The Sword Guy Podcast

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-208-swords-are-where-i-can-be-me-with-vera-martocchia  To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Vera Martocchia is a professional sword fighting instructor with nearly a decade of experience in historical martial arts. She co-founded the historical martial arts club Swordpunch in London, and teaches a wide range of weapons, including sidesword, longsword, dagger, sickle and more. In addition to her historical martial arts practice, Vera holds a master’s degree in international business, works as a marketing professional in tech and is a certified fitness professional with over 16 years of experience. Our wide-ranging conversation covers how getting pregnant is what got Vera into historical martial arts (in a roundabout sort of way) and the reasons she and her business partner Jack set up their own club. Setting up your own club may not be the practical choice, and we discuss how to manage all the responsibilities of both the club and life – hint: the answer is not to sleep. One of Vera’s driving forces was to create a club that is welcoming and a healthy learning and training environment with professional teaching methods. We talk about how to help vulnerable students, and how to professionalise HEMA teaching.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-207-the-perfectly-rational-fencer-with-martin-hoppner  To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Dr Martin Höppner has been involved in historical martial arts since joining a local reenactment club, “Berliner Rittergilde” in 2008 before getting into historical fencing in 2015 studying classical sabre and rapier at the University of Berlin club. He then moved into sword and buckler, inspired by Roland Warzecha’s work (you can hear from Roland here) and Fiore’s Art of Arms, before being seduced by Manciolino and Marozzo. In 2017 he co-founded Schildwache Potsdam as a collaboration between the Berliner Rittergilde and the University of Potsdam’s Academic Sports Centre. In 2020 and 2021 he was on the DDHF national longsword first squad. And since 2022 he was on the Rapier national squad, where he is now head coach. He runs the Schildwache Potsdam YouTube channel, and is one of the organizers of one of my favourite events, Swords of the Renaissance. He is a research associate at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg and has a PhD in economics and social sciences. Economics is very relevant to this episode, because Martin and I discuss how Game Theory relates to fencing. What is it rational to do when sparring and what do people actually do? What is the most rational way to react to an opponent who hits you increasingly hard or fast? Should you match them, or walk away? We also talk about rule sets in tournaments, and Martin’s thoughts on how to devise them to stop people gaming the rules, and make the fencing cleaner and scoring fairer.   Links of interest: Schildwache Potsdam (Martin’s club) and info on Swords of the Renaissance event: https://schildwache-potsdam.de/ The Schildwache Potsdam Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/SchildwachePotsdam Schildwache Potsdam YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/schildwache-potsdam  

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-206-you-re-a-fechtmeister-too-with-liam-clark To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Liam H. Clarke is a historical fencer with a focus on Renaissance-era German fencing traditions, specifically the work of Joachim Meyer. He has been practicing since 2016, first in the Rocky Mountains before returning home to the Pacific Northwest. For the last few years, he has been delving into the archives, researching the lives and times of the contemporaries of Joachim Meyer, publishing his findings, including illuminating Joachim Meyer’s family through his Substack, Evergreen Historical Fencing. In our chat, we discuss the appeal of delving into archives instead of just doing swordfighting: does having a better understanding of the lives of past masters help us fence better, or have a deeper enjoyment of practising historical fencing? Liam explains who Meyer was, his family’s background in paper production, and what life was like in city states like Strasbourg in the 16th Century. Every (male) citizen had a responsibility to own arms and armour and be prepared to protect the city, whether on night watch, military conflicts, or fire calls. Liam’s research can help us picture what daily life was like for Meyer and his contemporaries, and how they had the same struggles with money and other commitments that we have today. One thing Liam’s research has highlighted is how young these fencing masters were, and how a “Fechtmeister” wouldn’t have been a wizened old man with a long beard. Meyer was only in his early thirties when he died. Many of us practising HEMA today would qualify as a ‘Master’, which is a nice thought for reducing the imposter syndrome! All of Liam’s research findings and articles are open source and freely available at https://evergreenfencing.substack.com/p/three-other-fechtmeisters-of-strasbourg Check it out!

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/salute-before-you-cross-swords-with-damon-young To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy My guest today, Damon Young, is an Australian philosopher, author and martial artist. He has written 14 books or so, including Philosophy in the Garden, Distraction, and On Getting Off: Sex and Philosophy. He has also edited a couple of books on philosophy and martial arts, such as Engagement: Philosophy and the Martial Arts, and Martial Arts and Philosophy: Beating and Nothingness, perhaps my favourite title. His latest work is Immortal Gestures, Journeys in the Unspoken. For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy You might remember Damon from his previous appearances on this show in Episode 31, Why Swords Are Cool, and again in Episode 44, What is a Sword? Unfortunately for Damon, he’s not doing a lot of sword swinging at the moment because of an as yet unidentified issue with his arms. We discuss how he might get this issue sorted – which may involve flying to Helsinki – and how it can be tricky to prioritise your own health over other priorities and difficult life stuff. We also revisit the definition of a sword. What is a sword? When is a sword-like object not a sword? Damon’s new book is about gestures, and we talk about the weird politeness of a salute or a bow that’s absolutely essential before you try and murder someone with a kilo of sharp steel. A gesture can be an important symbol of trust and respect, and this courtesy separates martial arts or duels from a more bestial act or something a commoner might do. Our conversation goes off in several tangents, discussing whether philosophy is a scam, pens, getting rid of stuff, cataloguing your book collection, notebooks and the history of sticking two fingers up to the French.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-204-staying-fit-for-fencing-with-dr-elizabeth-scott  To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Elizabeth Scott is a historical martial arts and armoured combat practitioner on foot and on horseback, which is extremely cool, as well as being an orthopaedic surgeon, which is arguably even cooler. Her latest venture is Sprezzatura Sports, a company providing health and fitness training for sports fencers and historical martial artists. Of course, her main claim to fame is having appeared on this show before in episode 114. Things have changed for Liz since our last conversation in 2022, as at the time of recording, she was preparing to move herself, her dog, and maybe her horse over to the UK to start a master’s degree in Sport, Strength and Conditioning at Loughborough University. It’s just Liz doing the degree, not the dog or the horse. In our conversation we talk about recovery from injury, how to stay injury free and take care of our bodies as we age. We also talk about training for historical fencing, training for tournaments, and dealing with both the mental and physical sides of tournament fencing. Liz is a mounted combat enthusiast, and we discuss vaulting onto your horse – while in full armour – and how this was an essential part of the medieval training, despite seeming pretty impossible to us modern folk.