Fencing tournament comes to Plymouth this weekend

Popular films and TV series such as "Lord of the Rings," "Game of Thrones" and "House of the Dragon" all have something in common that grabs the attention of viewers — swords. The clashing of swords against one another adds suspense as beloved or infamous characters engage in life-and-death battles on screen.

For many at Ars Gladii, a school in Garden City specializing in Historical European Martial Arts, those scenes are what sparked their interest in learning the sport.

Katharine Keller, a 27-year-old HEMA competitor, said she originally started fencing in college around 2014 or 2015.

“I actually started in sport fencing before and then wanted it to be more like 'Lord of the Rings,'” she said.

What to know: European martial arts school to host fencing tournament in Plymouth

Soon, competitors will be able to put their HEMA skills to the test with the return of the AG Open Tournament, held Friday through Sunday in Plymouth. The event will feature various competitions, workshops and lectures.

The AG Open, returning for its second year at the PARC, will have five tournament events, including a longsword relay, longsword competition, women’s longsword, Messer competition and longsword cutting.

The event, hosted by Ars Gladii, will also include 15 lectures and 14 workshops from world-class HEMA instructors.

The tournament

Keller, who will compete in the longsword and women’s longsword competitions, said two-handed swords differ from other types of fencing.

“The footwork is the major difference because you usually have your opposite foot forward than what you usually have in sport fencing or one-handed saber fencing,” she said. “I would say, generally, a two-handed sword is quicker because you have full grip on it. You’re a lot faster in your cuts, you can change directions a lot quicker.”

Keller also said hand hits make up a majority in longsword fighting, while they aren’t as common in other competitions, such as the Messer competition with a one-handed weapon.

The tournament will also have a longsword relay with teams of three. Joseph Mundo, a volunteer and competitor, explained the goal of the competition is to eliminate the three opponents quicker then they eliminate your team. The first person from each team will go head-to-head and whoever gets eliminated first then has their second teammate sub in to face the same opponent. If the first person from the team eliminates the other’s second person, the third then faces the same opponent.

Kat Dunham, organizer of the tournament, said the longsword cutting event doesn’t require an opponent and rather focuses on mechanics and technique. For the tournament, participants will be required to cut paper.

“In order to cut well, there’s a lot more that’s involved. Especially the mechanics, you don’t need brute force, but it needs to be lined up and you have to let gravity takeover in certain cuts,” Dunham said. “In certain cuts you have to power through with your hips, otherwise it won’t cut at all."

She said it is extremely difficult because the sword blades aren’t sharp and points are lost if the paper tears, doesn’t fall within a certain area, etc.

The two other event organizers include Tyler Dunham and Sean Franklin. Kat Dunham said the three of them are responsible for ensuring the tournament runs smoothly.

“Our whole duty is to make sure everything is running on time; everything is done correctly,” she said. “If there’s something that is brought to our attention like a safety issue, we are the ones that handle that as well.”

HEMA

According to the Denver Historical Fencing Academy, HEMA is focused on the recreation of martial arts originating from Europe between 1200 and 1800.

“The entire span of HEMA in the last 15 years has seen continuous growth," said Mundo. "The thing we hear the most often is 'wow I didn’t know something like this even existed'."

HEMA has grown in popularity due to the rise of the internet. Fencing manuals and books were often privately kept but are now easily shared and inexpensive due to the internet.

"We re-create historical texts in an 'as safe as you can get sword fight', that’s how I’d describe it," said Mundo. Ars Gladii focuses specifically on the recreation of fencing practices from Johannes Liechtenauer, a 14th century German fencer.

Other schools focus on techniques from countries like Italy, France, Spain and Finland, and time periods of focus vary.

Keller said one of the main focuses of HEMA is to promote historic fencing in a safe way.

"We're using pretty large swords that have a lot of mass to them and we care most about keeping each other safe," she said.

Competitors wear heavy gear such as a padded jacket, a helmet and gloves but there are also rules in place to promote safety such as no hits to the back of the head. The weapons also have safety features built into them compared with traditionally historic swords.

Kat Dunham also said the sport is multifaceted and isn't based completely off athleticism.

“In HEMA, you get to choose what your goals are, you get to choose whether or not you want to be athletic, you get to choose whether or not you take a look at the manuscripts, you can choose whether or not you want to help people in the community or organize events and things like that," she said. "There’s a lot more than just you have to be physically fit and go compete.”

The community

Keller said her favorite part of HEMA is the community in place, as people from all over the country and globe gather for competitions and events.

“We often joke that the best way to make friends in this community is to hit them with a sword," she said. "We train hard and we fight each other pretty intensely but at the end of the day they are all really great people, and we enjoy spending time with each other.”

Franklin, tournament organizer and instructor at Ars Gladii, said the HEMA community is extremely tightknit and supportive of one another.

“Everyone is very supportive. If you lose to someone in a tournament, you can just go up to them after and be like, 'Hey, how did you beat me and what can I do better next time?' and everyone wants to help each other," he said.

Franklin, from Vancouver, began competing in 2011 and had an extremely successful career. Since, he has taken on an instructor role and said he enjoys it.

“Almost every instructor I know gets more excited to see their student win a medal then if they win a medal themselves. I don’t think it’s a HEMA thing, I think it’s true of most sports," Franklin said. "It’s just really exciting to see that you taught someone, and you helped them and then they are now having success."

Franklin said people in the HEMA community are willing to help one another out. The AG Open is primarily volunteer-based.

“We like to say that these events are put on by the community for the community," Franklin said.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Historical European Martial Arts school hosts fencing tournament