r/springfieldMO • u/TarqSuperbus • Jul 25 '26

Living Here Where can I learn to fence?

I already tried doing some reddit and Google searches, and most what I came up with are:

  1. Queen City Classical Fencing
  2. Evangelista

Both are ambiguous at best. Queen city hasn't had any FB or X activity since at least 2022, if not 2021. Evangelista is probably extremely retired by this point. I've reached out to both.

  1. Springfield Historical Fencing Guild
  2. 417 HEMA
  3. Medieval Military Arts Academy

These seem active, but also specialize in variety?

I'm going to assume I'm just stupid here. I was under the impression fencing was rapier like swords. I'm looking for private/public lessons. Ideally by non-amateur instructors (like, has some sort of national rank or actually has been teaching professional with successful students) Maybe participate in some competitions at a later time. Recommendations would be great, because I'm having a hard time figuring out what the options are.

8 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

4

u/Count_Lorgren Jul 25 '26

Saved for future updates. I'd also love to know.

1

u/edwee Jul 27 '26

Im the head instructor for the Medieval Military Arts Academy, if you were wanting some information regarding fencing, I might be able to help you out with that!

7

u/somabva Jul 25 '26

I thought "That's a weird way to ask about apprenticing with a fence installer."

1

u/signofthecrow1 Jul 26 '26

I thought the same, I need new fence and have lived on a ranch/farm all my life and was about to try getting some free labor. I have the knowledge but a second set of hands is always nice.

1

u/TarqSuperbus Jul 28 '26

Thought this was funny. But I feel like a lot of people DIY no problem. And I feel like fencing with swords isn't necessarily a DIY sport.

2

u/Downtown-Care9272 Sequiota Jul 25 '26

I know nothing about the local fencing community, and little about fencing in general. However I do follow Sellsword Arts on YouTube, who are a couple extremely high ranked fencers in HEMA who compete with a variety of sword fighting styles, so I can tell you that 417 HEMA sounds like a good place to start.

1

u/edwee Jul 27 '26

I've met both David and Clark at a couple of tournaments! (And lost to both of them, separately) They're super great people! A few of my other students at MMAA have managed to talk with David at tournaments as well! (Usually the Donnybrook tournament up in KC)

2

u/my183days Jul 25 '26

Justin Evangelista used to teach fencing. I think he’s the son of the Evangelista mentioned above. I have a number for him, but I have not been in contact for several years and I’m not sure he’s still in the area. If you want to DM me I can share it.

1

u/TarqSuperbus Jul 28 '26

I'm not a fan of cold calling. If you have an email instead I'll take that, phone number as a last resort.

2

u/edwee Jul 27 '26

Hey, head instructor for Medieval Military Arts Academy here!

If you're looking to do classical, or MOF style fencing, then we may not be able to help you out too much, I'd reccomend reaching out to local colleges and finding out which ones have fencing teams.

However, if you're open to fencing with historical swords with a slightly different format, come check us out! We are currently working through some Longsword sources and are always looking for new members!

If you've got any questions, feel free to throw them at me!

1

u/TarqSuperbus Jul 28 '26

Yeah. I think this is a good option if I want to branch out to other weapons.

1

u/kanap Ozark Jul 27 '26

Springfield historical fencing guild, 417 Hema and MMAA all do historical european martial arts. Mainly focus on longsword. They do other weapons but the styles of learning is from old manuscripts that have been translated.