Art of the Sword

"An excellent Master is esteemed by his knowledge and by his character. He possesses his art in all its extent and the order in which he has put his ideas and his principles is so natural that he is always ready to give the reason for it and to speak of it with great precision and ease. Interest is his long-term view and the progress of his Students obliges him as dearly as his reputation. Always occupied with their advancement, he studies their aptitude and their character in order to use the most appropriate means to make them succeedd. He does not change the order of his principles but he is ingenious in presenting them under the forms most intelligible and easiest to retain." The Art of Fencing Reduced to a Methodical Summary , Jean De Brye (1721)

"First of all you want a stable and strong foundation. That means your body. If you’re not physically able to train HEMA, you won’t get much out of training HEMA. You’re better off using your limited free hours to get strength, mobility, and endurance up to scratch. Then they stop holding you back in class. As a coach, I’d rather have a blank slate of a student who can train well for two hours in class than someone who knows the basic cuts but can’t last a class." Peter Smallridge