Is there such thing as a medieval fighting club?

Question

Are there any clubs where I can go with armour and a sword and fight old school against other people? Like gladiator or something? I really like traditional fighting, and I was just wondering if there were such clubs.

Answer 1

I never cease to see or hear about the padded, duct tape sticks and shields people whack each other around with at the park. It get heated, like, I can't be sure if they are going to engage in melee, with a certain saucy serpentry.

Answer 2

Yes, there are many such groups.

First, there is the SCA, but there are only very, very few armoured combattants who bother learning historically accurate techniques, which is a shame considering the effort and research going into the armour some of these guys are wearing. The rapier combat crowd, on the other hand, tends to be more historically minded.

As for AEMMA, they are not an overseas group, they are Canadian, thank you very much. However, they have kind of branched out in 2 different ways: those guys who only want to fight fully armoured, and those who cater to a lower budget crowd and practices the unarmoured styles a lot more. However, they are bloody nuts, for amongst them, a good day is a day without broken bones, or so it's said. So yeah, they're pretty much insane. But they do follow Fiore Dei Liberi's texts, which are amongst the most complete that we know of.

Also, there are lots of other groups, such as ARMA, HACA and a plethora of others. A good place to look for them is on www.swordforum.com. There is a section devoted to people seeking groups and training partners.

Answer 3

There are some, it just takes some time to find them around your area. You also have to know what type of fighting you want to do.

I'm in the Nebraska Swordfighters Guild, we mostly study Italian swordfighting technics from Fiore. Though we've also worked on some German longsword and are currently starting some sword and buckler work from the I.33 manual.

There is also a Viking group in this area who focus more on that area and time period.

What I've found is that if you are looking for historically accurate training and fighting then it's best to get as much information about the group/club/school as you can. What manuals they teach from. Where the instructors training comes from. What are the requirements for participating in fights. Do your own research first and know what you want to do then find a group that fits if you can.

Some groups will say they teach historical fighting technics but will go off of whatever has been passed down, or looks really cool or whatever. They don't have the training themselves nor do they go off of acutal historical manuals.

You may ask around any area Renaissance Faires too, the group may not be officially set up but there may be some members around. The NSG does demos at some of our area faires and often members attend the faires we aren't doing demos at.

Answer 4

There a few groups, some are smaller. There is one group I think out seattle that does the jousting and full armor stuff. Check the link below. There are also many books from the site below.
Best of luck.

Answer 5

Hi there,
I recently bought this system http://www.goobypls.com/r/rd.asp?gid=563. It teaches how to protect yourself and your family in case of violent situations or unexpected attacks from thiefs. Sometimes having a gun is just not enough.
Regards

Answer 6

depends on where you are.

ARMA is big and has groups in most U.S. states.
Association for Renaciannce Martial Arts

The SCA are LARPers deserving of ridicule as they don't train traditional or legitimate historical (or working) techniques. They play dress up not learn martial arts.

AEMMA (Academy of European Mideval Martial Arts). based overseas.

Ochs based in europe (germany).

Maestro Martinez who teaches traditional rapier- in New York (weird name of his school- just google it).

You want to make sure they are teaching traditional historical techniques AND training with resistance.

It may not be practical to walk on the street with a sword for self-defence but you want to make sure you are spending your time learning martial arts and not being ripped off.

EDIT: "Full armor" is a different kind of fighting than you would expect. groups that wear full armor wear it only for protection from bieng smacked by a waster or blunt while sparring and it is not always "traditional" as it is not really "armored" fighting, but more protective gear to wear during sparring.
Our group looks like (when I was doing ARMA) a cross between a hockey player and the road warrior- real armor is expensive and often not as good for sparring purposes as real armor. (real armor needed to be maintained, modified sports equipment does not).

If you are looking to learn to use actual techniques one would have historically used against an opponent in armor- then that is even rarer than just learning traditional european sword techniques.

EDIT #2: Stay away from any THEATRICAL groups. What they do in film is nothing like what real swordsmanship is about. In film you want the audience to see what you are doing so you want to be overt as it is entertainment, you want to be obvious. In real swordsmanship you want to be subtle so they don't know what is going on (unless they have trained as well- which 99% of the population has not).

In film you want your partner to see what you are doing so he can react without bieng hurt. in real swordsmanship (and in real fighing in general) you want them not to see until it is too late because you want to hurt them.

Answer 7

If you live in Maryland, check out Darkon.org. Pretty wild.

Answer 8

yes infact my brother has joined a medevil fight class in which at the end you become certified to be in any battle scene in a movie.. so its kind of cool.....

Answer 9

the society of creative anachronism is it.

Answer 10

Try the SCA it's fun!