Our Focus

Come practice Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) in Gainesville, Florida!

At Society of Historical Fencing, our goal is to train like master swordsmen of the past. We focus currently on German longsword, British military saber, and Italian rapier and saber. However, our club is always willing to work with other historical weapons, so you may see some rapier and dagger or sword and buckler mixed in! 

We believe that everyone can find something they enjoy in historical fencing. Let us help you find the sword for you!

Our Schedule

Below is the current schedule. Please check our social media (Discord, Facebook) for day-of updates.

Tuesday, 6:00pm to 8:30pm at Rosa B Williams Center, 524 NW 1st St, Gainesville, FL 32601 - Lessons by Fernan Gomez 

• The court is located behind the center, with parking next to it off of NW 6th Ave beside the GPD Annex. Outdoors and weather dependent, please check Discord for up to date information.

• Focus on Rapier and Saber stances and drills, followed by free fencing.

Wednesday, 6:00pm to 8:30pm at GNV Bridge, 1100 SE 17th Dr, Gainesville, FL 32641 - Lessons by Mike Roth 

• Focus on one handed weapons such as saber, rapier, arming sword and different combinations. Lesson followed by free fencing.

Saturday, 1:30pm to 4:30pm at Gainesville Movement Studio, 1724 NE 2nd St, Gainesville, FL 32609 - Lessons by Glenn Best

• Focus on teaching longsword maneuvers and plays. Indoors with full changing area, stretch room, and water.

Dues

Membership in the club costs $30 per month. Dues should be paid by the last day of each month and no later than the first practice of each month, if possible. Dues permit access to all club practices. For example, dues for June would should be paid by May 31. 

For those unable to attend regularly, you may elect to instead pay a $10 drop-in fee for a single class. If you pay this fee three times in the same month, you are considered to have paid your dues for that month.

New Members get their first month free. This is designed to give you a no commitment 'try it out' period to see if HEMA is for you. We handle this by simply not collecting dues from new participants on the first day or practice of the month that follows their first time attending.

What is HEMA?

HEMA stands for Historical European Martial Arts. It represents a large and multi-faceted approach to learning to sword fight as it was done historically. It differs from Olympic fencing in several ways, not the least of which is that usually HEMA strives to use weapons closer to what were historically used to injure or maim your opponent. Modern olympic fencing foils and epees are not accurate to the historical swords they represent.

You may encounter the term "WMA" or Western Martial Arts applied to HEMA practice - this term encompases non-historical practices as well. On your HEMA journey, you may also encounter people who do things similar to us but denote themselves under more narrow terms such as the SCA, Buhurt, or ARMA.

It is important to note that there is no central governing body to HEMA. There are several groups that strive to support an international HEMA community, but they do not set standards or rules to how HEMA is done. Every club you go to will have a slightly different culture, or fence using slightly different rules. We feel this is actually an advantage to our sport - it encourages those who want to do well in it to be adaptable, adjusting on the fly to different rules or requirements at separate competitions.

The best way to see what HEMA looks like is to come to a practice, but there are also a lot of great videos of people doing HEMA online. If you want to see what a match looks like, check out our youtube page!