Alyx Whittaker (The United Kingdom)

Fiore’s Dagger and Wrestling

Alyx Austin is a semi-regular instructor for the London Historical Fencing Club. She is a self-styled HEMA Bad Ideas Aunt who loves the obscure and odd side of Historical fencing.  

I will be teaching a class on Fiore’s Dagger and Wrestling, but with a focus on it’s adaptation and stylistic focus on armoured combat. We will walk through the basics of Fiore’s wrestling, and dagger work, it’s focus on armoured combat, and a wider context of the use of armor and how to defeat it in harnessfechten. 

Which Weapon:

Please bring a suitable Rondel Dagger trainer (either blunted or synthetic)

Gear Requirements:

This will be fairly kit agnostic. If you do not have any armor don’t worry. 

If you have full steel harness, please bring it!

If you do not, please try to bring:

• Mask
• Duct tape or equivalent
• Two (+) sets of arm guards and elbow protection
• Chest protector
• Hema Jacket
• Rondel Dagger (Simulator or blunted and safe steel)
• Heavy Gloves

Experience required

No experience necessary, this is a beginners focused class

Andress Kool - Man met Camera (The Netherlands)

Grab your chance to have an awesome portrait shot by Andress, Man met Camera©️.

You'll recognise his pictures from the subtle balance between light and dark, with the characteristic black background. Often imitated, never equaled. Just €10 gets you a great portrait!

Check the daily schedules for availability.

Dierk Hagedoorn (Germany)

Why I despise the bloody Sigmund Ringeck manuscript

Dierk Hagedorn is instructor for the longsword at Hammaborg, a club for historical fencing in Hamburg; he is also a passionate wearer of armor. He has transcribed more than 30 of the approximately 80 surviving fight books in German language and made them available on the website of his club or published them as an edition in book form. Among these are books about Hans Talhoffer, Peter von Danzig, Gladiatoria, Albrecht Dürer and many more. As an excessive lover of the old sources, he finally received the honorary title as “The Sourcerer. He works for the IT subsidiary of a large German airline for numerous creative issues such as user experience, interface and corporate design. In a former life, he was a publisher and proud editor of a book about marsupial literature.

Lecture:

Why I despise the bloody Sigmund Ringeck manuscript. 

You may or may not be familiar with this peculiar source. You may or may not like it. What’s not to like in an old book, you may ask. Just you wait. Join me on a rude trip through the atrocities of a manuscript that pretends to be small, harmless and useful.

Dimitri ten Have (The Netherlands)

De Sikkel: een wapen vol haken en ogen!

NL

Dimitri is les-assistent bij de Zwaardkring en gast-instructeur bij Historisch Schermgilde Limburg. Alhoewel hij zich vooral bezighoudt met langzwaard, is hij geobsedeerd geraakt met vrijwel alles omtrent Paulus Hector Mair’s Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica. Daartoe behoort ook het vechten met de graansikkel (falx frumentaria).

Tijdens deze workshop gaan we focussen op het toepassen van technieken zoals we die vinden in Mair’s Stucken, binnen context, op tempo. Iets specifieker: we gaan het hebben over verscheidene manieren om je te verdedigen tegen een snede van boven, en hoe je vanaf hier verder gaat. Daarnaast zullen we enkele misvattingen over de sikkel proberen de wereld uit te helpen.

Er zijn helaas maar beperkt leen-sikkels aanwezig, dus mocht je zelf veilige trainings-sikkels hebben, dan wordt het ten sterkste aangeraden deze mee te nemen.

Omdat deze workshop bedoeld is om technieken op snelheid toe te passen – en zo de essentie van de technieken te ontdekken – is volledige spar-uitrusting aangeraden. Heb je dit niet? Wees dan niet getreurd! Je hebt niet per se gear nodig om mee te doen aan deze workshop. Let daarbij wel op dat de hoeveelheid gear die je meebrengt, de intensiteit van de (spar)oefeningen bepaalt. 

Ervaring met sikkel, worstelen of dolk-vechten is niet nodig, maar helpt wel. Het doel van deze workshop is om een relatief rustige intro tot Mair’s sikkel aan te bieden.

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Getting hooked on Sickle!

EN:

Dimitri is an assistant-instructor at de Zwaardkring and a guest-instructor at Historisch Schermgilde Limburg. Whilst most of his sword-related time is spent on longsword, he became obsessed with basically everything in Paulus Hector Mair’s Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica. A fascination which includes the grain sickle (falx frumentaria).

