Recent holidays have prompted a reflective mood. I began teaching formal HMA rapier classes in April of last year (mostly at the urging of a more senior HMA guy. When I protested that I didn’t know enough to teach, he assured me that knowing more than anyone else was good enough). I’d spent much of […]
Author Archive
HMA: Training Maxims 23 comments
H(E)MA: A Primer 11 comments
Tibbie mentioned here that the Warfare seems to be on a bit of a historic-martial-art binge as of late, and asked to know a little more about HEMA groups, what they do, and how they operate. I’ve been working on some schemes to get HMA guys to come play SCA, but it never occurred to […]
Deconstructing Defeat 10 comments
I went to KWAR! Some observations: C&T melee is the best (but we already knew that) Rapier spears are problematic (but we already knew that) If you don’t wear a white scarf in a foreign kingdom, people assume you’re a goob until you prove otherwise (but we mostly already knew that) Sport fencers seem to […]
More Thoughts on HEMA Tournaments 27 comments
Swordfish 2015, the premier HEMA event in the world, happened on Halloween weekend. As always, the amount of actual HEMA that showed up was variable. Longsword was kinda beautiful. Rapier and dagger, on the other hand … well, you be the judge: Let’s start with the acknowledgement that HEMA tournaments aren’t trying to be a […]
Breakthroughs 9 comments
Giacomo has a funny story he’ll tell. It goes something like this: Determined to broaden his skills, one evening Giacomo decided to sew a seam on his pants. His wife set him up with a sewing machine, gave some basic instruction, and left him to it. Manfully, Giacomo applied himself to the task. He held […]
Rambling: First Blood Part 2 11 comments
It’s been a good year. At the start of it, I pursued physical therapy to correct a twenty-year-long issue with my left shoulder, and experienced firsthand just how difficult it is to access tiny muscles you never knew existed, and re-learn common movement patterns by telling other, bigger muscles to shut up. Shortly after, I […]
Rambling, Part 1: Plate 32 9 comments
I’ve not posted here in several weeks. This is not reflective of a lack of things to say, or even a lack of free time. Instead I am motivated by the thought that I should be spending more time doing things, rather than merely writing about it, particularly since every week brings some new insight […]
Ask the Audience: Retreating in Italian Rapier 42 comments
So I’ve come across a couple different mechanics for the retreat, in a historic Italian context: Through the Heel – peel up the toe (dorsiflexion) and straighten the front leg, pushing the front heel into the ground to drive the body back. Through the Ball – flex the foot in the opposite direction (plantarflexion), using […]
HMA: Strength Training and Rapier 16 comments
It’s been observed before that rapier combat in the SCA, featuring minimal armor and positive-pressure calibration, may appear to be less physically demanding than “heavy” combat, and may suggest to the uninformed that less physical training is necessary for success. Popular culture may have ensconced similar memes in the public at large, vis-a-vis strip fencers […]
Fencing Journal, 7/18 4 comments
I’ve secured a new job with evening hours, which means I won’t often make Thursday practices and will have to sharply cut back on my eventing. So these posts may end up being more about teaching than about fighting. Shape I did some one-on-one work with Andrew, one of my TSG students, on Sunday before […]