It occurs to me that I’ve never seen a place that advertises that it teaches sword fighting. It seems like a skill a lot of people would like to know though.
It occurs to me that I’ve never seen a place that advertises that it teaches sword fighting. It seems like a skill a lot of people would like to know though.
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You would take fencing lessons or lessons as part of a larger martial art.
There are a couple of fencing classes and clubs in my area. Personally know exactly one person that does it recreationally.
It’s (usually) fencing.
Sabre would be closer to a sword.
Though there’s also medieval combat too.
EDIT: Bless your heart, Reddit. Downvotes for the most thorough answer provided.
Call it “fencing” instead of “sword fighting” and you’ll have more luck. Theres probably fencing classes somewhere near you.
Sword fighting? No.
It is called fencing, and it is rather niche. I took fencing as an elective in University.
If you mean competitive fencing, there are schools all over the place. HEMA is a thing in the US too but not as common, only in larger cities usually.
I saw people doing a class in the park one time with like these wooden samurai swords
I was kinda just like, “huh…okay. at least they’re having fun” lol
The gym by my old college also offered kendo classes (that one thing where you wear a mask and fight with like a straight wood sword)
They are generally called “fencing clubs.” The popular forms being taught are the Foil, the Eppe, and the Saber.
Other swords could be taught, but they lack the competitive sports infrastructure that makes them popular to teach.
You can also look for local HEMA clubs.
We had fencing teams in high school and college
There’s a Kendo dojo in Louisville I’ve thought about studying at.
Basically if you’re learning to swordfight, there’s three main options:
Those are what you’d search for if you’re looking to learn to fight with a sword.
Edit: Some other martial arts schools may teach sword techniques as a smaller part of their art. Aikido has it as a minor part of the art. A number of Kung Fu schools teach the Dao (Chinese Broadsword) or Jian (Chinese Longsword). Ninjutsu schools generally teach some swordsmanship as a minor part of the art as well.
Local anime/LARPing clubs or conventions. Also your local medieval fair
Kendo is still practiced in most major cities.
Fencing is everywhere.
Yes. Both sport fencing (foil, saber, epée) and historic reenactment. I live in a reasonably populous regional city.
https://www.hemaalliance.com/
Not just fencing, the real deal with actual swords.
They are all over the US. As far as the site indicates, there are about 8 of them in Massachusetts alone.
I keep getting ads on radio/podcasts for introductory fencing classes and equipment rentals. You can locate programs through USA Fencing’s site https://www.usafencing.org/learntofence
When I was in high school I had a mutual friend who took larping, jousting and fencing lessons so I know they exist but I never got into it myself
We have a bunch of them in Anchorage. It’s something to do in the winter. There are six HEMA groups, SCA rapier and heavy, Olympic, and a smattering of Asian stuff including Kendo, Hapkido, Filipino, etc. IDK if there’s a buhurt group, but there is a HEMA harness group made up of members from other groups. RN we’ve got a group going to learn 18th century fencing for the 250.
My friend takes HEMA classes every week, which is largely sword fighting in light armor. See if you’ve got a club near you!
I googled it and yes there are places in Houston where you can learn fencing, kendo, and HEMA.
I think you can learn sword fighting from the Society for Creative Anachronism. They at least had a chapter here back in the 90s, when some of them came to my school
There are a few trailer parks near me populated with crystal methamphetamine enthusiasts who would be more than happy to let you practice your swordsmanship on them for a nominal fee.
Odd that you mention this now.
IHeartRadio has been absolutely spamming ads for fencing lessons there past couple of weeks.
I believe there’s an affiliation with the US National team. But I could be wrong
Yes
About 4-5 miles from me.
At the local renfest I just watched the Cincinnati Armoured fighting club go at it, so yes.
We had a stage combat class in college that I took as part of my theater major, so you could check with local drama departments. Unless you want to learn to actually murder people with swords, in which case I am just going to back away slowly and then hide.
