Instructors for

Jeannette Acosta-Martínez is a professional restorer of antique furniture who specializes in works of the 17th and 18th centuries. This, together with her interest in antique weapons, led her to the study of fencing. She began under the tutelage of Máitre d'Armes Frederick Rohdes, and after his death in 1983, continued with his protégé Maestro Ramon Martínez. In all, Maestro Acosta-Martínez has spent a total of 18 years studying traditional fencing, both classical and historical. In 1995, she became an instructor at Martínez Academy of Arms, as well as the Academy's business manager. She also became Maestro Martínez' assistant at all his demonstrations and seminars.

In preparation for her Provost's and Master's certification, Maestro Acosta-Martínez devoted time to learning the art of teaching, as well as extensively researching the fencing treatises of the classical and historical periods. In January 1999, she was instrumental in orchestrating a historical exposition at St. Peter's College, New Jersey, which had international participation and featured demonstrations not seen in public for more than 100 years. In May of 2000, she received her Master's certification from the International Masters at Arms Federation and a second certification from the Martinez Academy of Arms the following November, thus becoming the only other Master certified to teach the Rohdes system of classical fencing and the Martínez system of Spanish rapier fence. Maestro Acosta-Martínez is also the Vice President of the Association for Historical Fencing and a founding member of the International Masters at Arms Federation.

Nathan's interest in martial arts began in 1982 with the study a number of Asian styles. Despite intensive study, none of them struck a warm spot in his heart until in 1999 he began to study European swordplay. In 2000, still frightfully green in sword but with a wealth of training and instructional skill from other styles, he joined Cecil Longino at Academia della Spada. In 2001 he devoted himself to the cut-and-thrust sword, eventually settling upon the treatises of George Silver. Since then he has worked to develop a practical interpretation true to Silver's text which can be pursued by serious scholars of fencing. In 2004 The Academy began a curriculum devoted to Silver's backsword with classes taught 3 days per week in the Seattle area.

Antone Blair began fencing in 1995. Quickly becoming dissatisfied with the non-serious nature of most competitive and historical re-enactment styles of fencing, he began seeking information on the rapier and duelling sword as serious martial arts.

In May 2001 Antone attended a seminar on the art of Spanish rapier taught by Maestri Ramon and Jeannette Acosta Martinez and assisted by Jared Kirby. Antone immediately developed a passion for the Spanish school of fencing and has since become a student at the Martinez Academy of Arms. Antone primarily studies French duelling sword and Spanish rapier. He teaches fencing at Humboldt State University and the Destreza Pacifica Fencing Club in Arcata, California.

Antone is also studies and trains in the use of the Spanish Navaja under Maestro James Loriega of the Raven Arts Institute.

After receiving his Bachelor of Science and Education from the University of Arkansas in 1985, Mr. Charron spent twenty years participating in Historical Reenactment of the Medieval era. His personal research and training in education led him to teach classes in topics ranging from Vegetius' De Rei Militari to Government and Law in 12th and 13th century Jerusalem.

Always seeking after primary source material in the use and instruction of arms, he acquired a copy of the Getty-Ludwig manuscript of the Fior di Bataglia, a treatise written by Fiore Dei Liberi, the early 15th century instructor at arms to the court of Nicolo d'Este, Marquise da Ferrara. This master work includes an extensive prologue describing Fiore's personal experience and advice to the combatant, a complete explanation of the structure of the treatise, and a list of his famous students and their opponents. Following this introduction are hundreds of illustrations and accompanying paragraphs of text explaining this complete martial arts system and its concepts as it moves from hand-to-hand combat, knife fighting, swordplay, the use of the spear and the pollaxe, and ends with techniques for the mounted combatant.

Mr. Charron has spent the last several years translating the text, interpreting the techniques, and further researching the scientific principles on which the art is based and the biographies of the men who employed it. He teaches weekly classes and private lessons through St. Martins Academy of Medieval Arms, a martial arts academy using the Fior di Bataglia as its curriculum for instruction. He has traveled the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe teaching the material from the treatise. He has presented three papers at the Kalamazoo Medieval Conference on Fiore's work, with a fourth scheduled for the 2005 session.

