Jess Rozek (she/her) is the president, chief cat herder, and beginner’s class instructor at Maryland KdF. She grew up loving Highlander and all sorts of sword and shield fantasy and finding HEMA was a dream come true. She has been doing HEMA since 2011 when she accidentally helped found the Grunberg Freifechters in Burlington, VT while in college. From there, her first competition was the Boston Sword Gathering in the summer of 2011 followed shortly after by Longpoint 2012. She moved to Maryland in 2013 and was thrust into running Maryland KdF as one of its primary instructors. After several years of hard work and the assistance of many wonderful people, she managed to grow the club into one of the largest on the East Coast. 

 

She has been a teacher/instructor since the age of 15. First, with skiing in Massachusetts, then sailing and water surfing, then HEMA, and lastly, archery. Throughout all of this, she has maintained technical teaching certifications across the various sports. Her goal with HEMA is to make it accessible and fun for all by helping a fighter’s body work for and with them.

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Workshop Friday 8pm:

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Smalls and Talls - a class for Goliaths and Lilliputians to learn how to slay each other.

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Historically, fencers were all roughly of the same size – average male height. There would have been a much smaller gap in heights (other than a handful of examples) than we see in HEMA today.  As such, we need to explicitly discuss techniques, strategies, angles, and power generation when dealing with such height disparity. 

 

Splitting up into two groups, each group will get specific advice, tactics, and concepts focused on fighting people much taller or much shorter than them. Instruction will include footwork drills, modifying guards and cuts to move safely, and thinking about varying tactics. At the beginning and end of the class, we will discuss how these concepts fit together.

 

Lastly, the two groups will come together and we will focus on putting all the techniques and concepts together with an actual person to work with. A Tall and a Small will pair up and they will work through the drills and concepts discussed in class.

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Experience: any

Gear: longsword, mask, and gloves (required), jacket, elbows, gorget (recommended)

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Jessica Blair started HEMA training back in 2016 as a self-proclaimed couch potato with zero experience in any physical activity. In the search to understand herself better she quickly became fascinated by how a body can move, the role of hormones, and in particular how and where to adapt traditional HEMA teachings for an AFAB (assigned female at birth) body. Jess began teaching in 2018 and has served as Chairman of the Board at Swordwind and the Event Organizer for Queen’s Gambit since April 2021. 

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Workshop Sunday 9am:

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Understanding AFAB Athletes - A lecture on AFAB body mechanics, how this impacts training, movement, and cutting. 

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This lecture will go over some of the key differences between male and female fighters. We will examine hormones, how they change throughout the month, and how that impacts training. We will look at social constructs and expectations, trauma-informed care and coaching, plus the structural elements of the body and how we can adapt cutting mechanics to suit an AFAB body. Lastly, we will finish with a hands-on portion with the Longsword where we can put some of the movement techniques into practice. 

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This workshop is aimed at AFAB Athletes, their Coaches and Instructors. Anyone wanting to learn is welcomed. 

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Jessie started her journey of adding yet another out of budget hobby to her life by joining her high school fencing team. She then continued by coaching saber and footwork at the University of Tennessee’s fencing club. After taking a fencing hiatus to pursue other martial arts for a few years, she realized that nothing was cooler than swords and other historical stabbing implements. So, she started up with HEMA at Swordwind Historical Swordsmanship where she now continues coaching to a degree of usefulness yet to be determined.

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Workshop Sunday 9am:

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Skirmishing is a fun, fast, and novel way of testing your skill with a blade. No workshop here so much as a chance to try something new!

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The International Skirmishing Association was formed to promote historical fencing that focuses on technique and tactics within a rule set that encourages treating the sword as the threat it is. While set within the confines of a friendly and engaging competition, skirmishing ultimately set out to have a way to test yourself and your skill with a blade and finding ways to improve. There’s no “as long as I take you with me” scoring here. You get away with your life and limb or you don’t. Skirmishing also isn’t an arms race. It utilizes a one-handed synthetic sword designed specifically for skirmishing that, while attempting to be somewhat universal in design, allows for everyone to start at the same place without financial or design advantages. So take a chance and step up to the rail to show us what you’ve got!

