For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/big-blue-flags-with-marli-vlok/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Marli Vlok is a virologist, historical martial arts instructor and historical flag waver. She was also a competitive target shooter who represented South Africa for a decade.

Now based in Ottawa, Canada, Marli tells us about her work finding viruses in the oceans and working on diseases, including Covid, of course.

Marli got into historical martial arts through a Groupon voucher, which started her on the path to becoming a rapier instructor. Since moving to Ottawa she has changed up her weapons a bit and also got into historical flag waving. The flags are very big and were used for both battlefield signalling and for raising soldiers’ morale. Some of the moves are very gymnastic and others involve sword actions, or even a sword in one hand, flag in the other.

We also talk about target shooting, biathlon, the Neapolitan masters, comparative studies, and driving across Canada with a car full of swords and guinea pigs.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/sword-geekery-and-stunts-with-jared-kirby/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Jared Kirby is a fight director and stage and screen combat instructor at the New York Combat for stage and screen. He’s a stuntman on shows such as Law and Order, The Equalizer, Bluebloods, and Gotham. We talk about how Jared got interested in stage combat, and the most dangerous stunt he has ever done.

Jared is also Maestro d’Armee with the Martinez Academy, editor of the first published translation of Capoferrro and of the re-publication of Angelo's The School of Fencing and of Vincentio Saviolo’s Of Honour and Honorable Quarrels. He also re-published McBane’s The Expert Swordsman’s Companion, and has co-authored Staging Shakespeare's Violence. We have a geek out about Capoferro’s 1609 treatise, and you can find the pictures on the blog at https://swordschool.com/podcast/sword-geekery-and-stunts-with-jared-kirby/ 

He was one of the founders and organizers of the International Swordplay and Martial Arts Convention, my first international gig back in 2001, which morphed into CombatCon, which he continues to run.

Jared gives a shout out to my SwordPeople social media platform. If you haven’t yet joined, click here to join your fellow sword people: https://swordpeople.com/

To find out more about Jared, see: https://www.jaredkirby.com/

Stunt Reel: https://youtu.be/litxb97CQZc

Sword Skills Reel: https://youtu.be/HhOAkUmz_08

Books:

https://www.amazon.com/Italian-Rapier-Combat-Ferros-Simulacro/dp/178438691X/

and

https://www.amazon.com/Staging-Shakespeares-Violence-Fight-Domestic/dp/1526762404/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/cutting-and-calligrams-with-brittany-reeves/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

In this episode, I welcome back Brittany Reeves, who is the head instructor of Mordhau Historical Combat in Mesa, Arizona. She is a seasoned instructor, having taught across Europe and North America with a specialisation in test cutting with sharp blades. She is of course most famous for her first appearance on this show in Episode 22.

In our conversation we talk about the value of cutting with sharps, how the cutting tournament scene has been developing in the United States, and issues with sourcing tatami and getting insurance. We talk about potential alternatives to tatami, practising with moving targets, and how competitions are judged. Brittany has lots of cutting videos on her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrittanySaintLeafy

We then move on to talk about art history and Fabris. What’s going on with the images of people in the 1601 Fabris manuscript? Why might they look so weird?

As Brittany runs her own club, we also discuss her best and worst business decisions so far, and Brittany has a potentially excellent business idea for what to do with $1 million.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/thc-tournaments-and-training-with-david-ito/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

There is a slightly different intro to this episode as Guy is in Kansas being medievally wrestled by Jessica Finley. Hear the noises here!

Onto the interview: David Ito is a fire eater, an epee coach and former kendo player who plays with longswords now, based in Toronto, Canada. Of course, his main claim to fame, top of the resume, is he appeared on episode 25 of this show, back in December 2020. With the world reopening David is living the life of a literary swashbuckler: fighting with swords, hanging out with glamorous show people, and attending all the scandalous parties.

To find out more about David and his work, you can find him on Instagram @ittoswords, or the Toronto Historical Combatants at www.torontohistoricalcombatants.ca.

Our conversation covers David’s training routine – does he really still do 100 burpees every morning? We talk about keeping track of progress and the overlap between training for epee and for historical martial arts. 

When we last spoke on episode 25, David’s best idea he hadn’t acted on yet was to start his own club. Well, he’s done it! He explains his goals for the club and where it fits within the sword community in Toronto.

David has also got into the tournament scene since we last spoke, with great success. He talks about how he trains and even if you don’t have as many hours in the week to train as he does, he has some advice on where to focus if you have limited time.

Photo Credit: Angel Uribe

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/brains-biology-and-better-teaching-with-sara-lewis/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr Sara Lewis is a neuroscientist specializing in the biology of childhood movement disorders, and a longtime historical martial artist starting in the SCA in 1999, where she is known as Perin De La Serena.

Since 2016 Sara has been with the Phoenix Society for Historical Swordsmanship, where she has written many articles on improving diversity and inclusiveness in historical martial arts, and has written reports on the challenges facing women rapier fencers in the SCA, which we discuss in the episode and are linked below. Sara has also produced a series of videos on applying the neuroscience of learning motor skills to teaching historical combat, again, links below.

