Dominic Ciarrocchi teaches people to fight with lightsabers at a Cherry Hill gym.

Ciarrocchi, dean and lead instructor of LudoSport Cherry Hill, runs weekly lightsaber combat classes out of the Cherry Hill Health and Racket Club at 1820 Old Cuthbert Road. The school, which he founded in 2023, is part of an international network of about 80 academies that treat lightsaber fighting as a competitive sport.

The discipline, called LudoSport, was created in Milan, Italy, in 2006. It arrived in the United States in 2016, according to News 12 New Jersey.

Students learn seven combat forms using techniques drawn from martial arts and the Star Wars films. They train with three weapon styles: single blade, dual and staff. Classes range from beginner to advanced, plus a mixed-level combat session, and are open to anyone ages 8 and older. LudoSport is not affiliated with Disney or Star Wars, according to the organization's official website.

Ciarrocchi, who has a background in professional wrestling and stage combat, found the sport through live-action role-playing games. He told NJ.com in May that the name itself sets the tone. "We're here to have fun and play," he said.

Control matters as much as flash. Students train without masks or heavy protection, so precision is a core teaching. Ciarrocchi told NJ.com in May that the first strike beginners learn is a head shot and that light contact is the standard because, in the logic of the sport, a lightsaber needs only a nick to do its work.

Instructor Christine Beard, who has trained with LudoSport Philadelphia since it opened in 2022, told NJ.com in May that tournaments reward both combat skill and cinematic style. Students compete and are judged on how effectively and how dramatically they fight.

The school has its own rituals. When a lightsaber hits the ground during class, everyone stops to do pushups. Every session ends with a group salute and the chant "One name, one sky."

Student Jeremiah Goldovitz captured the pull of the program in the same NJ.com feature: "I think a lot of us started it, thinking it would be fun, and not realizing that it would slowly take over our lives."

6abc Philadelphia featured the school on Sept. 18.

Cherry Hill classes meet Thursdays at the Health and Racket Club. A Form 1 beginner class runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., followed by a combat class from 7:45 to 8:45 p.m. Additional classes meet at the Maple Shade Municipal Building at 200 Stiles Ave.: a course on Tuesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. and Form 2 on Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. More information is available at ludosportusa.com.