Yes.
Yes, but you’d have to go searching for them. They don’t heavily advertise. I know there is a fencing club in town. There’s also a fairly sizable SCA contingent many of whom teach historic sword fighting styles. And I believe there is a kendo school? Or at least there was when I was in high school school.
Yes. My son does fencing and there are many groups that lean into the historic arms.
https://www.mhswords.com/
You can take a class with this guy:
The class is led by Dr. Ken Mondschein, who has the unique qualifications of holding both a PhD in history and a fencing master’s certification, and offers a progressive system of instruction that builds overall fitness and coordination as you learn swordplay traditions both handed down from the days when a person’s life might depend on skill with a blade and reconstructed from the detailed treatises left to us by fencing masters of the past. Dr. Mondschein is an internationally known scholar in this field.
Yes. https://forteswordplay.com/
I’ve seen signs along the road in our area for fencing lessons actually. (Northern VA)
There’s a swordfighting gym like a mile and a half from my house.
Do you mean like fencing? Yeah there are a few places in Seattle.
My wife takes Gumdo, which is a Korean sword technique. I know there are at least 5 or 6 other places in the city that do some type of sword style or another. Probably way more I don’t know about.
Do you mean fencing?
There was an actual fencing school near where I’m from, but the owner never advertised, didn’t publicly list the address, and only got students by word of mouth, so unless you personally knew someone who trained there it was impossible to get in.
If there’s an active SCA (Society of Creative Anachronism) branch near you, they will probably have “fighter practice” at least once a week. Typically this means fighting in armor with rattan swords (AKA “heavy weapons”), but rapier and cut & thrust are both growing in popularity, and both use live steel IIRC. Depending on the size of the group these might be lumped together as one martial practice night, or might have separate meetings.
In cities im sure there are. Not in small towns usually.
The only places i know of near me are in the Twin Cities. There’s a HEMA club and a Buhurt team.
We have buhurt which is sweet. It’s like armored mma with blunted weapons. Seriously check it out.
Yes! My son’s friends took lessons a few years ago. My son wasn’t interested.
r/HEMA
Come join us! We learn to really sword fight. We use steel swords that are blunt but still handle like the real thing. We study everything from the Middle Ages through WW1
If you mean fencing, yes. I knew people who took fencing in college.
I’m very lucky to be in a city where I basically have my pick of 4 historical fencing clubs, all of which teach slightly different things.
Sure. I idly googled it during the Olympics (not because I wanted to do it, but just wondering where people who want to can try) and there is a fencing school in a larger city near me. They have HEMA stuff, and LED fencing (ie lightsaber) classes as well.
Yes. They teach kendo I believe because it’s all Japanese stuff.
I actually took a fencing class when I was a kid at my community center.
There are at least two HEMA schools and a Kendo school near me. I’m currently studying HEMA myself and have done both Olympic sabre fencing, Kendo, and I do. I’m in Washington State now but have done fencing and Kendo in New York, Kendo and I do in Washington, and HEMA in Washington where I’m doing longsword and sabre with some grappling and great sword as well.
There are a few places that do Kendo, and If I travel into the big city there is Kendo, Fencing, and HEMA.
Not that I know of, but I went to school with someone who had taken fencing lessons, and my mom took fencing lessons when she was a kid.
Amazingly there is a place like that just a ten minute walk away. They teach fencing and theatrical sword fighting. I’ve only seen fencing on tv during the Olympics, but I’m almost intrigued enough to take a lesson.
Yes, indeed. I could learn kendo/kenjitsu, several Chinese styles, Iaido, fencing, or historical European martial arts. Seattle has a lot of martial arts schools.
Apparently there are 3 in my metro area.
Hi, I am a competitive historical fencer. AMA and I will respond when I am done with my bougie massage.
There’s a HEMA club and a Kendo place both maybe 20 minutes away, and an SCA club maybe 10 minutes away.
