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Helen Zachariades-Cartier and several others asked me to post Mike’s eulogy:

Good afternoon I’ll start by saying Mike Cartier was a star. My name is Chris VanSlambrouck, Helen asked me to say a few words in eulogy of Mike.
Thank you, I am honored and eternally grateful for the opportunity to do so

I’m recently and happily retired from 20 years military service with a few combat tours. And my friend, instructor, and mentor Mike was my brother – as close to my heart as, ….no closer than any one I’ve ever served with.

I say that knowing full well some of those men and women I’ve served with are the very definition of what people call heroes.

There are a great deal of things that can and should be said about my brother Mike and I can only hope to list of few of them…

For those of us who had the privilege to know and love him, we know he lived a storied life one that was rich and full. Full of adventure and misadventure , of Love & loss, and with a fair amount of what some would call hijinks, but also it was a life full of love , compassion , Grace and a servitude to his family

it was certainly a life lived and not squandered.

It was also unfortunately a life-cut far too short as is often the case with the lives of great men and great teachers.

To me and to many warriors the only real commodity that we have on this Earth is time , our time and how we choose to spend it And with whom we wish to spend it with.

Mike loved his family fiercely. Helen we spoke of you and of his children, often – his love was deep…cavernus. Martial arts were his life’s path, but his family was his true passion.

Mike really understood me and that was one of the wonderful things about Mike.
he had a gift . He was able to perceive where people were at in their walk of life and then meet them there as a friend and equal or as a mentor, whatever they needed of him, he would be for them… If they would only let him

Mike had that sort of gravity about him

Like a Napoleon or rather like an Alexander

If one fell into his orbit even briefly then he affected that life… normally for the better , especially so with martial or philosophical instruction

And his reach well his orbit , was fantastically large. He touched, or rather impacted many many people’s lives to their betterment…
I am but one of those lives but I assure you I am voicing the opinion of hundreds , or thousands.

It has been and will always be one of the greatest honors to have known shared time , that most precious of commodities, with this brother of mine.

I know Mike called for a celebration and he wouldn’t have wanted any wailing or nashing of teeth. So if this is a celebration I have precious little to give. Aside from my voice. Mike was a star, and I don’t have a gold or silver star but I do have a bronze one– and it now rests with him eternally. Thank you.

WHAT

The Madtown Fechtschule is a public display of skill and control with competitive Dussack and Longsword tournaments styled after the rules and restrictions of a 16th century event.

WHERE & WHEN

Date : Saturday, 11 Aug 2017
Location: Goodman Center Gymnasium, 149 Waubesa St, Madison, WI 53704

Schedule:
11:30 – Sign In
12:00 – Introduction to Fechtschule: Rules and Demo
12:30 – Dussack (Will be provided)
2:00 – Break
2:30 – Longsword (BYOS)
5:30 – Awards
6:30 – After Event Party (Barbecue Style, BYOB)

HOW MUCH

Tickets to spectate can be purchased at the door the day of the event for $5 (which does not include entry to the after party and provided meal) If you would like to spectate and attend the after event meal, please purchase your ticket below:

Registration is Closed!

TOURNAMENT FORMAT

Dusack [4]

Competitors are randomly split into two pools.

Each pool participates in their own fechtschule.

Everyone will fence a King of the Hill, three passes to a match, five strikes per pass. The fencer who wins the most passes wins the match, which earns them one Victory Point (your gold coin prize). Fencers may also earn Artistry Points by exhibiting clean examples of Meyer’s dussack technique, awarded by the Pritschemneister.

Winners are those fencers from each fechtschule with the highest Victory Point total, the highest Artistry Point total, and the Last Fencer Standing. These winners participate in the Winners’ Dusack fechtschule.

All other remaining fencers from both initial pools are gathered into the Barber’s Pool. They will fence a King of the Hill fechtschule for honor and redemption. The redemption is the last man standing is entered into the Winners’ Dusack fechtschule.
The Winners’ Pool fences King of the Hill fechtschule to determine the winners of the dusack portion of the event.

Longsword [3]

For the longsword, all competitors fence King of the Hill in a single pool. Matches are three passes, five strikes per pass. Victory and Artistry Points are earned as in dusack. Note: Victory Points earned in dusack do not carry forward; Artistry Points earned in dusack do, and add to a fencer’s overall Artistry Point total.

Winners are selected as in dusack (highest Victory Point total, highest Artistry Point total, Last Fencer standing).

Losers of the first longsword fechtschule gather into a Barber’s Pool, and will participate in their own fechtschule, a King of the Hill as before in the dusack.

The winners of the first longsword fechtschule and the Barber’s Pool fechtschule then fence in the Final Fechtschule.

In the Final Fechtschule, the competitors fence King of the Hill, best of five passes.

Winners of the Final Fechtschule are the overall winners of the Madtown Fechtschule.

 

Safety Requirements from HEMA Alliance

Head = Head protection must cover the entire face and front of the throat for drilling and slow sparring, and the entire head and front of the throat must be covered in competitive sparring. It must be sturdy enough to withstand impacts. There should be no gaps in coverage that would allow a thrust or strike to the face.

Throat = A covering to protect the throat.

Torso = Clothing to cover the body. Clothing should be puncture resistant, or three layers.

Groin = An internal or external cup.

Elbow = Hard elbow covering to protect the joints.

Hands = Hands = Sturdy gloves or gauntlets must be used to protect the hands and wrists. Gloves must include protection on the sides and tips of the fingers sufficient to resist hard strikes from steel . An unsupplemented lacrosse glove is not sufficient.. Steel Gauntlets need additional interior padding of some sort, however a mechanic’s glove has minimal padding and when used inside a metal gauntlet would not be sufficient. Most HEMA-dedicated synthetic gloves or gauntlets, such as Sparring Gloves and Black Lance, are adequate. Finger breaks and hand injuries are the most common and organizers should be conscientious of this.

Legs = Hard knee covering to protect the joints.

Feet = Covering of some sort.

WHAT

Learn essential precepts in an eight week introduction course to historical German fencing in the manner of XVIth century fencing master Joachim Meyer.
This class introduces the basic fencing skills of one of the last inheritor’s of the Liechtenauer tradition of swordsmanship in an eight-part series of hour-long class sessions.

Each class begins with a warm-up routine, followed by guided exercises and drills using historically techniques to improve your basic skill while imparting tactically sound martial arts concepts.

WHERE

Goodman Community Center at
149 Waubesa St, Madison, WI 53704 in
Gym B

WHEN

Sunday evenings of: January 28; February 4, 18,  25;  March 4, 11, 18, 25  at 4:30-5:30pm

HOW MUCH?

$100 for all eight sessions pre-paid. The training equipment needed is included. Space is limited and seats are first come first serve. 

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