Historical European Martial Arts

One of my favorite hobbies is fencing. I started my swashbuckling career in olympic-style saber fencing at the Minnesota Sword Club in Minneapolis. When the pandemic hit I searched for a way to branch out and found a historical martial arts (HEMA) instructor and I was hooked. I started studying and practicing nearly everyday and did formal lessons three times a week. A few years later I was ready to take the fechter exam to become a longsword instructor. And yes, I failed the first time. You may have heard it said that failure is the best teacher. I took that to heart and trained even harder. Formal lessons and study 5 times a week until I was ready. I was about to travel to Scotland and meet some HEMA folks there and fence with them and a year later I took a remote proctored exam with the team in Edinburgh, Scotland and passed!

I have had the desire to instruct since I was young. I talk my younger siblings all kinds of things and was a youth leader and them rock climbing instructor and guide for many years. I love to share knowledge and how to carry this over to writing one day too. Fast forward to 2024 and I was a full instructor at Saint Paul Freifechter, helping develop our 8 week beginning course with the other instructors and continuing my studies.

I love how doing HEMA helps my writing. Making realistic and believable scenes that are also emotionally tense and dramatic is incredible rewarding. What draws me to it is the fact that being out of the army I need something to keep me doing physical training, (no more push ups!), I have met fantastic people through fencing and created so many good memories. Over 2026, I have been doing HEMA demos at cons and events around MN, repping local clubs and encouraging the hobby. If you are interested please check out the links below!

A few HEMA Groups in the area.

Twin Cites: Saint Paul Freifechter (the club I practice in), https://stpaulff.com/

The North: Duluth, Borealis Blades, https://borealisblades.org/

Wisconsin: River Falls, https://www.rffreifechter.com/