During this workshop we will focus on applying techniques found in Mair’s sickle plays, in context, at speed. More specifically: we will look at multiple ways to defend against a slice from above, and how to continue from thereon. Furthermore, we’ll get into tackling some misconceptions about the grain sickle and the plays surrounding it.

Because loaner sickles are scarce, it would be recommended to bring your own safe simulators if you have the option.

Since this workshop focusses on applying techniques at speed – to show why certain techniques are the way they are – full gear is recommended. That said, you don’t need gear to participate, just note that the amount of gear you bring will dictate the intensity of the (sparring) exercises.

Eline Spek (The Netherlands)

The referee is always right. So be a referee. 

My name is Eline Spek, I’ve been doing HEMA (Longsword) since 2016, started fighting tournaments in 2017 and won my first medal in 2021. I've supported tournaments as table, judge and feel most useful holding the ref stick. I’m passionate about introducing more ladies to the hobby and looking forward to doing my first perfect oberhaw somewhere around 2028.

To fight tournaments, we need refs and judges. Preferably people that are trained for over a thousand tournaments, have more eyes than Shelob, can see through bodies to understand what’s happening at the other side and can quote Liechtenhauer and other sources in their sleep. Since we can’t have nice things, you’ll have my workshop! In which, we are going build (on) your skills as a ref or judge. We’ll go through some basics (being in control, which end of the flag goes up, etc) but the main focus will be exercises that will help you see and understand what’s happening in a fight. Extra attention will be given to safety of the fighters. 

By the end of the workshop, you will better understand your way of ‘seeing’ as a ref, and have exercises to take home to your club to keep training these skills, with or without tournaments. And even if you never end up reffing: I promise you that standing on the side with a flag or stick in your hands even once, will help you understand why sometimes your hits are missed. You can take this workshop either as a judge/ref (no gear needed) or as a judge/ref/fighter (please bring full sparring gear). 

Emilia Skirmunt (United Kingdom)

Rapiers in the dark

Henric Jansen (The Netherlands)

Timing and distance in sabre and sock fencing (Nachreisen)

Gear requirements: your own sabre and full gear (although just a mask, gloves and knee protection is acceptable). There will be a (limited) supply of nylon sabre trainers. 

In this workshop we will practice a handful of techniques that rely on ‘dodging’ your opponent’s attack: Nachreisen with a sabre! Although almost everybody knows the concept of Nachreisen, it does not happen often in sparring or tournaments. In this workshop we will work on using this technique in a non-classroom context. After exploring the concept with ‘battle socks’, we will move into full gear and use sabres to practice these techniques in a sparring-like environment. This workshop is ideal if you want to improve your sense of distance and timing through seemingly simple techniques in a playful yet effective manner.

Isobel Zijlstra (The Netherlands)

Pasta Longsword: Intro to Vadi 

Ever heard of a guy called Philippo di Vadi? No? You're missing out!

Vadi was a Italian fencing master who wrote Liber de arte gladiatoria dimicandi in the second half of the 15th century. This workshop will explore how Vadi's longsword has some fundamentally different approaches to fencing than the Liechtenauer tradition (and Fiore de'i Liberi!). This workshop is open to both beginners and advanced fencers.

Equipment:
Longsword, at least mask, gorget, chestplate (we will be doing thrusts), and heavy gloves. Full gear is not required but does mean you can play more dynamically.

Isobel started training at Zwaard & Steen just over 2 years ago, and focuses on both Liechtenauer longsword and Vadi longsword, as well as 19th century Austro-Hungarian military sabre. They took an interest in HEMA 4 years ago for a high school project and wrote an 80(!) page paper on Philippo di Vadi and Pietro Monte, upon turning 18 they joined Z&S and haven't put down the swords since. They work with Russ Mitchell to translate 19th century Austro-Hungarian military sabre manuals to easy to understand English, two of which have been published thus far: Fencing at the Theresian Academy (Russ, Zijlstra, Sept 2022) and House of Chappon (Russ, Zijlstra, Kovacs, Bencsik, Nov 2023). Isobel is also a general board member of Zwaard & Steen.

Ivo Bleijenberg (The Netherlands)

Hi there! My name is Ivo Bleijenberg, founder and trainer of Fechtschule Midden Nederland. 

