What the Blood Eagles are:

The Blood Eagles are the Armored Academy of Arizona’s men’s team, and we fill it with our most experienced fighters, and the fighters who come to practice the most consistently. Even if we fill it out and have people left over, we either form multiple teams (A, B, etc) or fighters can do what is referred to as “Mercing” (Merc is short for Mercenary – they go fight for another team that needs someone).

How teams work:

In a Buhurt (a team vs team fight), there are two opposing teams of fighters. These teams are of a pre-determined size. The most common domestically are 3v3, 5v5 and sometimes 10v10 or 12v12. This is how many fighters per team are on the field any given round, but like other team sports there is also a bench available to substitute fresher fighters in for fighters that are tired, hurt or that have had an armor failure. Therefore, a 3v3 team will have 5 people, 5v5 has 8, etc. Furthermore, there are dueling categories (1v1 duels for points) and many teams have dedicated duelists who do not participate in Buhurts. This means that a team can actually be quite large.

Armored Academy of Arizona training progression

Like other martial arts studios, students attend as they can/want. The more a student attends, the faster skills are acquired. If a student doesn’t have armor already (which is usually the case), then once the instructors are sure the student won’t blow out a shoulder or elbow swinging a weapon in armor, a kit is scratched together from loaner gear so the student can try it. A strong focus is getting new students able to compete as soon as they can. Once a student has their own armor and is attending practice regularly, the instructors begin finding appropriately challenging competitions for students to attend and try their skills on. This gives perspective and direction for continued training. Once a student is able to go toe to toe with other top teams, that is when they are considered for a spot on the “A Team”.

Here are some frequently asked questions we get about learning to fight like a knight:

• Do I have to have armor to train?
  • No, you do not. All you need to begin training is comfortable workout clothing, groin protection, and a water bottle. The Academy has loaner soft gear available and the instructors can direct new students to what gear to purchase for themselves as they are able.
• Do I need to be in good physical condition/shape to train?
  • The simple truth is that nobody is ready for armor, no matter what physical shape they’re in. Whether they’re a superb athlete already, in peak physical condition, or if they’ve never done a sport before and this is the first time off the couch – armor is hard to fight in. We focus all of our exercise and conditioning around being better at fighting in armor, so simply attending and putting in effort will get most people close to where they need to be physically, no matter what state they start from.
• How do I get started?
  • Sign up, start coming to every practice. It’s very easy to start, very difficult and rewarding to master.

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