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Instructors

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Bolognese Instructor

Pike Pullen

He enjoys bringing his background in folkstyle wrestling, Chinese Martial Arts, and BJJ to HEMA.

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KDF Instructor

Owen Sykes

He is a life long lover of fencing, martial arts, and history. His goal is to approach the sources holistically, and expand the repertoire of his students beyond one weapon.

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Bolognese Instructor

Robin Conrad

Robin brings a love of dance and yoga to her HEMA instruction, emphasizing proper form, footwork, mindfulness, and just making your fencing look beautiful in general.

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Bolognese Instructor

Simeon Simeonides

Simeon was semi-willingly brought to Swordwind by his best friend and roommate in January of 2020, and hasn’t managed to quit since. He currently focuses on reading Bolognese sources, and hopes to one day use them to fence as well. He enjoys practicing long assalti on the beach, feinting with a well-timed tramazzone, and making fun of oversized steak knives while pretending he has an Italian accent.

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Bolognese Instructor

Erin Bowman

Erin was inspired to begin her HEMA journey in 2019 by a love of fantasy and good action scenes. She has lent her note-taking powers to the board as its first Secretary. Erin has focused on Bolognese fencing during her tenure at Swordwind, diligently pursuing her mastery of the one-handed sword and its mightier cousin, the pen.

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Bolognese Instructor

Britney Atwell

Britney found a passion for HEMA after joining Swordwind. She brings a love of all things pointy; a background in science, history, and dance; and hopefully a little bit of panache to her practice and instruction. 

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Polearms Instructor

Jessie Allen Harrigan

Coming from a high school and college club fencing background, she now enjoys small blades and big sticks (not a euphemism). Catch her talking about history pretty much anywhere, anytime, the weirder the better.

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Smallsword Instructor

Ryan Neale

Ryan began studying martial arts at five years old with Taekwondo and folkstyle wrestling. This sparked a livelong love of thirty years for Ryan, having trained in Lai Tung Pai and Pak Mei Kung Fu, Boxe Francaise/Savate, and Shotokan karate along with various other arts. Since 2016, he has focused on HEMA with an emphasis on the fencing of Renaissance Bologna and the Spanish "Vulgar Common" as contained in the treatise of Domingo Godinho. His favorite weapon is two swords. He brings a passion for teaching and a study of fencing theory and analysis of the sources, as well as a multidisciplinary approach to body mechanics from his study of ballet dance and non-HEMA martial arts and to the analysis of historical social and ethical concerns which frame historical martial arts. As a left-hander, he takes special pride in finding an approach for left-handed students in reverse engineering plays and actions written for right-handed people.

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Fundamentals

Sara Bieno

Joining Swordwind in 2023 was a natural fit for this lifelong medieval lover with a jack-of-all-trades spirit. Sara focuses on KDF longsword and is passionate about body mechanics, aiming to help fencers stay strong and injury-free for all the fun ahead. Teaching the intro course is her favorite—there’s nothing better than watching someone level up from their very first swing.

Officers

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Britney Atwell

President

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Andrew Oprysko

Vice President

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Deb Timmons

Treasurer

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Erin Bowman

Secretary

Board of Directors

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Chairman of the Board

Robin Conrad

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Board Member

Pike Pullen

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Board Member

Owen Sykes

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Board Member

Jessie Allen Harrigan

Instructors Emeritus

Julian Lukert

2017-2018

Richard Vang

2015-2017

Kyle Edwards

2015-2017

Eric Lowe - Founder

2014 - 2023

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