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Standard sparring gear required: mask, jacket, gorget, hard protection for elbows and knees required (highly encouraged forearm and shin protection), pants, and gloves suitable for sidesword/rapier. Weapons will be provided.

 

Skirmishing is best suited for people with at least some one-handed sword or stick weapon experience, but there is no lower limit! Everyone from the newest novices to medaled pros are welcome to step up to the rail.

Mike the Viking Erbach has been a student of HEMA for 10 years, and a history nerd for much longer. Through the application of experimental archeology, a knowledge of human biomechanics, historically accurate weapon replicas, and lots of bruises, Mike has developed a system he calls Viking Combat Reconstruction. This system illustrates what would have been possible for Scandinavian dark ages warriors to do in combat. The basics of this system are compiled in his book called "The Art of Viking Combat" which is available in person or on Amazon.com.

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Workshop Sunday 10am:

 

Description: Shields: not just for hiding behind! Learn how to make your shield an active part of both attack and defense! Topics of discussion: Parts of the Skjoldr, (Viking Round Shield), Shield as Primary Weapon, and the Physics of Shields. Come learn how to completely confound your longsword opponents! SHIIIEEEELD WAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!

 

No prerequisites, noobs welcome. Must be physically able to lift a shield in the non dominant hand.

Bio coming soon!

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Workshop Friday 8pm:

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Take a dash of offense, mix well with structure and tempo; keeping an eye on the sword hand so you don't get burned. Then cut it with defense, making sure that your guards are well seasoned, and folded in at just the right time—e voilà! Now we're fencing Bolognese! 

 

In this class I'll take you through an attacking progression that highlights the key elements of Bolognese attacking theory using a version of Manciolino's Chapter 4; Book X material adapted for the sword alone. The class will be divided into two parts: offense and defense. Once we've learned all of the elements of a good attack; tempo, structure, and body mechanics—we'll break it. 

 

A simple parry isn't good enough for ol' Tony unless you can spice it up with a dash of offense. Marozzo and Manciolino both rely on a small number of guards to take the initiative back from il nemico, and we're going to explore three of those key defenses in an attempt to shut our assailants down. 

 

This is a class for folks of every experience level, the tactics and theory will be revealing for the more experienced Bolognese practitioner, while the body mechanics and movement patterns will be a great place to start for beginners. 

 

Equipment Requirements: Gloves, mask, gorget, and sidesword. I'll have plenty of sideswords for the Bolognese curious, so even if it's not your jam, you're welcome to give it a shot!

Michael found his way into HEMA via stage combat. He was fortunate that while he was training for his certification his mentor introduced him to the wide world of HEMA nearly two decades ago ago. After spending a few years traveling, competing and learning he opened up a Lightsaber School Indianapolis, to give a easier gateway for people to get into sword fighting. After finding himself missing the sound of steel he returned to his first love and opened Tuathair Academy of Swordsmanship in Indianapolis in 2022 and since has partnered with Krieger Armory in creating new products and expanding the team to build up HEMA in the Midwest.

 

Workshop Sunday 10am:

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Feint, Probe, Attack!

Understanding Aggression and the Middleman in HEMA to reduce the number of Doubles 

One of the hardest skills to pick up in HEMA is how to reduce the number of doubles that you take part in. In this workshop we will look at breaking down the three types of aggression and how to chain those together along with the defensive middleman, to reduce or eliminate the risk of doubles. We will understand the biomechanics behind executing a deceptive feint, taking control of the engagement with a well placed probe, and finishing with a clean and safe attack. This workshop is meant for anyone at any skill level but beginners and intermediates might get the most out of the workshop.

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This will be a fairly active workshop with blade engagement. Protective Mask, Jacket, Elbows, and Gloves are required and a steel weapon (Sidesword, Longsword, or Saber) would be best and is aimed at Beginners and intermediate individuals or anyone who finds themselves doubling too often.