European Instructors Seminar Series

Sword to Sword is proud to present our 2024 European Seminar Series!

Each year since 2022 Sword to Sword has endeavored to bring some of the best instructors and competitors from the European HEMA scene to give attendees an opportunity to experience the unique perspectives these coaches have to offer, and to make friends with some of the greatest fencers in Europe!

Our 2024 iteration of the Seminar Series will be no different, offering a total of seven seminars spread out over five months and covering a multitude of disciplines ranging from La Verdadera Destreza to Longsword mechanics to more broadly applicable Fight Psychology.

Workshops will range in duration from 2 hours for weeknight seminars to 4-5 hours for weekend classes, and tickets can be purchased for full access to all seven seminars or for individual workshops. Additionally, several instructors will be offering private lessons for the duration of their stay- please contact us for more details regarding scheduling and availability.

Registration details, full seminar schedule and instructor bios listed below. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.
Name
Checkbox Items

Seminar Series Schedule

Saturday September 21st: Destreza- Ton Puey

Thursday November 7th: Spear- Francesco Loda will run from 6:30PM-8:00PM

Thursday November 7th: Grappling- Silvia Tomassetti will run from 6:30PM-8:00PM.

Saturday November 23rd: Longsword Tactics and Mind Games- Simon Rosenkvist

Monday November 25th: Longsword Power Generation- Britt Sjöqvist

Sunday February 9th: Sword and Buckler- Kristine Konsmo

Wednesday February 12th: Rapier and Dagger- Reinis Rinka

Instructors Bios:

 

Ton Puey is the technical director and Master of Arms of Academia da Espada, focused on the study of la Verdadera Destreza with the weapons of the moment of greatest splendor of the discipline, such as the rapier sword, alone or combined with dagger, buckler or rodela, and polearms in addition to work in the interpretation of the rules of the montante of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the study and interpretation of the other current fencing of the peninsula, especially the, so far , the , only treaty not belonging to the Verdadera Destreza preserved, the “Art of Fencing” by Domingo Luiz Godinho. In addition to his usual work as an instructor in A Coruña, Galicia, he has taught seminars in France, Austria, Italy, Holland, Ireland, Greece, USA,Mexico, Australia, Poland, Russia, Sweden, China, Portugal and Spain In 2015 he is recognized as Mestre de Armas by HEMA Portugal and in 2018 as the first Non-Italian Historical Fencing Master by the Italian Fencing Federation.

 

 

Simon Rosenkvist have been practicing longsword since 2013. He is currently one of the instructors at Örebro HEMA, and before that he ran a club in Växjö for five years. Other than HEMA he is training in muay thai and MMA and has been involved in martial arts since the age of 16. In the years since covid he has really started consistently placing amongst the top at recent tournaments. A lot of Simon’s emphasis in training is in maintaining and establishing distance, deciding when to engage, utilizing reach and footwork and winning the mental game.

Britt Sjöqvist started training longsword in 2012 and competing in 2015. Her competition career took off after winning Purpleheart Open in 2018 and she has since won several tournaments. She is currently one of the instructors of Örebro HEMA, on her second year as chairperson for the Swedish HEMA federation, and current reigning Swedish champion in the longsword women’s division. Aside from HEMA she trains MMA and a bit of muay thai. As an instructor she has a particular interest in body mechanics, power generation and taking a holistic yet individual approach.

Kristine has been a student of HEMA since 2010. She has been active in the tournament scene since 2011 and has earned several medals at international tournaments in various weaponsets since then. Her focus is spread across Sword & Buckler, Rapier & Dagger, Longsword and, most recently, Sabre. A long background in ballet and various other sports informs her approach to footwork and body mecahnics and is a point of interest in understanding how to be more agile in the ring. Kristine is a student and instructor at HEMA Riga in Latvia.

Reinis Rinka has been practicing HEMA since 2010 as a student at Glasgow University after a couple years of epee fencing. Since moving back to his hometown of Riga, Latvia, he successfully founded his club HEMA Riga where he is the head instructor. His primary focus is on single rapier and rapier and dagger, but also works with sabre. After a few years hiatus, Reinis re-entered the tournament scene in 2023/24 with a number of gold medals and is currently undefeated in rapier and ranked top ten in HEMA Ratings. Reinis’ main source of interest is Giganti as he feels it best prepares one practically for a swordfight in the street, should it come to that. His approach to learning and coaching in fencing is to practice deliberate training. Beyond fencing, Reinis enjoys playing chess and other puzzle games.