During this Winterkamp I am going to tell my story about the journey I took as a sword and buckler trainer. How I got inspired to study and develop this amazing weapon set from a series of vague manuscript scriptures, limited references and no dedicated sword and buckler schools nearby. How I started my studies and build my structure and theory up from seeming noncompatible pieces. How I build from an inspired idea to a successful study group that keeps on giving. I will explain my vision and gradual successes, my many setbacks and trials on this journey. And explain my wish to share and compare my teachings to other HEMA schools and why this is essential for the sport in general.

I hope to see you at winterkamp!

Jerze de Reus (The Netherlands)

High pressured krieg

I am Jerze de Reus, I have been doing HEMA for 6 years now, 4 years of each I have been doing a fair amount of tournaments in which I seem to do well. For the last 2 years I have been teaching, mainly focusing on the German longsword techniques. After practicing many different martial arts, I stuck with HEMA because it allows you to test your skill with relatively few restrictions, also because of the developing nature of the sport it encourages everyone to seek out the most practical way to fight. 

My workshop will be about performing cleanly in high pressured krieg with the longsword. Are you someone who has a limited fixed attack combo and doesn’t know what to do after the combo is finished? Do you get mentally and physically exhausted quickly when the pressure in a fight gets very high? Do you want to be able to put up a stagefight without preparation? Then this workshop is for you!

Gear:

Upper body gear + longsword

John Jozen (The Netherlands)

Partisaan door Marozzo en Von Pascha

Mijn naam in John Jozen. Houd me al bezig met vechtsport/kunst vanaf mijn 10e jaar.

Vanuit oosterse vechtsporten ben ik uiteindelijk in aanraking gekomen met HEMA. 

We gaan ons bezighouden met de Partisan. 

Basis technieken zoals beschreven door Marozzo en von Pascha, etc passeren de revue.

De Partisan is een steekwapen maar doordat het een lang blad heeft kun je het ook gebruiken voor het maken van slagen naar benen en lichaam.

Als je een stafwapen hebt dan is dat een pré maar niet persé nodig.

Een masker, throatguard en lichte handschoenen zijn wel aan te raden.

My name is John Jozen and I have been doing martial arts since I was ten.
I started with eastern martial arts and thru that came in to contact with H.E.M.A

The workshop I will be giving will be with partisan.
It will revolve around several basic exercises described by Marozza en Von Pascha.

For those unfamiliar with the partisan, it is a long polearm designed for both thrusting and cutting.

For gear you will need the following:

-          A polearm if you have one (we have loaners)

-          Mask

-          Throathguard

-          Light gloves

Karin Verelst (The Netherlands)

Winterkamp Lecture: Working with the Female Body in HEMA

Karin Verelst, a biologist and philosopher by education, practices Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and martial arts per se since more than two decennia. She was founding president of the Belgian historical fencing Federation SBSN, and holds at present the IFHEMA (international historical fencing federation) presidency. Karin’s main practice focus is on medieval longsword and unarmed combat (“ringen”), altough she broadened her interest to Destreza rapier and Messer over the past few years. Her further martial experience includes Olympic boxing, Tai Jutsu and Shaolin Kung Fu. She moreover acquired the basic professional qualification of the British Academy of Dramatic Combat (BADC) in 2016. She also followed several digital workshops with the well known fight choreographer Tony Wolf. She developed a comprehensive Self Defence program based on her martial experience, focusing especially (though not exclusively) on the needs of women. Finally, Karin is active as a researcher and scholar in HEMA-Studies. She published (together with Daniel Jaquet and Timothy Dawson) a scholarly reference work, Late Medieval and Early Modern Fight Books — Tradition and Transmission of Martial Arts in Europe, published by Brill, in 2016, and curated with Roberto Gotti and An Smets an international symposium and exposition at the Museum of Martial Art at Brescia in 2022. A Special Issue of Acta Periodica Duellatorum for the contributions to this conference is in the works.

