You’ve made it through your first lightsaber class. Good job. But what do you do from here? Thankfully we are always accepting new students and beginners. That means that you can pick up from where you left off at any time.

Plus we have 7 Forms of lightsaber combat to learn. You'll start off learning Form I and progress to Form II or Form III. From there you can then specialize in any Form you like. Or learn more about a Form you've already tried. Look out for a full post about our 7 Forms of Lightsaber Combat and the rankings you can achieve.


Thanks for reading folks! Hope to see you in class soon!


--May the Force be with you all (except Todd, you're still banned from class)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

History of the Yellow Lightsaber

Try and guess what all these things have in common? The sun. School buses. Rain coats. Older headlights. If you guessed "things that are yellow", you'd be correct. But what if I told you that one more thing could be added to the list. That would be "The first lightsaber". I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "Doug, lightsabers are blue, red and green" and that's how it's always been. Then you might go into the story about how Samuel L. Jackson ended up with his purple saber. Some of you might even say something about Temple Guards. But generally when you think about lightsabers those are the colors that come to mind. While all that might be true, the yellow saber has much deeper roots in the Star Wars universe. Or perhaps I should say the "Star Wars merchandise-iverse".  Toy Lightsabers In today's lightsaber filled world, it might be hard to imagine a time before laser s
Post a Comment
Read more

7 Forms of Lightsaber Combat

7 Forms of Lightsaber Combat - Part 1 History of Lightsaber Martial Arts This post is probably a long time coming. But today I'm going to briefly cover what the 7 Forms of lightsaber combat are and how they're mostly ridiculous. In part 2, I'll go over what our Forms look like. Although (and I'll probably mention this several times) our forms may or may not align with existing canon. Or basically, yes we have 7 forms. But they might not be what you're expecting. Good luck with your training Speaking of canon. The 7 Forms that we all know and love have only been canon since 2002 (shortly before Episode II). And even then a lot of their mentions have been expunged when Disney bought out the franchise (even the current descriptions have been altered or reduced). It's also important to note that there are very few direct references to the Forms other than visual guides and the like. And NONE of the movies prior to AotC directly integrated or even a
Post a Comment
Read more

5 Worst Lightsaber Designs

“This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.” Horse crap. Lightsabers were first made from camera flash tubes, sink knobs, and grenade parts. These features were then extrapolated and exploited in Star Wars for the next 30 years. During that time we've seen a LOT of different sabers. And almost none of them are practical. This can be attributed to "greebles". What are they? Greeble : a fine detailing added to the surface of a larger object that makes it appear more complex, and therefor e  more visually interesting. It usually gives the audience an impression of increased scale. It's something that serves no purpose whatsoever. So it would only make sense that lightsabers would have a whole bunch of them. But the thing is, we've now come to expect this from lightsabers. In a fictional universe fine. However more and more people are actually starting to hold something they&#
3 comments
Read more