Welcome to the True Edge Academy of Swordsmanship! Interested in medieval history? Ever wanted to learn how to swordfight? Looking for a fun way to get some exercise? Here’s your chance to learn the martial arts of Europe.
True Edge Academy of Swordsmanship is an organization dedicated to reconstructing the martial arts of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Using historical fighting manuals and authentic training weapons, we are rediscovering these lost arts. Please check out the About Us page for more information.
Areas of study include Longsword, Sword & Buckler, Messer, Rapier, Dagger, Grappling, Staff, Polearms, and more.
Beginners are welcome! Check us out on Facebook, or drop by a class, to learn how you can get involved and join us in exploring these fascinating lost arts.
A group from True Edge and the UCSA returned this week from CombatCon in Las Vegas, NV. It was an exciting event, as Kirsten Meredith took gold and Kristen Argyle took bronze in the Women’s Longsword Tournament and Jack Stewart took gold in the Open Steel Longsword Tournament!
Kristen, Kirsten, and Jack with their prizes.
Last month a similar group participated in the Mid Continental HEMA Open (MCHO) in Denver, CO. There Josh Gardner took gold in the Longsword Skill Course and Jeremy Halliday took bronze in the Open Steel Longsword Tournament, bronze in the Longsword Skill Course and received the Technical Award.
Our amazing instructor Kristen Argyle recently attended Fecht Yeah 2019 in New York, a three-day HEMA event featuring classes and all-women’s tournaments. Kristen fought in all of the tournaments and taught two classes on Hans Medel’s longsword fencing manual. Kristen place 5th in the rapier tournament (a weapon she rarely trains with), 4th in the sword and buckler tournament, and 1st in the Women’s Novice Steel tournament!!! We are very proud of Kristen. The Novice Steel tournament was made up of all but the top 8 fighters from the Women’s Steel tournament.
True Edge Academy members from both the Salt Lake and South branches will be at the Utah Scottish Festival & Highland Games on Saturday, June 8th. We will be sharing a booth with the UCSA, so stop by and chat with us if you are interested in swords, martial arts, and or European history. Regularly scheduled classes will be canceled.
On the evening of April 18, 2019, True Edge South attended the annual UVU Clubs Banquet to celebrate another successful year. To represent the club, head instructor Chad Healey and instructors Mariah Healey, Matthew Pope, Thomas Appiah, and Monica Benavides Molina were in attendance.
True Edge South instructors Thomas, Chad, Mariah, Monica and Matthew
True Edge South was asked to do a brief demonstration of what our club is all about, so Chad and Mariah did a Superman-esque wardrobe change from formal wear into sparring gear just in time to hop on stage. There they introduced the audience to HEMA and demonstrated a few parries (Schnappen, Zucken, and the unnamed parry with half-swording). The performance concluded with a few exchanges of full-speed sparring.
Demonstration by Chad and Mariah
Of course, it’s hard to resist doing a little bit of swordwork once you have the weapon in hand, so after the banquet concluded and most of the attendees trickled away, we all had a bit of fun with longsword and saber in the open space.
True Edge South did not win any awards this year, but it was still a fun night out for the instructor team and a good opportunity to do some educating and make our presence a bit better known on UVU campus.
For anyone interested there is a number of upcoming HEMA events that are within a reasonable driving distance. If you are interested in attending any of these events let your fellow students know as carpooling and sharing accommodations can cut down on the cost.
Mid-Continental HEMA Open, Denver, CO
The Mid-Continental HEMA Open (MCHO) is a new tournament hosted by Denver Historical Fencing Academy. You can register here.
Dates: July 12th – 14th
Cost: $75 + Tournaments ($20-25 each)
Tournaments
Open Steel Longsword
Women’s Longsword
Beginner’s Longsword
Steel Saber (weapons provided)
Longsword Obstacle/Skills Course
CombatCon, Las Vegas, NV
CombatCon is a small convention and a large HEMA tournament. This event has a lot of classes, panels, vendors, and a costume party called the Time Traveler’s Ball. You can register here and if you are going for the HEMA tournaments, the Tournament Pass is recommended over the Warrior Pass.
Swordsquatch has a lot of workshops, the Bigfoot brawl, tournaments, Night of Fire(?), a shindig, Flying Trapeze, and a cutting party. Registration comes with 3 lunches, the shindig meal, a t-shirt, and the cutting party. You can register here.
Dates: September 6th – 8th
Cost: $225 + Tournaments ($25-50 each)
Tournaments
Cutting
Beginner’s Nylon Longsword
Ringen
Women’s Steel Longsword
Steel Longsword
Sunday Mystery
Duels at High Noon, Tuscon, AZ
Duels at High Noon is a tournament with somewhat unconventional rule sets (matches are normally 30 seconds, but you fight a lot of them) and always includes an unusual tournament, this year Bastone, which will be proceeded with a class on its use. You can register here.
Six fighters from True Edge Academy along with friends for the UCSA attended SoCal Swordfight in Huntington Beach, CA from February 15 – 17, 2019. South Coast Swords put on 11 tournaments over the three-day event along with workshops which is a truly impressive feat. If you are interested in see the result of the tournament, they can be found on HEMA Scorecard. Congrats to Jeremy Halliday on taking gold in both the Advanced Longsword and the Advanced Longsword Cutting tournaments!
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