This Italian Academy Teaches You To Wield Your Lightsaber
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If you’re of a certain age, part of a certain generation that grew up worshipping everything Star Wars, odds are you’ve probably, at least once or twice in your life, fantasized about getting really, really good with a lightsaber. Well now, if you live in one of seven Italian cities, or are willing to relocate, you can attend the Ludosport Lightsaber Combat Academy to further that goal.
And yes, when you notice there are seven Ludosport schools, that means it is a franchise. Let that sink in for a moment. There is a chain of schools you can attend to learn how to fight with what amounts to a glowing stick. You don’t have to be a wanna be Jedi to enroll, perhaps you just want to increase your theatrical swordplay game, but you have to imagine that the majority of the students can recite the original trilogy line by line, or at least pretty close.
Watching this video you can tell how seriously the students and instructors take their craft. This footage looks a lot like any other class you’d see at any other martial arts school pretty much anywhere in the world. It just also happens to be the nerdiest martial arts academy in all the land. There are the balletic moves you’ll recognize from the prequel trilogy, but you can also see traits from, you know, real martial arts, like Kendo. Hell, the best parts of the new films are the lightsaber duels. It does look more like the students are learning choreography rather than actual fighting skills, like they’re learning to look like they’re fighting, rather than learning to do actual combat.
But you can visit the Ludosport website for an in depth breakdown of what they teach. Their approach combines elements of seven styles of Eastern and European combat systems, each one more effective, efficient, and complex than the last. Students move through each form on an ascending scale, first mastering one before moving on to the next. You’ll even learn to apply them in multiple capacities; in the defensive, or Jedi manner, or with an offensive, or Sith, approach.
As you progress, you move through different ranks. Think of it like the belt system used by so many martial arts. You start off as a Padawan, become a full-fledged Jedi, ascend to Knight status, and eventually become a Master. By the time you reach this point, you might be old and wrinkly, like Yoda, but what’s better than being like Yoda?
