Dear friends,

Tom Leoni and I invite you to attend the National Historical Swordsmanship Convention (NHSC) 2011.

When: April 15-17, 2011
Where: Virginia Academy of Fencing (located just outside Washington DC)

2011 Theme: Must-know Fundamentals and Terminology

The NATIONAL HISTORICAL SWORDSMANSHIP CONVENTION (NHSC, pronounced “Nisk”) is a new, 3-day special event bringing professional-level instruction in early-Renaissance European swordsmanship to fencers of all experience levels. NHSC will provide a cohesive, focused approach that will have classes covering body mechanics, unarmed combat, the use of the langes messer (long knife) and single handed sword, the Bolognese sword and shield, German longsword, the Italian spadone (the great 16th century two handed sword), and the use of pole arms.

HOW IS THIS EVENT DIFFERENT AND UNIQUE?
Rather than offering a “menu” of unrelated classes spanning various subjects, NHSC is a cohesive, full-immersion course focusing on the basics and advanced basics of early-Renaissance swordsmanship. From body-mechanics and footwork to unarmed combat, from sword to different weapons, each class builds off of the next so that students will not only gain exposure to different weapon styles, but also develop a stronger level of proficiency and competence as a martial artist.

There will also be talks on historical context, with an opportunity for participants to handle authentic period swords as well.

INSTRUCTORS AND CLASSES:
• Bill Grandy, Director of Historical Swordsmanship of the Virginia Academy of Fencing. Bill has taught historical European martial arts professionally over the past decade and has been invited to teach across the country for various schools and events, including at the Western Martial Arts Workshop and Chivalric Weekend. He will be teaching 15th century German swordsmanship (Liechtenauer tradition).
• Tom Leoni, founder of the Order of the Seven Hearts and one of the principal Historical Swordsmanship instructors of the Virginia Academy of Fencing. Tom is one of the leading researchers of Renaissance Italian martial arts. He has published some of the top translations of historical fencing treatises, and has taught historical fencing around the world. Tom will be teaching 16th century Italian swordsmanship (Bolognese school).
• Guest instructor Brad Waller, founder of the International Order of the Sword and Pen. Brad is an internationally renowned fight choreographer who brings realistic martial arts to the stage. Brad is well known in the Western Martial Arts world for using the 16th century European arts to teach students proper form and movement for both unarmed and armed combat. Brad will be teaching body mechanics and historical unarmed combat.

WHY ATTEND?
All - Understand and accurately perform the “must-know” fundamentals of early-Renaissance swordsmanship
Instructors - Learn how to develop stronger drills and leverage efficient terminology
Fencers/historical fencers - Gain new perspectives on training and application of the arts
Novices - Experience the practice of historical swordsmanship under the attention of professional teachers and coaches

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE
NHSC is for both the novice up to the experienced instructor. Age 14 to adult. Minors must have signed permission of a legal guardian.

EQUIPMENT
All participants at minimum are required to have a fencing mask, gloves, jacket, and practice weapons. Participants must wear long athletic pants and non-marking athletic shoes. Equivalent historical clothing and protection are acceptable. Equipment is available for purchase on site at the Virginia Academy of Fencing.

LOCATION
Virginia Academy of Fencing, 5401-B Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22151 just outside of Washington DC. Easily accessible from Reagan National airport or Dulles International airport.

We will shortly post additional information on preferred hotels conveniently located near the event.

CONTACT INFORMATION
E-mail historicalswordsmanship@yahoo.com or contact the Virginia Academy of Fencing at (703) 321-4922. For more information, please visit our website at www.vafinc.com/NHSC

Also, please find us on Facebook for updates!

REGISTRATION
The cost of NHSC is $289 per person by 2/1/2011. (UPDATE: THE PREREGISTRATION IS 2/8/2011) Cost rises afterward. Register here: http://askfred.net/Clinics/Prereg/prereg.php?clinic_id=12956

We Hope To see You There!!!

