Day 8 - Rome - Gladiator School

Gladiator School

Today we were up  bright and early and heading for Gladiator School.  We flagged down a taxi and we were off and 10 euros later we were there! Fab – and the drive took us past the colleseum and lots of other ruins and cattacombs.

There were only 5 people in our class, our three boys and a mum and her 9 year old son – perfect.

Our gladiator trainer was “stacked” – he is a professional fighter and trained in many marshall arts.  Lachlan said he looked like the terminator or the hulk!

The training started in the museum where he talked about life as a roman soldier and how they fought and then gladiators and how they fought and the difference between the slaves and the gladiators and how slaves could fight for their freedom and later could become gladiators.  He talked about the different weapons and techniques and also reminded everyone that their best weapon was their “brain”.  Connor got a little bored with the talking, as did the other boy – but the adults and Loki were captivated.

 It was then time to head outside – wahoo – this is what the boys (all of them) had come for.  First off, they changed into their gladiator attire and once suitably dressed they began their training – ducking and diving; running, jumping, dodging and weaving and push-ups – great to watch! After a few exercises it was time for  water break! Whew! Then they were given swords and shown (and practiced) five set moves……….head, neck, leg, otherside and stomach

Karl was used as a guinea pig quite often and this was hilarious – well, for me, anyway – he even got his nipples pinched – this was ubber funny and he could not believe the trainer actually did it!  

Gladiator school was well worth the money just for this!  He also got Karl “dancing” by inflicting pain in different areas – again – hilarious!  He also managed to put our two boys (and the other one) in their place when they thought they could take him on or had better moves that they had seen on tv/movies or read in books. 

After practice the team were ready to duel! This again was the part they were waiting for.  Our trainer was the ref and each participant was trying to get 5 points, they were penalised for hitting in the head or face………… Connor and Lachlan were first up with Lachlan being victorious 5-3; Lachlan vs Nico 5-4 to Lachlan; Connor vs Nico 5-4 to Nico and then Dad vs Lachlan 5-4 to dad (thankfully) and then Dad vs Connor, 5-3 to dad.  The boys did not want to stop and had a few more un-reffed battles. 

The participants were then awarded their certificates and are now certified gladiators.

We were going to catch a taxi home, but our other gladiators were going for a walk through some ancient streets and then catching the bus and so we tagged along with them for a while and then caught a local bus 118 back to the Colosseum and walked home from there.  Rome is such an interesting city, there are sights around every corner and there is so much to see. 

We chilled out briefly at the hotel before heading off for lunch and a little shopping before we headed down to the Colosseum for our tour.