INDIANAPOLIS – May the fourth be with you. May 4th is known as Star Wars Day.
On May 1st, the Indy Lightsaber Academy celebrated their third anniversary. They celebrated with cake and awards.
The classes their offer stage combat and historical European Martial Arts.
“All seven of our forms are based off of real world martial arts throughout the world,” said co-founder Michael Tucker. “Our form two is based off of French Rapier. Our form six is based off of military saber. So, you get to learn history as well as stage combat and you get to have a good time with a workout.”
Through their training, the students build a positive community and lifelong friendships.
“The community here is fantastic,” said Academy student, Charles Victor DiGiovanna. “I have met people here who are lifelong friends. They’ve helped me through some difficult times and been very close.”
Co-founder, Michael Tucker says the best part of the class is seeing the transformation of his Padawans.
"At first for me, there was a lot of learning that the body had to move in ways that did not feel quite natural,” said DiGiovanna. “There was a lot of overcoming of old training, old ways of thinking. So, there was quite a bit of difficulty just beyond the physical demands, obviously I wasn't in the world’s best shape and I needed to come up to speed so there was some physical challenge to it in addition to just making the mind work in different ways.”
All of the classes are held at the Irsay Family YMCA at CityWay and equipment will be provided for students who do not have any.
Every Tuesdays they have adults classes from 6:30pm – 8pm.
Every Sunday they have classes for kids and teens at 1pm.
To sign up, you have to be at least 13 years old and have a good attitude. The first lightsaber class costs $5.
August 24th – 26th, the Academy will be having their international tournament. Teams from around the world such as France, United Kingdom, and Canada are coming here to compete.
