Beginner’s Course, Day 1

I’ve wanted to practice Historical European Martial Arts ( or HEMA) for a few years now but haven’t had the opportunity to do so until now. The main reason for this is the availability of schools or clubs. It’s a relatively new and burgeoning discipline, even though the source material dates back to about the 15th Century.

Schools or clubs generally teach an Italian or German variant of swordsmanship. My club, the Sacramento Freifechter, instructs upon the latter by relying on the strict adherence, or rather interpretations, of techniques found in the 1570 German martial arts treatise, Thorough Descriptions of the Art of Fencing (or sometimes know as The Art of Combat) by Joachim Meÿer, a free-fencer during the Holy Roman Empire.

The Meÿer school focuses on a number of weapon systems and even grappling (Ringen). The weapons covered in the treatisesre the Longsword, the Rapier (Side-sword), the Dussack (a proto-saber), Staffs and Pole-arms. I was instructed that the techniques of one weapon predominantly translate to all others. However, the Longsword (a two-handed sword wielded by German knights in full plate armor) is the bread-and-butter as well as the starting point of most, if not all, HEMA practitioners.

My first class was mainly one-on-one instruction with the club’s primary instructor, or master. He talked to me regarding the information above and then had me pick up a feder, or practice sword, that had the same heft and feel of a true longsword rather than a competition feder that is thinner and lighter to reduce potential injury to opponents. He proceeded to tell me about the components of a sword. Some were familiar such as the heft (handle), the pommel, blade and crossguard but some elements were new and expounded on those that I already knew. These were the strong end of the blade (end closest to the crossguard best used to receive blows), the weak end (the portion closest to the tip used to issue blows), the long side (the edge of the blade that is closest to the openent) and the short side (edge of the blade closest to you). Afterwards he taught me proper grip which would keep my thumbs from being cut off in real life, or broken during sparring.

He next instructed me on the first guard, called Vom Tag with the sword held high over-head and pointing up. This guard is used to issue cutting attacks or to parry opponents’ attacks from above in a vertical fashion. Concurrently, he instructed me on proper stance: standing with feet shoulder width apart, one foot as lead with toes pointed to the front and leg bent supporting 60% of my weight and the rear leg straight and foot perpendicular to the lead and supporting 40% of my weight.

The master had me attack along a straight line painted on the floor from the Vom Tag guard. (This was done in a gymnasium along the width of a basketball court). Initially, he had me execute the four main components of the attack (fingers curl and grip the handle, expand the hips outward in the direction of the lead leg, “cast” the sword in front of me, then pivot on the balls of my feet as I stepped forward into the same stance but on the opposing side. Once I grasped the four main movements I was then instructed to blend them together until it was all one, fluid motion.

After I grasped this guard and could attack along a straight line, the master had me stike at a fencing mask that he held out in front of me in order to train me to recognize proper cutting distance so that I struck the target in an appropriate place (weak end of the blade on the short side edge). After I was able to accomplish this to his satisfaction, he then had me repeat the same drill but would only present the target in short periods of time in order to train my reflexes. Following this, and finally to round out my initial hour of training, he would conduct the same moving drill but would thrust out lightly with his own sword so that I could practice retreating from an opponent’s counterattack.

This completed my training for the day but I was allowed to stay 45 extra minutes so that I could participate in the grappling session, or Ringen. We conducted a warm-up with a senior student then practiced passing the guard from a standing position as well as two different types of throws that we executed to near completion (no actual throwing) for numerous two minute bouts.

Afterward the master said that I was doing relatively well and should complete my beginner’s course ahead of schedule (usually 8 weeks) as long as I passed the test to graduate to the intermediate level.

Overall, I’m very pleased and this surpassed my expectations of HEMA. I look forward to sharing more information, as well as videos and pictures about my experiences.