AG Open 2024

Anthony Buonomo is the founder of Historical Weapons Guild, with locations in Austin, TX and Traverse City, MI. From its humble beginnings as a park meet up it has grown under his direction to a thriving organization which offers a variety of weekly classes along with beginner's introduction courses, regular workshops, and has recently expanded into virtual lessons. While he has been studying HEMA since 2014, his prior training in mixed martial arts -- combining Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Judo, and Aikido -- help inform his unique approach to teaching HEMA. In addition to martial arts, Anthony has participated in SCA combat, done foam fighting with Dagorhir, and spent most of high school hitting friends with foam weapons. He has taught workshops and classes at multiple events and is has also been fortunate enough to travel and provide weekend seminars for other HEMA schools. He is featured in multiple Modern Rogue videos online, and strives to be a HEMA ambassador for their viewers.

Club: Historical Weapons Guild
Specializes in: MS I.33 sword and buckler; Lichtenauer longsword; Thibault's rapier;

Brandon started has been with Ars Gladii since 2018, now serving as an assistant instructor focusing on rapier and sidesword, and more pertinently, as the de facto school photographer/videographer. He also has an engineering background that covers some image and signal processing as well as some professional experience on a camera engineering team. Three years ago he picked up an old used DSLR and started photography as a COVID hobby. Since then he has been picking up various aspects of photo/videography, synthesizing it with his science and engineering foundation and seeing what works for capturing HEMA. Besides HEMA, he also enjoys wildlife photo/videography.

Club: Ars Gladii

I started fencing in 2018, beginning with longsword and eventually picking up rapier and messer in 2021. I have since medaled in 6 different weapon sets. I am very passionate about competition, and I want to push boundaries in HEMA and see skill level rise to even greater heights. Excluding fencing, I have over a decade of high level sports experience between baseball and wrestling, and I enjoy bringing many aspects of what I’ve learned, from competition mindset, to coaching tactics or drill-crafting, into my overall fencing paradigm.

Club: En Garde Fencing
Specializes in: Longsword and Rapier

Eric Dalshaug first began the study of historical European martial arts in 2011 with Saskatoon Historical Fencing. In October 2019, he helped found Edmonton Historical Martial Arts, and has been a leadership member and instructor at this club ever since. In over a decade of HEMA experience, he has competed in tournaments across North America while also striving for constant personal improvement as a coach and instructor for his students at his home club. He is a student of Liechtenauer Kunst des Fechtens, with a particular focus on studying and fencing according to Ms3227a, also called the Pol Hausbuch or the Dobringer codex. He also has a deep interest in fencing pedagogy, and believes strongly in collaboration and sharing methods between individuals, clubs, and organizations to improve the quality of training and instruction across the HEMA community

Club: Edmonton Historical Martial Arts
Specializes in: Kunst des Fechtens, particularly 3227a.

I have been practicing HEMA since about 2005, studying, and later teaching with the UCSA, primarily focusing on Fiore, but also exploring other masters and systems, such as Vadi and Meyer. In addition, I also study with True Edge Academy, focusing on KDF longsword, and in general, try to continue learning, integrating, and refining what I know, do, and can teach from everyone that I can.

Club: United Clans Swordsman Association
Specializes in: Primarily Fiore and KDF longsword

Jane (formerly Johnston) started HEMA in Vancouver in 2014 and decided she liked it enough to keep doing it as long as she could. She is known for gear reviews and travelling a lot (pre-covid), medalling in both women's and open longsword competitions, and jumping into anybody's corner to coach at a moment's notice. She represented Team North America at the 2019 European Games in Minsk and briefly operated Vancouver Historical Fencing. Most recently she has been focused on coaching methodologies, skill acquisition and performance, and sports psychology while pursuing a degree in kinesiology.

Jane is currently teaching and training at Edmonton Historical Martial Arts. If you get her to start talking about coaching, judging, or concussions, you may find it difficult to get her to stop.

Club: San Diego Swordfighters
Specializes in: German Longsword

In addition to frequently showing up in tournament finals, JW likes to study the tactics and adaptations of other high-level fencers. His YouTube channel, HEMA Fight Breakdowns, continues to grow its following with an audience around the world.

Specializes in: Longsword

Kat Dunham is an instructor at Ars Gladii primarily teaching RDL Longsword. She started her sword journey with modern sabre, then Kendo, and eventually transitioned to HEMA in 2016. Her focus is on the trifecta of early KDF traditions – Longsword, Dagger, and Wrestling, however she has picked up Messer, Meyer Rapier and more recently, Smallsword. Loving the diversity of weapons, people and the intellectual pursuit that HEMA provides, she expects to be a lifelong practitioner.

Club: Ars Gladii

Keith Cotter-Reilly is originally from Cork, Ireland. Through a long convoluted trek via Nagasaki Japan, he has ended up living in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He is the head instructor for the Atlanta Historical Fencing Academy. Keith has taught workshops at several of the HEMA events in the USA, was a member of the HEMA Alliance General Council for three years, runs the South Renaissance Fencing Open with the David Coblentz, and is a frequent Referee/Director of tournaments.