My university had fencing as an elective and an extracurricular club.
Filipino stick fighting! I’m sure it translates to swords a bit too
Yes, there’s a HEMA studio near me.
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Not what you meant, but I have a friend who takes lightsaber classes – part cardio exercise classes, part (a form of) sword(ish) fighting.
There is a medieval fighting styles gym near me that teaches various weaponry, but that isn’t a super common genre of workout outside of LARPers and history buffs.
Yes
I’ve been seeing “learn fencing classes” advertisements around my area for at least 15 years. And”bow fishing for snake head” charter tours.
Y park district growing up had fencing classes.
Yes! My college has a free fencing club and I was the President for a for years (had to give up the position because I started grad school and have 0 time). If you’re in the Huntington, WV area, we love new members!
There’s a couple HEMA classes/clubs. Both are an offshoot of Schola Saint George in Atlanta. There’s also a Kendo Club around too.
A couple hours away.
There are plenty of iaido schools in most major metros.
Yes. There is a group across the country known as the Society for Creative Anachronism, which is basically historically accurate LARPing with a focus on the middle ages. They’re nationwide. I’ve moved around a lot and I can always find a shire by looking them up on facebook with my location. I learned to fence with them when I was 16. Highly recommended for anyone who wants a fun hobby with some of the biggest nerds (I say endearingly!). They’re usually the same folks playing Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons in their free time.
There are fencing classes at the rec center, if that’s what you mean
I think some of the Universities offer it as PE credit.
My hometown has one. The town’s way cooler than I remember it being when I was there as a kid. 🙂
The places near me teach stage combat, but yeah.
There’s a Guild for it. It’s for people who do reenactments.
Kind of?
We don’t have fencing school as you might see in Europe, outside of collegiate fencing programs. But we do have sword studios and martial arts dojos that teach fencing. You can learn through HEMA groups or other soft fencing clubs. We have an Asian Art’s center south of us that has Kendo Classes. Further South there’s the Olympic Resources center where you can learn Olympic fencing if you’re sponsored to train.
My high school had a fencing team and the coach who taught us was a former Olympic fencer. There were a couple of fencing centers around where people could fence or take lessons.
Bizarrely, yes. There is a fencing studio eight miles from my home in Virginia, and I was surprised to see it.
You ever heard of LARP? There’s a movie about it called Role Models it’s great. Really nice swordsmanship in the film
Yes, I live in an area with a very large theatre community. SAFD stage combat classes are pretty easy to find.
There is a place within an hour of us that teaches European Dueling and Swordsmanship in Central Pennsylvania.
I’m a Historical European Martial Arts instructor. My particular focus is British military saber and Scottish broadsword.
I also am instructor of Filipino Martial Arts which focuses on machete and knife length bladed weapons.
All major cities in the nearest 3 states have instructors in either of these general cultural weapon systems.
Finding historical Japanese swordsmanship is more difficult and finding functional Chinese swordsmanship is basically non-existent.
There is a fencing school not too far from me.
My friends kids all practice fencing
Near me there are a few fencing schools and at least one kendo dojo. When I was in college I did kendo for a while and it was fun as hell, but it’s quite stylized and formalized, so it feels like sword fighting but also doesn’t in the sense that it’s not really like a swordfight in a samurai movie, although there are schools that teach iaito which is samurai sword handling, drawing techniques and eventually cutting with live sword once you’re skilled enough to hopefully not kill or injure yourself carelessly.
Perhaps surprisingly, due to California’s long history of Japanese immigration and general popularity of martial arts there may be more schools teaching Japanese and other Asian traditions than Western fencing and sword styles on the West Coast.
I used to go to kendo class nearby.
Not sure but i do know we have like a jedi academy or something where they fight with lightsabers lol
Not exactly the same thing, but there’s a fencing studio near where I work.
My gym offers fencing class, also seen it at universities.
Who would I want to know sword fighting? Everyone has a gun out here.
