Pardon the book, but as the guy starting the discussion I thought I should be a bit thorough. My name is Lee Craven. I’m a 54 year old husband, and father of two (18 & 14). My martial journey started with firearms with my family, and then when I was 13 koryu jujutsu and kenjutsu at the West Covina Japanese Cultural Center. In 1981 I saw an article on the SCA in Smithsonian Magazine and was in love. I finally found the local chapter in 84 and participated with an eye to historicity till around 2000. I also got involved with Renaissance Faires, and living history events at Celtic festivals and such with a top level Scottish and Irish re-enactment group. By that time with the internet we discovered that the fechtbuch did indeed exist. A whole new world opened up. No groups near me, so I followed Hank Reinhardt and HACA till it became ARMA and John Clements took over. By 2005 I finally found a group that studied HEMA from the texts. There I studied longsword, poleaxe, dagger, and wrestling. Due to a scheduling conflict I stopped attending there, and went back to studying on my own. Then shortly afterwards another former student asked if I was interested in starting a new group, and I said yes Chris Vivo also got on board, and The Academy of Arms in Burbank was formed. A year or so into that I began to have issues with bone spurs on both clavicles to the point that I could not lift my arms past my shoulders. So I went on hiatus, then moved from Burbank CA to Palmdale CA where I had decided my swordplay days were finally over. One right shoulder surgery, and a lot of therapy on the left and even more pounds of weight later a friend from scouting asked if I would be willing to teach his twin sons. While always interested in furthering HEMA I had never wanted to be an instructor, but lack of being involved in the sword community was eating at me, and I wanted to help these kids enjoy what I was so passionate about so I agreed. So here I am, with a handful of fellow sword enthusiasts that I hope to teach enough that some of them might take over and improve upon the foundations that I have instilled so that I can sit back, and be the curmudgeon in the corner kibitzing someday soon. ;)
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ANTELOPE VALLEY
KUNST DES FECHTENS
Historical European Martial Arts
Forum: Forum
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Hi All! My names Jordan and I'm a 23-year-old Fantasy Writer. I only learned HEMA was a thing this year and as someone whose always wanted to learn how to use a sword, I decided to sign up.
I've only attended a few classes but I am 100% hooked and intend on being a long time member. As for prior experience with HEMA I have none. I used to fence for a little while but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. HEMA is pretty much what I wanted to learn from the get go.
I look forward to crossing blades and learning alongside each and every one of you!
Welcome Melanie! Looking forward to meeting you in person!
Hi there!
Since this quarantine makes it impossible to meet any of you in person anytime soon, here are some lines about myself:
My name is Melanie, and I am 28-year old high school teacher here in the Antelope Valley, who is both new to this website and AVKDF.
I have developed an interest in HEMA through historical re-enactment. I mainly do Renaissance re-enactment with the Guild of St. Michael, which portrays a 16th-century military. Since longswords were widely in use on battlefields of the time we are portraying, I believe that learning how to properly use them would benefit both my personal understanding of the soldiering class of the time as well as make our crowd interactions and weapons demonstrations a lot more engaging.
I have to admit that I do not have much in the way of experience regarding HEMA. I have done some Olympic fencing back when I have been living in Ireland - but I do not believe that much of it will transfer. For all intents and purposes I'd rather approach learning the German longsword as a "blank slate," so that I can re-create the art in a way that is faithful to its history.
Looking forward to meeting you in person, hopefully soon!
Melanie