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No hay palabras ,México y Puerto Rico <3

Y así de repente como ocurren muchas de las mejores cosas, nos juntámos por la pasión en común y nos quedámos juntos por los enromes corazones!

Axolotes-Tijuana ,MX

Club Alfa de Esgrima Histórica-Aibonito ,PR

Esgrima Antigua e Histórica de Puerto Rico y del Caribe-San Juan, PR

417 HEMA-Missouri, US

Einhorn-California, US

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LARP Puerto Rico is Reinos Perdidos

Algunos de ustedes se acordarán de Softcombat Games Puerto Rico , organización de BofferLarp y actividades relacionadas en los tempranos 2000s. Cómo co-fundador de SGPR me dá mcha alegría que todavía haya entusiasmo por el hobby en la isla. Los jugadores nuevos de hace veinte años son los veteranos que ayudan a nuevos jugadores como Matthew Mercado Alicea a tomar la iniciativa de su nuevo proyecto.: Reinos Perdidos(Larping Puerto Rico).

Moldeado según una variedad de Larps/ReVs incluyéndo Bicolline el Larp más grande de las Américas, Reinos Perdidos se caracteriza por eventos bien organizados y seguros.

Cómo Tíoabuelo del Larp en Puerto Rico los exhorto a apoyar a MAtt y a sus compinches en su afán de seguir produciéndo eventos seguros, de calidad y divertidos.

En buena hora chicos!

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Puertorricans in HEMA on Facebook!

Boricuas practicing Historical European Martial Arts (H.E.M.A.)

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After 6 inches of snow, which is like the end of the world for us here....and a few days of zub-zero temperatures we can finally go outside....

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First joined practice of the year 2025

417 HEMA visits the oldest HEMA club in Springfield, the SHFG. From the verge extinction to becoming a solid and active German Tradition based HEMA club. I met my first guild member around 2018 when I first moved to Springfield from the island. At that time I was sadden to learnt that the founder and former instructor of the group was no longer meeting for practice.

But thanks to a few obstinate guild members the SHFG kept meeting and grew with a new direction a clearer goals. And 417 HEMA have bee there at every step. We have practice, leanrt, spar and competed together. Minimum drama....always transparent , welcoming and cordial.

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417 HEMA Longsword: Snow vs Solid Ice as cutting mediums 1-11-2025 Springfield MO

SNOW

SOLID ICE

417 HEMA Longsword: Snow vs Solid Ice as cutting mediums 1-11-2025 Springfield MO

Both mediums are free and reusable….it s just water duh. But it s weather /temperature dependent occurrence, meaning availability at least for the snow would be a seasonal thing.

There is a bit of a learning curve on providing a standing piece large enough to be of consequence, but the possibilities are endless….You can add aggregates to the water for making ice or mix it with the snow…like straw and/or sawdust …or even add colorant.

Depending on how compacted and aerate is the snow it may behave different….ask someone with more experience. And the ice fuses almost instantly to a compacted snow surface. Also I have been using different diameters and dimensions for my ice .

If you don t execute your cut well the ice will let you know immediately lol

Please let me know if you had any experience cutting with snow and/or ice as mediums on the comments!

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417 HEMA 1-10-2025 Snow day flourish after Danny s passing-Springfield MO

I m glad we got some "decent" snow at the end of the week. I always enjoy doing some kind of training on the snow. Flourish or "Floreado"is the word we commonly use on the Historical fencing community to denominate a sequence of well coordinated movements .

These can be based on the historical source , either a literal interpretation of the text or an interpretation more loosely based on it. It can be completely made up or improvised on the moment. This particular flourish is commonly known as the 64 Cut Drill created by Matt Galas. It s based on some Iberian sources dealing with the Montante but it translated to longsword.

On the passing of my friend Danny it seem appropriate to practice this one. Mostly the first 16 Cuts.Since Danny was able to figure it out just looking at a few MAtt Gala s recordings executing the whole thing. At "Esgrima Antigua e Historica de Puerto Rico y el Caribe" and at 417 HEMA we have always incorporated flourishes taken and/or based on the historical sources.

As well as the ones created by students and instructors as the advance on the studies. It s something we kind of borrow from the Kendo Kata and the practice of Carenza from Filipino Combat Systems Puerto Rico. And it works incredibly well as a training and instructing tool. Flourishes on the HEMA community became specially known around the time of the pandemic.

Everyone had a lot of free time , they wouldn t be able to attend tournaments nor seminars so we showed our skills through social media. And it kept us sane.