There are fencing clubs in a lot of colleges and big cities
There’s a place in my city that is a club where people fight in full armor.
Yes. San Jose has two, Davenriche is the big one.
Fencing is all over the place.
If you want broadsword classes, the option are more limited, but they certainly exist.
Example:Massachusetts Historical Swordsmanhip.
Most are part of HEMA: Historical European Martial Arts.
There is a fencing academy or two around here. I only know because my wife’s cousin’s kid does it. I imagine some of the martial arts schools might dabble in some sort of sword fighting but I don’t know any specifics.
In the town I live in probably not, there are a few Karate studios that probably teach a kind of sword handling (I’m sure it has a name) but it isn’t really sword fighting. More like sword discipline and showmanship
Actually, yeah. There’s an Olympic fencing facility where I live and I’m pretty sure there’s some other places around that do more niche sword fighting like European or kendo. They always do demonstrations at the annual Renaissance Faire to promote their clubs.
Yes. My local university has a fencing class and fencing club.
I know of several around me ranging from martial arts studios to a fencing club
Our local community College has classes in fencing if that counts
Fencing, yes, there are clubs all over the place that you could probably learn
There’s a group of people in Knoxville Tennessee called Dauntless that engage in armored combat wearing medieval armor and engage in full contact fighting with medieval steel weapons.
The community College and YMCA have classes. I think my nephew’s school has a club as well.
In east tennessee there is an instructor that teaches medieval sword fighting type stuff… for festivals.
Two things to note:
Practical sword fighting doesn’t often look like it does in movies
Practical sword fighting techniques depend a lot on the sword you’re using.
So while you may be able to find a sword class near you, finding a good sword class, that’s useful for actual fighting against other swords may be more difficult.
I think most men’s rooms at truck stops and highway rest stops are helping keep the community thriving.
Just because I only saw one comment mention it, there is also “stage combat” which teaches you how to wield swords without actually hurting each other. But they’re real attack and parry moves. I am certified in it, and in fact am teaching a workshop next week. All your comments about real combat make me nervous though lol…
Outside of fencing? There’s I think 1 or 2 schools that offer it, but it’s ridiculously expensive and involved driving an hour 1 way to a sketchy ass part of the state. As far as fencing goes, there’s a few schools nearby, also stupidly expensive.
near me there is not many but go to NYC and there are tons of places for Kendo we do have a fencing school as well.
Back in early ‘80s, FSU’s (Florida State University) SCA group registered with the school as the Broadsword Fencing Team, so they could have access to to the uni’s sports equipment and facilies. Mostly this was so they could grab a van and drive to SCA events over the weekend.
My local SCA (medieval history nerds) chapter has fighter practice on Monday nights, with options for either “heavy fighting” (using rattan in place of a broad sword) or fencing.
I also apparently live like a 3-minute drive from one of the best fencing schools in the US; a friend who lives a 12-hour drive away comes to visit a few times a year so he can train there.
If you want to learn HEMA you have to join a study group. They range from full professional schools to friends hanging in the back yard.
Depends on what you mean by sword fighting, but there’s a fencing dojo about ten minutes from me that advertises the way any business might. If you mean like broadswords, my first thought would be the Society for Creative Anachronism, which does lightly advertise being a place where you can learn sword fighting but more in the context of being a historical reenactment group
I took Fencing in college. As a kid there was a summer introductory program for martial arts that included a section on Kendo.
I live in the suburbs of a major US city. There is a swordplay guild in the city that teaches traditional medieval European swordfighting. There are also certain Dojos that specialize in kenjutsu and ryu sei ken if you are more into katana than broad swords.
Yes, including fencing, kendo, broadsword, and lightsaber.
Next town over from me has a HEMA school. Mostly longsword. Drag, because these days I’m mostly interested in rapier.
The nearest place to me is about an hour away. It’s not we’ll advertise, I had to do some searching for it.