Club: Atlanta Historical Fencing Academy

Kirsten has been studying HEMA for 9 years in the high mountain desert and instructing since 2018 full-time, with focus on German Longsword bridging the gaps between Liechtenauer's art and Meyer's Art of Combat. By the time of the event, she will also have her Doctorate of Biology, and can tell you the similarities between mosquito research and swordfighting.

Club: True Edge Academy of Swordsmanship
Specializes in: Longsword (German), Polearm, Dagger.

Lindsey Mitchell began training in HEMA with the Atlanta Historical Fencing Academy in summer of 2021 and entered the tournament scene in 2023. Since her first competition, she has climbed to number 13 in the world in URG Longsword and 1382 in Open Longsword, having participated in 7 tournaments along the US East Coast. She is part of the tournament committee for SERFO (South Eastern Renaissance Fencing Open), leading the coordination for Director scheduling and training. She is passionate about nurturing good tournament mindsets, having managed her own mental health and performance anxiety in sport, and full-body strength training.

Club: Atlanta Historical Fencing Academy
Specializes in: Longsword

Rebecca has been training HEMA since 2014 and involved in the competitive scene since 2015. She has helped organize events including Fighty McFightface 2018, Flowerpoint 2019, and Ladies Knight 2023 and 2024.

Club: L'arte

With over 12 years of HEMA under his belt as well as a successful school and business (SoCal Swords), RJ brings a ton of knowledge and experience with him wherever he goes. RJ specializes in cutting (all types of blades), KdF, and Leckuchner's messer, and will be happy to talk to you about all of these topics and more! In his free time, RJ enjoys flying off of mountain tops on his Hang Glider.

Club: SoCal Swords

Sean Franklin began his HEMA career in 2011, and hit the ground running. Due to his prior experience in the Canadian High-Performance Sport System he was able to apply his physical conditioning and disciplined training focus to develop as a martial artist at a rapid rate, being able to outfight many club head instructors after only a few years’ experience. Sean has experience in many weapons and traditions, having competitive medals in most tournament weapon sets.

Sean’s experience in sports coaching has allowed him to rapidly develop as a martial arts instructor, working to develop high level martial artists by instructing at schools and events around the world. Recently he served as a delegate and coach for the North American team at the 2019 European Summer Games (yes, you read 'North American team at the European Games' correctly.) A passionate advocate of test cutting, Sean finds they practice useful for both preserving understanding of historical use and as a tool to assist the development of quality body mechanics.

Sean might be most known for his instructional YouTube videos, which is ironically the least impressive credential in terms of demonstrating actual competence. 😉

Club: Ars Gladii

Stephen Cheney is the head coach at Bucks Historical Longsword in Bucks County, PA, a club which focuses on the RDL long sword tradition. He has translated several early KdF related texts, some of which are featured on Wiktenauer. In addition to HEMA, he also has experience in Modern Olympic Fencing (épée and sabre), kendo (4th dan, AUSKF), and judo (4th kyu, USJA). He was an active competitor in the Northeast USA longsword tournament scene. His current focus is the constraints-led approach to coaching, game design, and their application in teaching the longsword according to the RDL tradition.

Club: Bucks Historical Longsword

Tyler is an instructor at Ars Gladii in Michigan. He has been practicing martial arts and combative sports for the majority of his life, but always felt something was missing from them. After joining Ars Gladii in 2016, he dove deeply into the early Germanic martial arts glosses founded on the teachings of Johannes Liechtenauer (commonly abbreviated as 'RDL'). His primary focus is on unarmored fencing with the longsword, but he also studies wrestling and the various other weapons found within the traditions, such as the messer and sword and buckler.

Tyler's primary interest in HEMA is in the tactical and conceptual aspects of fighting within the contexts of specific traditions, and how modern training practices can be used to learn them, and apply them in uncooperative scenarios. Since beginning to earnestly compete in the tournament scene in late 2021, and having medaled in multiple regional and national events, he's become even more convinced that the sources can be used to address real problems in sparring and competition. Developing drills and games that help people to explore and internalize aspects of the early Germanic systems has become a fun and meaningful part of his personal HEMA study.

Club: Ars Gladii
Specializes in: KdF Longsword, Messer

Veronica serves as one of the Assistant Instructors at the Atlanta Historical Fencing Academy (AHFA) in Atlanta, GA. They are currently ranked #10 in the world for URG Longsword and within the top 1,000 in Open Longsword worldwide. Her primary weapon is Longsword, but also is proficient with Sword & Buckler, Spear/Quarterstaff, and Saber. She also founded and leads the resource group called 'Arc' at AHFA, for underrepresented genders to promote good club culture and to provide a focused training environment. They have a focus on Sports Psychology and its unique interaction with HEMA. Veronica has been competing in HEMA since 2019. She has also taught workshops and classes at the IGX 2022, Mid-Continental HEMA Open 2022, and King’s Cup 2023.

Club: Atlanta Historical Fencing Academy
Specializes in: Meyer Longsword and Quarterstaff