Do you remember the first time you attended a historical sword fighting class?

Why did you get involved? What motivated you?

Maybe you were jazzed by the historical nature of it?

Or was it because it involved swords and was European in origin — different from other common martial arts?

Or, maybe you were by asked by a friend to check it out?

It was all of those things for me:

The timing was around ’07. Back then HEMA wasn’t even referred to as HEMA from what I recall.

I wanted to get back into martial arts.

I had taken Tae Kwon Do during college and wanted to do something like that again. I looked into Wing Chun and a couple of Kung Fu classes around town. They were fine, but nothing that really connected with me.

You know what I mean.

But when I found a web site about historical European martial arts, my interest was piqued. Maybe it was an article on the longsword or broadsword?

In any event, I didn’t waste any time.

I contacted the group organizer via their web site (which had reams of reams of information — all of it almost impossible to sift through). Fortunately, I could find the “contact us” page, made an inquiry and heard back from a representative.

The guy who responded told me when and where they met every week and he asked me to wear a white t-shirt and black sweat pants when I showed up for class. All new students wore this “uniform.”

“Cool,” I thought. This will be interesting.

When I told my wife about it, she thought I was nuts but agreed that I might enjoy it, so it was worth checking out (she knows me pretty well by now).

When the next Wednesday rolled around, I was right there at 7:00 pm sharp (no pun intended).

Tip #1: Know what you are getting into

When I walked in, I was greeted by the guy I’d met online.

He was talkative and friendly and spent a few minutes letting me know what the group was all about.

I didn’t really know what to expect, so I appreciated that. There was a lot of information to absorb about historical swordfighting and the website was not very succinct or helpful in that regard.

Yet, I was still a little anxious and excited as this was all new to me.

We are talking about learning how to sword fight, after all!

There were a few other people there dressed in white t-shirts and black pants lingering against a wall. Chatter, what little there was, was at a minimum and conducted quietly.

I introduced myself to a couple of the other “white shirts,” learned their names and how long they had been coming to this class.

A few had their own equipment: fencing mask, longsword waster and some lacrosse gloves.

Against a different wall, I noticed the senior students in their distinctive shirt color.

I remember a few of them talking among themselves doing some stretching and getting ready. Their equipment bags were lined up against the same wall.

They spoke among themselves. No one made any attempt to speak to the white shirts.

A couple of them were women — and I found this pretty cool. I liked the diversity.

Tip #2: Don’t sword fight (spar) on your first night

“Okay everybody, let’s suit up!” announed the guy I met upon walking in.

Me: “Huh?”

I walked over to the organizer and asked what he meant.

“Tonight is sparring night. We do this every eight weeks. We gotta get ready.”

“But I don’t know how to spar, ” I said. “I’ve never been here before or done this kind of thing.”

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll show you a few guards and cuts. You’ll be using the padded weapons, so you don’t have to worry about getting hurt.” Then he proceeded to show me a few things.

I still don’t know why I agreed to do it.

In retrospect, I probably should have sat it out and watched. But the idea of padded weapons didn’t seem too bad.

Also, and more importantly, I didn’t want to appear to be a wimp.

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

So, I put on the nasty, sweat caked fencing mask I was given and listened to the organizer.

As everyone else seemed to know what they were doing, I followed along.

Piece of advice: Get your own fencing mask as soon as possible!

As a group, we formed a large circle.

The whole thing was conducted with a certain solemnity.

Serious.

Nobody spoke much, even during the sparring.

This is how it worked:

Each student took a turn by stepping into the middle of the circle and sparring every other student for two or three exchanges before stepping out again.

As I remember about 10 people being present (including me), I could see that this process was going to take a while.

I noticed that the senior students sparred using wood or steel weapons. White shirts, like me, used padded swords for the most part.

It was interesting to watch and I tried to learn as much as I could before it was my turn.

I was one of the last people to spar.

I distinctly remember stepping into the circle. I really had to “gird my loins” so to speak as this was totally new to me.

And although I did plenty of sparring during my time in Tae Kwon Do, this was quite different. We were swinging mock swords at each other.

Tip #3: The adrenaline dump puts your monkey brain in charge

Do you remember your first time sparring in historical fencing?

I remember a few things, but for the most part, my mind went blank.

My monkey brain took over and all thoughts of trying to execute some cool maneuver I witnessed some other student doing were gone.

All I could do was swing for the hills and hold a vom tag guard over my head (I didn’t know what the guard was called at the time).

I had been shown the guard about 30 minutes earlier.

I remember chopping a lot. I had no idea about timing, distance/measure, how to cut properly. Targeting. Nothing.

The senior students toyed with me (but were kind). One or two gave me pointers which I tried to absorb.

I don’t remember much else.

But I survived.

And for some reason, I wanted to continue –and I admit, I experienced an adrenaline rush which was exhilerating. I had not experienced one quite like it in quite a while.

It was refreshing.

Tip #4: Find a HEMA group that is a good fit for you

So, I formally joined and proceeded to where I am now.

Granted, there have been a lot of twists and turns in the road since then – but that’s another story!

The most important of these for me was deciding to eventually leave that group – with some like minded students- and to form our own group, Texas Armizare.

Since we set up our own group in 2013, we’ve been building a nice group centered on reclaiming and learning the Art.

No, we don’t do much around tournaments — yet. But I think that is coming.

It took us a while to get our feet firmly planted, organized and decided upon the path we wanted to take with the Art.

Now:

The good news for you is that HEMA has come a LONG way since my introduction to it.

Groups and organizations are popping up every day.

It is making inroads into countries and cultures all over the world including southeast Asia which has a very rich, vibrant martial arts culture of its own.

If you are not already involved, do you want to get involved in historical sword fighting?

Like I said before, there are lots of options now – much more than when I first got involved – which is good news for you.

There is also a TON of great information for those looking to get started.

Here are a couple of suggestions to get you going:

Matt Easton produces great videos about HEMA including this one on advice for those getting involved.

Skalligrim is another one worth watching for newer students. He provides some very helpful advice, tips and things to think about before joining a group.

I highly recommend checking both of these guys out. They are friendly, approachable and will help you out.

The nice thing is that even though they are located in different places, because of the availability of content over the Internet, you can access much of their thinking and work.

We also put together a guide to help newcomers in finding a group that’s right for them.

In ’07, that just wasn’t available.

And what about you?

What was your first HEMA experience like?

Lemme know! I really want to hear your story!