We start our conversation, however, by talking about a traumatic injury that Sara received during longsword training. Sara explains what led to the injury, the consequences for her personally, and the (lack of) consequences for the instructor responsible.

Here are the useful links from Sara:

Video play list:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC3Lv55IrIsikIoCLNbnPhHBOuYWBbMhE

Blog articles about improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in historical combat: 

https://valkyriebootcamp.blogspot.com/ 

Study on gender differences in recognition:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LP3tbBdqfMkvQit-jr05zkEqC4reo0XP/view

Study of variables predicting retention and envisioning success:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MFnDP8XiMGPZ4L4XvNbd--vGX4_U36yZ1GBfIhMsxD0/edit?usp=sharing.

The missing stair:

http://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2012/06/missing-stair.html

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/wma-hema-the-sca-and-other-abbreviations-with-david-biggs/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

David Biggs is a lawyer, a diplomat and senior historical martial arts instructor with The Tattershall School of Defense. He's known in the SCA as Aeron Harper, where he is a Master of Defense and a Laurel. He's also the organizer, with two previous guests on the show, Lisa Losito and Monica Gaudio, of Lord Baltimore's Challenge, which is one of my favourite historical martial arts events.

In our conversation we talk about the distinction, if there is one, between western martial arts (WMA) and historical European martial arts (HEMA), and what prompted him to want to start Lord Baltimore’s Challenge.

We also talk about what’s happening in the SCA at the moment, with a scandal around rule-breaking, “half of one percent”, and a petition for change at the very top.

David is a fellow woodworker, and one of the things he makes is harps. Head to the blog for pictures! 

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/hema-for-life-with-dr-marie-meservy/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr Marie Meservy is a neuro radiologist, a psychologist, historical martial artist, sword mom to the Noble Science Academy in Nevada and the organizer of Fraufecht, which is the only American women's event west of New York.

In our conversation, we talk about running a school and training students to create the best outcomes. We discuss how to get new people, especially women, to join your club and how to create a good curriculum and feedback mechanisms.

Marie has lots of experience in coaching fencers through tournaments, and she explains the best kind of mindset to have when fencing competitively. Speaking of tournaments, we also hear about Fraufecht: why it is needed, when it is, and what happens at the event. Marie shares some of the data on women’s participation at tournaments, and we have a discussion about affirmative action and how to avoid the perception that women need extra help to attain the things they have attained.

We also talk about head injuries, AI in medicine and historical martial arts, performing well in exams, and Annie Lennox.

If you would like to chat to other swordy folk about this week’s episode, you can find a post on SwordPeople, in the pub. Not on SwordPeople yet? Join us!

And here’s the link to Guy’s Get Ready for Rapier series of very short videos, mentioned in the introduction: www.guywindsor.net/grr 

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/dressing-up-with-zack-pinsent/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Zack Pinsent is a tailor of bespoke period clothing for men and women, reproducing primarily Regency civilian and military costume. He is vocal on social and political issues while being immaculately dressed. His website is https://www.pinsenttailoring.co.uk/

Zack lives in Brighton and in our conversation he tells us about his plans for a grand Regency ball at the Brighton Pavilion in January 2024. At the time of writing ticket sales haven’t yet opened, but here’s his Pinterest board for you to see the type of dress that everyone will be wearing and what the Brighton Pavilion is like, if you are not familiar with it: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/Zack_Pinsent/brighton-pavilion-ball/

We talk about what men’s clothes ought to be like: how they should fit, the quality of tailoring, the colour palette, the pockets. We also discuss hats and trousers. There’s a bit of sword talk too, of course.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/adhd-speedboats-and-wrestling-in-kindergarten-with-katriina-malkki/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Katriina Malkki is a historical martial artist, dietician with an MSc from the University of Eastern Finland, a Ph.D. student and mum of four plus a lizard. She's an author and also a sea rescue volunteer.

In our conversation we discuss nutrition: What does Katriina think of the Paleo diet, fasting, or keto? Top tips from a nutritionist are eat more vegetables and drink less booze!

We also talk about ADHD, the symptoms, medication, and living with the condition. We discuss what historical martial arts instructors should bear in mind when teaching students with ADHD, and also what might help an instructor who has ADHD to run their classes. Katriina mentions Adele Diamond and her work on Executive Functions. Here’s an article and a video about it:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4084861/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__8mV-7yAaE

Katriina has an excellent and novel idea of what to do with €1 million to improve historical martial arts, and it involves very small children.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.com/podcast/sword-people-are-book-people-with-diniz-cabreira/

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Diniz Cabreira is a Kunst des Fechtens practitioner at Arte do Combate, a publisher of historical martial arts books, primarily on La Verdadera Destreza in Portuguese, at AGEA Editora, and a graphic designer. He’s currently researching historical martial arts publishing and has a lot of questions for Guy...

This is a great episode for anyone interested in book publishing (not just sword books) as Guy shares his wealth of experience in publishing and selling tens of thousands of books over the last twenty years or so. Find out what sells and what doesn’t, what might be the next big thing, and how to get your own book onto people’s shelves.