Women (and some men) face a lot of obstacles when they want to practice HEMA (or other martial arts) on a high level. Even when physical by nature, many of those are not biological in origin and can be remedied. Culture shapes bodies and the identities that go with them. It defines and imposes the way we sit, stand, move, look, behave, touch. It even shapes to a large extend the body’s physical shape and capacities, way beyond biology. Cultural norms on diet, sports and medical treatment influence to a large extend seemingly objective characteristics like body length or muscle development. Especially gender differences are strongly amplified and ingrained from the moment infants are born. Under the age of 13, there is no biologically determined intrinsic physiological difference in development of capacity between the sexes at all — so everything that presents itself as such before that age is 100% cultural — nevertheless the physical impact of it is very real. From early age on women are trained to behave in a very particular, unnatural, constrained way and make themselves as small and invisible as possible. As a consequence, they lack self-confidence and learn to expect less. They do not know "how to take the space"; ideas and expectations with respect to behaviour shape things like body pose, knee position, shoulder strength, and the mental (in)capacity to strike back when stricken at to a surprisingly high degree. In general women are, as young adults, not up to the level they could and should be — whatever their biological potential. This makes them vulnerable to abuse and creates an atmosphere of insecurity around everything they can achieve or are allowed to do in the public sphere as well as in their private lives. We tend to be unaware of this, because the cultural codification of bodily submission is precisely that it is biological in origin. The emancipation of the female body has in mny senses yet to start. This, however, is not true for women only. Some young men and especially young non-binary people often suffer similar impediments, and would profit from a liberation process as well. It is the goal of this workshop to make HEMA practitioners and trainers aware of these problems women face and provide practical tools to tackle them in a hands on, practical manner, within the context of a normal training setting. In this lecture I will present examples of such problems as well as practical ways to tackle and resolve them.

Karin will also give a short outline about what is happening with IFHEMA, especially with respect to the upcoming IFHEMA Cup during the next HEMAC Dijon event in May 2024.

Kristine Konsmo (Sweden)

Footwork for Rapier

Kristine has been a student of HEMA since 2010, starting her journey in Oslo with FKFD. She spent her formative HEMA years exclusively studying I.33 Sword & Buckler, blissfully unaware other disciplines existed outside of this tiny world. A couple years later her clubmate started a Capo Ferro study group and Rapier & Dagger quickly became her weapon-set of choice.
Her main focus is tournaments and, as such, strives to teach in a way that aids the competitive fencer in the ring.
Beyond competing, Kristine is a sought-after instructor, having held seminars on 4 continents and has gone on several tours spanning weeks at a time. Her unique background in classical and modern ballet informs her fencing and teaching style, evidenced in a focus on footwork and body awareness.
Currently Kristine lives in Sweden where she trains with her new little club, West Coast HEMA.

Footwork for Rapier

We will not be using any swords in this class but rather focusing entirely on our footwork and body mechanics. We will start with some ballet to ensure good posture and body awareness and then move on to footwork drills and finally on to some paired drills. While the footwork we will be looking at is with rapier in mind, the fundamentals are transferable to all weapons. You will not need any kit. Wear something comfortable that you can move and sweat in.

Kristofer Stanson (Sweden)

Offhand shenanigans

More than 800 registered HEMA tournament matches makes Stanson one of the most experienced tournament fencers in the community. That being possible by having a large focus on one handed weapons and sparring (mostly outdoors in most weathers) since 2003 and while not actively competing at events you can usually find Stanson being a referee or judge or away sparring.

Class Title Offhand shenanigans Hands on lecture Description Using only one hand when doing onehanded weapons? Ridiculous! Double up your AP and use both hands. Maybe even stab them with their own sword or dagger. If you don’t know what to do with you off hand or need some entries for those close quarter hallway fights then this class is for you Bring: Mask and gloves a minimum, preferably full kit. Onehanded weapons preferred, bring a dagger or buckler as well if you have them. Longswords will work for most things. Prepare for light grappling (more like hugs)

Marc Dekker (The Netherlands)

Fighting with the Farmers Scythe according to Paulus Hector Mair

Marc Dekker from Bataille will provide an introduction on a less common (or more common) weapen: the scythe.

We will work from the pages of the Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica. This fight manual by Paulus Hetor Mair is unique as it features various farmer/peasant weapons among which the farmer scythe.
We are going to cover a few selected pages starting with the basic and working towards the weird. Depending on time we will see how many of the 10 pages we can cover and how many extra variations we will find.
We will provide training scythes for this workshop.

Gear required

Gloves that protect hands and wrists.

Merlyn Janssen (The Netherlands)

Merlyn Janssen (bio)  

Started with martial arts in 1997 and was one of the founders of the HEMA revival movement in the Netherlands.