In addition to the translation of the text and the demonstration of the techniques, Mr. Charron also presents on the internal organization of the manuscript, the links within this work to memory systems, academics, art and culture of the period.

Mr. Charron uses his skills and enthusiasm as an educator to bring the art to life, and to share it within the context of the science and society which created such a beautiful and effective martial arts system.

Kristina Charron holds a B.S. in Animal Science with an Equine major from The Ohio State University. She has been riding horses for over twenty five years and has been a professional riding instructor and horse trainer for over fifteen years. For the last ten years she has applied her practical knowledge to researching the use of the medieval warhorse, including cavalry tactics and the use of sword, bow and spear from horseback. She has been invited to publish several articles, and to deliver numerous lectures and demonstrations on her award-winning research.

Gary Chelak began studying historical fencing in 1994 while attending college. He served as both assistant and primary instructor for rapier combat prior to graduation.

Mr. Chelak earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Northern Arizona University with an extended major in Visual Communication (Dec., 1997). Having succeeded in creative & management positions in the graphic design field, he currently balances freelance design with full time graphic arts instruction at a private college in Southern California, where he was recently voted Outstanding MultiMedia Instructor by the student body.

As Rector for the Tattershall School of Defence (Southern California) Gary studies & teaches Italian rapier primarily in the US, having also done research and taught in Great Britain and Canada. His primary foci are Italian systems of rapier, sidesword, and longsword. Additional studies include French smallsword, Spanish rapier, Italian unarmed combat, and German systems of sword & buckler, longsword, and wrestling.

Known as Giacomo Cavalli da Treviso in the Society for Creative Anachronism, he is a member of the Defenders of the White Scarf (the organization's highest award for fence).

Gary has studied, taken part in, and choreographed theatrical combat, having done work for Theatrikos Theater and Northern Arizona University, both located in Flagstaff.

Bringing history alive is the passion of Steaphen Fick, founder of the Davenriche Martial Artes School (DEMAS), located in Santa Clara and Morgan Hill. Based on an ancient European style of self-defence (old English spelling), students from age six to seventy-six learn how to safely swing swords, fight with long sticks, daggers and rapiers, and learn other techniques that were part of the tradition of knights centuries ago.

Fascinated by the "days of yore," Steaphen began sword fighting in full armor for a tournament company in 1989. Initially, he learned how to compete through what might be called the literal school of hard knocks. However, while on his honeymoon in Europe, he had the good fortune to spend over six months in Edinburg, Scotland, and on a return trip, was able to study 11 different weapons, as well as age-old wrestling techniques and styles.

When the tournament company dissolved, Steaphen founded his school, DEMAS, as a way to continue to share his enjoyment of the art. In addition to his adult classes in Long Sword Fencing, and Rapier and Dagger, and his Long Sword Fencing classes for children, Steaphen also offers a special class in street safety for women called, "Be S.A.F.E." (Secure, Aware and Free Everywhere) in which women are taught how to best avoid potential harm, as well as simple maneuvers to escape from an attacker.

Steaphen has done demonstrations and lectures for Stanford University, the UC (University of California) History department, middle schools and high schools, and the Santa Clara County Library system, as well as Home School Organizations.

Always one to share his passion, Steaphen gives demonstrations in schools, participates in international fencing tournaments, and teaches at international seminars, including the Western Martial Arts Workshops (WMAW). For the past two years, he has also hosted and organized the Renaissance Fencing Camp in San Jose. In addition, he is a member of the Association of Historical Fencing, and the Dawn Duelists Society of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Jared Kirby began his studies of historical fencing in Minneapolis, MN. After several years, he moved to Scotland in order to work with Maestro Paul Macdonald, focusing on Italian Rapier, Longsword and Dusack. In pursuing his studies of Western Martial Arts, Jared has done research in to the historical forms of Dusack and the Italian Rapier, extensively studying the treatises written by the respective prominent masters of these weapons. He is the editor and one of the translators of Italian Rapier Combat, the first complete, professional translation of Capo Ferro's 1610 treatise.