For all of you who often say, "Man, I wish there was a WMA group in my area," you need to come to this event. You will gain so much out of this one weekend, and it will really give you a jump start into forming your own group. Books and videos are great, but nothing beats hands on instruction.

(Oh, and FYI, the website is still a little bit under construction at the time of this posting... We promise to upgrade it and update it with more information very soon!)

Well, in that case. Man I wish this WMA weekend was closer to my area. :\

If I come into a lot of money suddenly, you'll hear from me.

There's a slight possibility I might be able to attend.

I'd certainly like to.

Best news I heard this week.
I'm there!

Yeah well for me, it's more an issue of time more then money. I have trouble getting a weekend off for SCA events...4 days to go across the country just ain't gonna happen :P .

All ~

We've updated the NHSC website to include a schedule of classes with descriptions! We have a lot of exciting material that we're planning on covering, so please take a look.

Also we've set up a special rate with the nearby Hilton. Just mention VAF (Virginia Academy of Fencing), and you'll get a discounted rate of $89 per night for Thursday through Sunday. For anyone wishing to stay longer to check out the DC area, they will also discount the weekday rate at $171 per night Monday through Wednesday. The Hilton just had some major renovations and is quite nice. There is also a restaurant at the Hilton where we are very likely going to organize after-hours social gatherings.

Keep checking on the event's Web site.
www.vafinc.com/nhsc

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible there!

Bill it says we need "practice weapons". I noted there is quite a range of cool classes there. Would we need practice weapons for all the classes?

Hi Bryan,
Yes and no. You need something to simulate a single hand sword, but that can be as simple as a hardwood dowel rod or a cheap shinai. Likewise, for the spadone, you can get away with a 5' staff (you can get a hardwood broom handle from most hardware stores for a couple of dollars which will do the trick). The same staff can be used for the polearms classes. So if all you have is a short stick and a long stick, you're set for the weapons. :)

For the shield and buckler, you can purchase them from places like A&A or MRL, or you can make them for a few dollars. A cheap and easy way to make a rotella is to cut out a circle of plywood, drill four holes in the middle and lace rope through the holes. Tie the rope off to keep in from sliding out of the holes. (Little kids do this method all the time!) A buckler could be made similarly, or instead of rope you could screw on a metal handle (also readily available from any hardware store).

So for about $10 bucks or so, you have all of your weapons and shields right there. :)

The most expensive thing that people are required to have is fencing mask, but you can find these for under $50.

We will have a limited amount of loaner equipment there, but we can't guarantee that there will be enough, so we strongly encourage everyone to bring their own gear. We also have all of the equipment for sale at our store at VAF, should anyone wish to purchase anything there.

On a related note, our equipment page lists some possible vendors for the weapon simulators.

http://www.vafinc.com/nhsc/equipment.html

We've just added Quarterstaff to our list of classes. This will largely draw upon the plays of Paulus Hector Mair, with some additional Liechtenauer sources such as Peter Falkner, and will provided the foundation for the other polearms throughout the weekend.

A lot of people have been asking us about bringing their teenage kids to do the event with them. The minimum age for NHSC is 14, so if your child is old enough and wants to sign up with you, then by all means sign up the both of you!

The Hilton's webpage had a glitch on the NHSC registration page, but they have fixed it and it is running smoothly again. We hope that didn't inconvenience anyone!

Just a reminder that the preregistration ends on February 1. You can sign up afterwards, but the price goes up!

Due to several requests, we are bumping the pregistration date back to February 8. This is largely due to the fact that I'll be teaching this upcoming weekend at the event Longpoint, and several people had hoped to talk to me in person before signing up for NHSC. This will give those people some "cushion room" to get their registrations in.

After February 8, the price goes up, so if you plan on coming, sign up sooner rather than later!

Reminder: The preregistration deadline for NHSC is on Tuesday. After Tuesday the price increases by fifty dollars.

For anyone who tried to register today, there was a glitch at the site. It's fixed now, so you can register normally again. Thanks to the people who brought that to my attention!

For those who haven't seen yet, the full schedule is up on the website.