If you have a question that isn't included in this FAQ, please feel free to ask us your question using whichever method you prefer:
Contact us page on The Old Sword Club website
Twitter @theoldswordclub
Q: What is HEMA?
A: HEMA stands for Historical European Martial Arts. It’s the study historical weapons like broadswords, longswords, daggers, cutlasses and the like, as well as historically documented unarmed fighting of ages past like bare knuckle boxing or medieval wrestling. Because human history is kinda big HEMA focuses on the weapons and fighting style of Europe and its diaspora to places like the Americas or Australasia (which also means it has overlaps with other historical martial arts areas like Historical African Martial Arts).
Q: How much are lessons?
A: It depends on how many you buy at once.
-
- A single lesson is $25 or $15 for students, unemployed and low income
- A month of lessons is $80 or $50 for students, unemployed and low income
- Three months of lessons is $200 or $150 for students, unemployed and low income
Q: How do you know you sword fighting is real?
A: Everything we do is tested through competitive sparring and learn our techniques from historical sources. Since you can only really say a technique works if you can get it to work against a resisting opponent we spar wearing stout protective gear that allows for a full range of targets and techniques. The techniques we do are all taken from historical manuals of combat skills that documented how fighting was done back in the day.
Q: Is sword fighting dangerous?
A: We do everything we can to practice as safely as possible and injuries are pretty rare. We fight using blunt training swords and wear substantive protective gear to ensure that we can spare safely with a full range of targets. Also the most common injuries are things like pulled hamstrings rather than being hurt by sword blows.
Q: Do I need to bring anything?
A: Nope, for your first few lessons gear is provided. We do expect you to get your own gear down the track but when you’re just starting it’s a bit much to expect you to have everything.
Q: What should I wear?
A: Just wear comfortable clothing you can move in.
Q: I don’t have European heritage, can I join?
A: You sure can! The club is open to people of any background.
Q: Is this club queer friendly?
A: It sure is! Most of our membership is queer though we are inclusive of eggs and allies also.
Q: I’m not very strong, can I still fence?
A: Yep. While strength is useful in sword fighting it’s not necessary, and many people who don’t feel they’re strong enough to other combat sports choose HEMA because weapons don’t require as much strength. Likewise we focus on 19th century weapons like cutlasses and epees which are a lot lighter than longswords or rapiers for example.
Q: I have a disability, can I still fence?
A: We would love to include you but it will depend on your circumstances, to best Contact us for a private and confidential discussion.
Q: I train at another club, can I also train at the Old Sword Club?
A: You sure can! One of the things we try to encourage is approaching swordplay from different perspectives and training with people who also train elsewhere is a great way to do that.
Also be super wary of any club that says you can only train with them. That’s usually a sign that they are trying to keep you from learning competing ideas that might be better. Also it’s kinda culty.
Q: Do you enter tournaments?
A: Sometimes. We’re not a tournament focused club but we do get involved when the opportunity arises. Contact us if you have a tournament you would like to train for about one-on-one lessons and other options in addition to classes.
Q: Does having trained in Olympic Fencing help?
A: It sure does. Often we find that people trained in Olympic fencing have good footwork and ability to control distance. It can lead to some habits that cause problems in HEMA like over extending on one’s lunge or advancing when it’s not safe to do so, but usually bouting fixes those problems pretty quickly.
Q: Does having trained in other martial arts help?
A: Honestly it depends on what you’ve done. Generally doing combat sports like boxing or judo help a lot because they help you understand the dynamic of a fight and give you a head for tactics. More traditional kata based martial arts aren’t as useful, but they occasionally give one useful insights.
Q: Does having done larp fighting help?
A: A little. We get a lot of larpers coming along to improve their sword fighting and we find that having needed to adapt to the rules of different larps makes them very good at adapting to different scenarios and fighting under historical rulesets. Also they tend to be better at group combat than the average beginner.
If you have a question that isn't included in this FAQ, please feel free to ask us your question using whichever method you prefer:
Contact us page on The Old Sword Club website
Twitter @theoldswordclub