Feder by Marek Tadeusz Helman

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417 HEMA at 417 BJJ Gym @ 12-15-2024 Basic/Intermediate Longsword: 1000 basic cuts on PVC pipes

Marv Marinovich popularized the use of pvc pipes on mobility training among many other unusual techniques.

Paratschwert by Marek Tadeusz Helman 

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417 HEMA at the 417 BJJ Gym in Springfield MO

Going through some of the bare basics of the Longsword class.

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Join the SWMO HEMA page!

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Some Dussack action in Southwest Missouria

Some Dussack Action at the Fall HEMA Gathering in Joplin MO. (Thanks to Pumpking Spike Babe to makes us feel so welcomed!)

Dussacks by Kevin Franklin(Dirty Rotten Pirate/Dirty Pirate Leather). They are perfectly safe and super gentle….perfect for full contact.

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Multi-club HEMA Gathering @Joplin MO-10/13/2024

Multi-club HEMA Gathering @Joplin MO-10/13/2024

Nice to met new friends and fence some old ones. It s nice to see the two clubs in Joplin-MO kindda working together, hopefully they would work out their conflicts of interest and the newer group would respect the day and time of the older one.

There was an overabundance of Rapiers, Sideswords and Sabres…..a little bit of Messer and Dussack…..Fingers crossed there may be a soon-to-be-manufacturer of Messers in the Iowa area…Nagels crossed!!!!

Thanks to Dustin and Meg for being out there and for representing Springfield MO HEMA clubs…SHFG and 417 HEMA.

The obvious absent….well your were not missed. It s difficult to be missed when everyone else supports you but you just ghost/slander the same people that supported you in the past.

Word of advise:

For those new club leader, take notes…..cancel culture is not about the truth, it s about imposing your views and taking out the perceived competitors not with skill but with BS. (Mateo 7:1-6,Lucas 6:37-42)

On the other hand it s nice to see another Gathering in the SW Missouri Area not too different to the one Mike and I helped organized on Norma Champion park-Springfield MO four years ago. Unfortunately it a long time to the same to happened again….and heck of a shameful ego fest in-between.

It s a shame that the under-performing club, with the least experience and the worst safety/accident record in Springfield….it s the one creating a rift , and becoming an obstacle to these activities to happen on their own backyard.

Time will tell.

PS: Congratulations to Joshie for starting his own practice under the name UHF!

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Back from a nice HEMA Gathering in Joplin MO...hopefuly the first one of many in SW Missouri area!

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The Filipino Kali/ HEMA connection

I m so glad my friend George H. could joined us on this local longsword tournament. He proved that living martial traditions can cross-pollinate in a mutually beneficial relationship with reconstructed systems like the ones we study in HEMA.

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August friendly local longsword tournament

Almost 50 years later and I m still beaingt the #$%^of historical fencers half my edge....got a really close second place lol. They are still wondering how lol.

Most of the participants did really good, awesome ( artificial for some) camaraderie , sportmanship et all.

On the downside...lack of control and poor technique from the same group. Almost got injured again by someone without HEMA background whatsoever.

All in all, it s all fun and games....

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The Knightly Art & Science of the Medieval Longsword I

We would be introducing the attendees to some of the history behind the Longsword.

The various historical sources still in existence to this day dealing with the knightly art of the longsword. The anatomy of the longsword. Common misconceptions. Fundamentals and physical conditioning in a relaxed and casual manner.

The lecture /class would have a demonstrative part and a practical part. Proper safety etiquette would be observed at all times and there would be no contact between the participants.

We would be using balsa wood historical replicas of medieval wasters around a pound in weight and 48 inches of overall length provided and under the strict supervision of the lecturer.

We are a Spanish /English language inclusive study group.

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El hábito no hace al monje....sólo la práctica y el estudio concienzudo.

"Under-performing and slandering are not Life skills"

"Some things never change." Abordar casualmente las fuentes históricas , no es lo mismo que estudiárlas. Enfrentar años de experiencia , sacrificios, de ofrecer talleres y clases bien estructuradas y de competir en distintas disciplinas y esperar resultados distintos cada vez.....no va a ocurrir gordito. Después de meses trabajando para reponérme de una lesión en la rodilla me encontré con un novelón.....falsas amistades y traición. Ahora que estoy recuperado me puedo enfocar en lo que me gusta....poner en práctica lo aprendido de las fuentes históricas en un contexto moderno sin perder de vista el transfondo histórico. Y aún cuando no estoy en el peso y condición que me he impuesto como meta en las cercanías de un medio siglo de vida.....estoy como quiera un 150% mejor que la lacra bananera ésta.