Summer Reflections on HEMA Training

[Joshua Santana]

It has been a while since I last posted here, but many great things have happened.

First, I found a school to train in the Kunst des Fechtens, and that is SIGMA: Staten Island German Martial Arts.  It is a chapter of the Selohaar Fechtschule in Staten Island, New York. 

I attended the first seminar there where I met Christian Tobler and the Instructors of SIGMA.  The seminar was great and I felt that SIGMA was the bets place to train.  The bonus to this is that my dad has a keen interest in it, so I have him as a great classmate.

The training was difficult in the beginning (as to be expected) but later on through July and August I have improved gradually.  I improved not just in technique, but in character as well.  I can recall moments where I fell short of being chivalrous and almost lost my way, stopping and looking at my character.  In June, I worked on being Respectful on a deep level.  During the training in July, Prudence was a Virtue I had to relearn and apply with more wisdom than before.  Towards the end in August, I then found the true value of Patience, patience with myself and patience with others.  I can never deny that training in the Kunst des Fechtens does carry into Moral training. 

After all, the Kunst des Fechtens is called the Chivalric Arts.  I have discovered as to why it is the main indoctrination of the Code of Chivalry.  I look forward towards many great lessons and continual improvements in my Chivalric Character.

[Sir James A]

Christian Tobler is a well known and very well respected HEMA enthusiast. It sounds like you have learned a lot in a short time, and most of all, that you are having fun. I wish I had a WMA/HEMA group near me.

[Sir Brian]

That is excellent news Joshua! You are very fortunate to not only have a reputable school nearby but doubly blessed that you have a training partner with your own father! You will find that both of your skills will drastically improve the more you practice and with that frequent practice your self-assurance and thereby your magnanimity matures proportionally. After all it is fear and doubt of our self-worth that feeds the baser and ignoble portions of the soul. 

@ James,
I will suggest as we discussed last week that you and Nathan coordinate some practice sessions which could very likely develop into your own school. We are all students of various degrees. My instructor Larry Tom started out with a couple of friends in his backyard with rapiers. 

[Sir Edward]

Excellent, this is great to hear! Yes, Christian and the Selohaar folks are top notch, IMHO. I just took a few classes with Christian here at WMAW this year too, and I'm always reminded of how good he is at teaching this material (and he inspires his instructors to do the same).

Teaching is like any other skill. It requires practice, and there's always room to improve. And these folks take the pedagogical aspects seriously as well as the art itself. It's impressive.

I'm glad it's working out well for you too. I find that swordsmanship does a good job of teaching you humility and respect. I get that out of it too.

[Sir James A]

@ James,
I will suggest as we discussed last week that you and Nathan coordinate some practice sessions which could very likely develop into your own school. We are all students of various degrees. My instructor Larry Tom started out with a couple of friends in his backyard with rapiers. 

Once I have a few of the four-wheeled monkeys off my back and have some funding to buy some practice gear, I am going to give it a try. I know someone else who would like to do so, my only concern is with lack of a teacher we may end up teaching each other bad habits.

[Sir Edward]

Yeah, bad habits are inevitable in an isolated environment, but you'll learn some really great stuff too. You can then just do some tweaks and "calibration" when you run into other practitioners. I can always do what I can to steer your habits when we meet up.   (but then, you might learn some of my bad habits!)

[Sir Brian]

hehe, I have been attempting to reply James' post all morning! 

I concur with Sir Edward's thoughts and would also offer my contributions meager as they are with the same stipulation of discouraging you from adopting my bad habits.