Jared moved to New York in 1999 to focus his studies on the Spanish school of Rapier at the Martinez Academy of Arms. Since then he has been studying both the Spanish and Italian systems of Rapier at the Academy. In December of 2003, he received the rank of Instructor for Spanish and Italian Rapier. Jared often assists Maestro Martinez at seminars and demonstrations.

Jared is the co-founder of The New Dawn Duellists Society in Minneapolis, MN. He is also the co-coordinator of the International Swordfighting and Martial Arts Convention in Lansing, MI. This workshop, created in 2000, brings together the finest instructors from around the world for one of the largest annual Western Martial Arts workshops. Jared is a full member of the Dawn Duellists Society in Edinburgh, Scotland and a member of the Association for Historical Fencing.

Tom was born in Locarno, Switzerland and grew up in the Brianza region of Northern Italy. His extensive education in the humanities included the study of Latin, ancient Greek, history, philosophy, Early Music and philology. Tom continued his academic studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Switzerland) and then at Texas Christian University where he earned a Bachelor's degree cum laude in classical music composition and a Master's in business administration.

Tom's interest in swordsmanship began in the early Nineties, at which time he started a serious and thorough investigation of most extant primary sources from 16th and 17th century Italy. This analysis lead him to a lifelong commitment to the rapier system of Salvator Fabris (1544-1618). Thanks in great part to Tom's research, Fabris is emerging from the mists of history as one of the most celebrated rapierists of his time and the founder of a long and illustrious fencing lineage traceable well into the 18th century. Fabris' list of notable International pupils included the Archbishop of Bremen and the King of Denmark, under whose patronage he published his monumental rapier treatise Lo Schermo, overo Scienza D'Arme (1606).

Tom's methodology as a researcher and a teacher is strongly philological, and relies on the direct and precise analysis of the period texts within their cultural context. Thanks to this approach, he and his students have been recognized as being singularly true to their source and "looking like the book." As the leading researcher of the rapier system of Fabris, Tom has published the first complete critical English translation of the Scienza D'Arme through Chivalry Bookshelf. Also, he operates as a consultant on other research projects throughout the WMA community.

Besides the rapier, Tom's other martial interests center around the 16th-Century Bolognese school and, since recently, Classical fencing. Tom lives in Alexandria, Virginia, where he runs the school he founded, the Order of the Seven Hearts. By day, he is marketing manager for a prestigious International sporting-goods brand.

From an early age Cecil has held an interest in martial arts, beginning with his study of Tae Kwon Do from Master Tiger Cho. After exploring various Eastern arts he became captivated with the notion of historical fencing while living in Germany. In 1994, from the University of North Florida, he received his Bachelor of Arts in Drama with a focus on Elizabethan stagecraft. Founder of the Elizabethan reenactment troupe, Blood, Love & Rhetoric, Cecil has spent many years researching various aspects of Elizabethan society and Culture: literature, philosophy, dance and fence. He started the Academia della Spada in 1998 to focus on the rapier play of Vincentio Saviolo. Currently he is a board member of the Association for Historical Fencing and is studying Spanish rapier under the tutelage of Maestro Ramon Martinez and Maestro Jeannette Acosta-Martinez.

In his teaching he strives to connect the art of fencing back to the greater mindset from which it was developed, because it is crucial to keep in mind that every martial art is a child of the specific culture that gave it birth, and therefore should adhere to a particular ideal esthetic in its form, movement, and manner inherited from its parent culture.

