If you’d like to study historical fencing, feel free to join us. We currently train on Monday and Friday nights in New Haven. All vaccinated adults welcome!

Time:

Mondays 6pm-7:30pm – Beginner and Intermediate longsword

Fridays 6pm-7:30pm – Other weapons (current class: Introduction to Thibault’s rapier)

Place: Bethesda Lutheran Church, 450 Whitney Avenue, New Haven.  We practice in the big hall on the ground floor (the “Campanius Room”).  (A trap for the unwary: Google maps might give you an address on St Ronan street, but don’t use it; it’s much easier to enter from the parking lot on 450 Whitney avenue)

Covid precautions: All attendees must be vaccinated (proof of vaccination required at first class).

Age requirement: All attendees must be over 18 years of age. (Sorry to those younger! Your time will come…)

Cost: We dearly appreciate a voluntary $10/class donation, simply to help cover equipment and running costs.  If money is a bit tight for you, skip the donation and come for free, no questions asked.

Check here before class: Please make sure you check the News tab before attending class in case of late cancellations, reschedulings, etc. 

Safety and Conduct Policies: It’s a good idea to review our full policies here.

Waiver: Like most martial arts clubs, we do have a liability waiver, which you must sign before participating. You can sign the waiver as a Google Form here. If you don’t want to use google / Alphebt products (and fair enough!), you can instead sign a hard copy in class.

Our Class Structure

Here’s how it works:

6:00 – 6:30pm: Warm up, footwork, basic strikes

At 6pm we start warming up by practicing footwork, basic strikes, fencing actions, and body mechanics. For beginners, this is a must! 

6:30 – 7:00pm: Historical Techniques.   

At 6:30 we partner up and practice historical techniques taken directly from the old manuals. 

7:00 – 7:30pm: Dynamic Partner Exercises

Around 7pm we begin more dynamic partner exercises, including fighting drills and sparring games.  From this point in the evening onwards, you will really benefit from having your own mask and gloves, at a minimum. (See the ‘Our Gear’ tab above)

7:30 – late: Free Play/Open Floor

Here we open up the floor for free sparring.  Depending on numbers, we may play various kinds of organized sparring games.  Most of us practice longsword, but at this stage of the evening other historical weapons are fair game too: rapiers, sabers, smallswords, arming swords, bucklers, dussacks – you name it, as long as you bring a sparring-safe version of it. 

In principle, we spar all the way until 9 pm (which makes for a lot of sparring!)

We have quite a varied membership: some people are primarily here to learn about history, others want a fun way to get fit, and some of us just love free sparring with swords. Our class structure is designed to give everyone a chance to train in a way that suits them.

In practice, we just keep having fun until everyone is too exhausted to continue.

Required gear:

Drilling with steel always requires a fencing mask, gorget, and gloves, and almost always also required a jacket and elbow protection, as well as leg protection. The beginner class uses foam boffers, and does not require gear, though a mask, gorget, and gloves are all handy for that class as well.

Sparring with steel always requires a fencing mask, gorget, jackets, elbow protection, groin protection and gloves. Some specifics may vary depending on the weapons and the level of intensity, see this chart for more. Having said that, people without gear are welcome to hang out for open floor and practice in less serious ways: we do have some light “boffer”-style weapons which allow those without gear to play around a bit, just for fun.