SG1 uses ranks for its students and teachers.
These are intended to help people focus on self improvement, have something to aim towards, reward hard work, give more 'official' responsibility to the experienced members and help classes run more smoothly.
SG1 uses the following rankings (roughly equating to the ranks of the London Company of Masters of Defence of the 16thC):
1) Novice
2) Scholar
3) Free Scholar
4) Senior Free Scholar
5) Provost
6) Senior Provost
These ranks represent a combination of understanding of the art and ability to use it - the balance being more on knowledge and experience, rather than pure fighting ability. New students begin as Novices by default.
Ranks are awarded by Schola Gladiatoria founder and director Matt Easton, with real consultation with the council of Free Scholars (and above). A degree of testing is usually applied, involving theoretical and fighting parts, from Free Scholar rank upwards. Should a student be aiming to progress their rank then they could seek guidance from any of the more experienced members.
These are approximate indicators of what the ranks may tell you about a member:
- Scholars are those students who are no longer considered beginners and have attained a certain level of knowledge and competency. They should be safe, have learned the basic principles of the arts we practice, be able to consistently perform basic techniques and should be able to explain what they are doing and why.
- Free Scholars are able to assist with teaching due to having trained for much longer and learnt much more. They should have a much deeper understanding of the art and be able to convey that knowledge. Their martial abilities should be solid and proven and they will be tested to attain their rank. People reaching Free Scholar level usually will have been regularly training for at least a couple of years.
- Senior Free Scholars have taken their experience to the next level, regularly assist with teaching, sometimes running their own class, and have regularly performed to a high standard in competitive fighting. Senior Free Scholars will usually have been regularly training for around five years or more.
- Provosts are able to (and often do) regularly run classes, present to large groups of people and exhibit notably deeper and broader levels of knowledge. They should have demonstrated their martial abilities widely over a period of several years, perhaps around a decade.
- Senior Provosts even more so than a Provost.
There are currently no Senior Free Scholars in SG1.
Currently active Free Scholars in SG1 are:
Jack Butcher
Chris Castle
Paul Davis
Gavin Locke
Stephen Parfitt
Junaid Rabbi
Pedro San Miguel
Sophie Thurston
Martin Wilkinson
Free Scholars on a break:
Arash Jamali
Tenniel Souter
Last updated: 24/11/2015