After practicing Aikido for 3 years, he came into contact with H.E.M.A. in 1999. That year he became a member of The European Historical Combat Guild (E.H.C.G.) Together with 3 friends he started a study group to interpret the medieval martial arts as described in medieval manuscripts. This study group changed into the Zwaardkring in 2001; a school for medieval martial arts. In addition to being one to the founders, he has been active as treasurer, chairman and chief instructor. Merlyn has studied a range of medieval weapon disciplines including; messer, ringen/ Glima, sword & buckler, sword & shield, fighting in armor and pole axe. His favorite weapon discipline is the longsword according to the Lichtenauer tradition.

Lecture 1

The curse of Knowledge & H.E.M.A

“ How to talk about your HEMA hobby to the uninitiated”

Although HEMA has come a long way the past 25 Years. Knowledge of HEMA is no way near common knowledge.

As you spend more time in the Hema scene we sometimes tend to forget what the rest of te world thinks about out hobby, if they even think of it at al! 

What are the Biases that people have, and how can we deal with them? 

A small lecture on HEMA awareness, that should be familiar and somewhat entertaining. 

Lecture 2

A take on the History of HEMA in the Netherlands.

“You should have been there to believe it.”

HEMA, at he moment, is alive and growing in the Netherlands, But that was not always the case. We’ve come quite a Long way And it has been an interesting ride! 

For all those interested in the Narrative of arguably the oldest HEMA school in the Netherlands, This is a narrative journey back to the origins of the Zwaardkring, and all the things that HEMA was, could have been and ultimately became.  

Michel Rensen (The Netherlands)

What the Legend of Zelda can teach us about longsword fencing

Michel Rensen started practicing HEMA (completely unencumbered by previous martial arts experience) at Zwaard & Steen in 2013 in an attempt to find an activity more physically involved than playing video games. A bit more than a year later, he entered the instructor training programme. He concluded this programme roughly a year later, making him a full instructor at the club. Apart from teaching classes at Zwaard & Steen every week, he has also taught workshops at various events. Besides teaching, Michel has also been a regular in the longsword tournament circuit.

Workshop:

What The Legend of Zelda can teach us about longsword fighting. No, it’s not magical spin attacks, throwing bombs or how to yell HYAH HYUH HUH HIIAAAAA while fencing. Rather, we’re going to take a look at the three parts of the Triforce: Courage, Power and Wisdom, and why you need to balance all three of these aspects to fence well. This random videogame lore applies surprisingly well to the historical techniques laid out by Liechtenauer and his students; each of these aspects is extremely important, to the point where omitting or even underrepresenting one of them will negatively impact your fencing. Prior knowledge of the Legend of Zelda games is not required to attend the workshop!

Gear requirements: 

The minimum required gear for this workshop is a longsword, mask with back of head protection, a gorget, chest protector and gloves. More equipment allows for training at a higher intensity.

Minna Vasarainen (Finland)

Vor strategy

Minna is a competitive longsword fencer with a keen interest in analyzing how different martial arts settings influence fighters' behavior. She enjoys putting her notions to the test in practice.

Derived from Liechtenauer, Vor is typically interpreted as striking first. This workshop introduces you to the essentials of Vor, offering various strategies centered on this theme. We'll explore how Vor connects with modern concepts of taking initiative, including practical ways to prepare for the first strike.

Equipment:

Please come prepared with a longsword, mask, neck protector, and gloves. Full gear is optional but allows you more freedom of play.

Miro Lahtela (Finland)

Fighting with the thumpgrip

Miro Lahtela is a Longsword and Ringen instructor of the Noridc HEMA powerhouse known as EHMS. He specialises on teaching the technical aspects of the earlier Lichtenauer sources. Constantly testing his interpretations in high level competitions has yielded good results, both in technical learning and victorys over difficult opponents.

In this workshop we will dive deeper into one of the defining factors of German longsword fencing; the thumbgrip. More precisely when to use which cut to assault our opponent and how to keep attacking fluidly with a variety of angels.

For this workshop we'll be using longswords. The minimum gear needed is mask, protective gloves and a throat guard. Skillwise there is no definite requirement, but it would be helpful if you are comfortable with a longsword.

Oskar ter Mors (The Netherlands)

Avatar, the last Messerbender "Gefellt dir eynes nicht, so nym eyn anderes"

Oskar ter Mors has been doing HEMA since 2009, seeking a past-time that would unite his love of history and his wish to learn martial arts. Since then, things have gotten somewhat out of hand, as Oskar nowadays spends most of his time fighting with swords or thinking about fighting with swords. His HEMA experience encompasses teaching, research and competing, as he believes that all of these are important for becoming a good martial artist. Although he practises multiple weapons and systems, he is most at home when wielding a longsword, greatsword or langes messer.

Hans Lecküchner's fight book contains almost 500 techniques, so it's no surprise many problems have multiple possible solutions. So, as the master says, if you don't like one technique, then use another one. Very nice, but this does leave the question of why there are so many variations unanswered. So in this workshop we'll be building different fighting styles out of techniques from Lecküchner's fight book. We will be taking inspiration from Avatar the last Airbender, the medieval theory of humours and a few other things that Lecküchner probably wasn't thinking about, but are oddly fitting to the subject matter.

Equipment:
For this workshop you will need a Messer or other one handed weapon and at least mask, throat guard and gloves. More gear is optional.

Experience:
No previous experience is needed, but the conceptual nature of the workshop makes it interesting for all other levels of experience as well.

Pedro San Miguel (The United Kingdom)

Sabre: Strike Clean - Before, During, After.

Source based and competition proven sabre techniques and strategies designed to minimise the risk of eating double hits and afterblows on the attack, even if your opponent is intentionally not defending.

Pedro San Miguel focuses on 19th-century sabre and foil, with his main sources of study including the works of John Musgrave Waite, Captain Alfred Hutton, Louis Rondelle, George Chapman, Camille Prevost, and Masaniello Parise, while also having a keen interest in other Italian, Spanish, and French sources.

Pedro enjoys competition, and has reached the #1 spot in sabre on HEMA ratings using a strictly source based approach.

Pedro teaches at Schola Gladiatoria, while also being a senior member of The Renaissance Sword Club. He conducts private tuition in the UK, and regularly teaches workshops at international events.

Level:

Some sabre experience is preferred, but these principles can be applied to all weapons.

Equipment:

Sabre, mask, and jacket.

Sean Wauters

Increasing performance and preventing injury in competitive and recreational Martial Arts and HEMA

Sean is founder and instructor of Ex Cineribus Grimbergen fencing school. They focus on the art of swordsmanship, grappling and striking. Focussing on arming sword, messer and sword and buckler in fencing, they follow the main teachings of Liechtenauer, Leckuchner added with the knowledge of Ms.I.33. In professional live, Sean is active as physiotherapist focussing on rehab and coaching in martial arts. Further As founder of the is active as researcher in Martial Arts, Martial Arts Injuries, Injury profiles etc. in collaboration with the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He has published several different works around martial arts, performance, injuries and prevention.

Injuries, either accidental or overload, can be disastrous for our performances and ... and give high unwanted medical costs, loss of training hours due to drop out, loss of skills , conditions, and performances, having to regain lost profits, and the risk of permanent dropout. Prevention is the first line of defense against injuries of all sorts. There are many preventive measures. We will look at what science teaches us, analyze a few measures and look how they can decrease the chances of injuries in ourself and our partner/adversary and increase our own performance along the road.

Thijs Huisman (The Netherlands)

Using the Shield-Strike to prevent afterblows

Thijs discovered H.E.M.A. just before his 40th birthday and has been an enthusiastic practitioner ever since. Starting out with longsword, Thijs was soon drawn to sword & buckler. Unfortunately, no one at MARS was proficient enough to teach him. So Thijs and a few of his club mates started studying Andre Lignitzer’s sword & buckler plays. This resulted in a weekly sword & buckler class in Groningen of which Thijs is one of the instructors.He is also co-organiser of the yearly Dutch “Zwaard & Beukelaar Dag”. 

Workshop:

Double hits and afterblows occur a lot in sword & buckler fights. The shield-strike can be an effective action to keep yourself safe while hitting your opponent and getting away. In this workshop we will start with the basics and work through a number of sparring exercises in which the shield-strike plays a central role. 

Experience:

No sword & buckler experience is required. Your amount of gear will determine how fast and intense you can make the exercises. Full gear is needed when training with steel. Mask, gloves and throat protection are the minimal requirements when using plastic trainers.  

Equipment:

Bring your own sword & buckler if you have them. Zwaardkring can provide plastic trainers for everyone else.

Organisation:

• Max van de Ekart
• Hanna van Rooijen
• Pascale Boots
• Tosca Beuming