Ramón Martínez is a teacher of classical and historical fencing. He studied classical fencing with the late Maître d'Armes Frederick Rohdes in New York for ten years. Maître Rohdes was one of the last fencing masters to teach fencing as a martial art. During that time Mr. Martínez became assistant and protégé of Maître Rohdes and was the only one of his pupils permitted to teach with full authorization at the Rohdes Academy. In late 1982, shortly before his death, Maître Rohdes conferred the rank of Fencing Master on Mr. Martínez.

In all, Maestro Martínez has devoted over 28 years to the study and teaching of classical fencing. He has also done extensive research in historical fencing. Many of the most prominent masters of the past centuries left elaborate, highly detailed treatises of the systems and styles which they taught. Maestro Martínez has spent years carefully and thoroughly researching these treatises in an effort to accurately reconstruct these varied styles. These ancient and historical forms are then taught as authentically as possible to those of his students who are interested. Maestro Martínez' goal is to teach, promote, and preserve this rare martial art.

Maestro Martínez is a member of the Council of Advisors of Swordplay Symposium International. He is associated with the Federazione Italiana Scherma Antica e Storica and the British Federation for Historical Swordplay. He is the current president of the Association for Historical Fencing, founded to promote, preserve and revive classical and historical fencing. He is also one of the founders of the International Masters at Arms Federation.

Curriculum Director for the Chicago Swordplay Guild and WMAW's co-founder, Gregory Mele has been an ardent student of European swordsmanship for 17 years through a variety of venues, including reenactment, sport fencing, and historical fencing. His Asian martial arts background primarily includes Yang Tai Chi, aikido as well as some jujutsu and battodo. He first became aware of the surviving corpus of Renaissance fencing texts with his discovery of the 1899 edition of the Collected Works of George Silver, by Cyril Matthey in 1992, and never looked back (although he cringes to remember some of his earliest interpretations.).

In 1999 he co-founded the Chicago Swordplay Guild to create a formal sala d'armi to study historical European swordsmanship and its adjunct arts. In October of that year he also organized and hosted the first Western Martial Arts Workshop as an attempt to promote these arts amongst practitioners throughout North America. Mr. Mele is the founder and Director of Swordplay Symposium International, an interdisciplinary colloquium of historical fencing instructors, arms and armour scholars, and researchers dedicated to promoting and advancing the study of Western swordsmanship and its adjunct disciplines, and with Luca Porzio is the co-author of Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi: The 15th Century Swordsmanship of Master Filippo Vadi (Chivalry Bookshelf, 2003), contributor to SPADA: An Anthology of Swordsmanship (Chivalry Bookshelf, (2003) and has presented several papers at the Kalamazoo Medieval Conference. His current interests and research center around Italian martial traditions from the 14th to mid-16th centuries, particularly the dei Liberi tradition, Bolognese staff-weapon play and the schermo of Angelo Viggiani.

A graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with degrees in journalism and history, Gregory D. Mele lives in suburban Chicago.

Steve grew up in rural north-central Pennsylvania. His long and varied college career included time as a music performance major for the Classical Guitar before graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.

Steve's interest in swordsmanship started in college in the mid eighties as a casual practitioner of sport fencing and kendo. He also dabbled in eastern martial arts, including a few years of Shaolin Kuntao. Recently he re-acquainted himself with swordsmanship through the works of the Italian Maestri of the Renaissance as well as the classical Italian dueling sword and dueling saber.

An interest in Indo-European linguistics complements Steve's meticulous and systematic approach to researching and learning western swordsmanship. His research currently focuses on Bolognese swordsmanship where he is undertaking an intense exploration of the systems of Manciolino, Marozzo and dall'Agocchie.

Steve's martial interests focus on the 16th-Century Bolognese school, the 17th century Italian rapier and the Classical Italian fencing of the 19th century, as well as participating in the occasional Jodo class. Steve lives in Arlington, Virginia, where he is an instructor in the Order of the Seven Hearts. In his professional career, Steve is an independent contractor specializing in Software Engineering and Systems Architecture.

Tim began studying swordplay as a stage-combatant, and now holds his actor-combatant certification with the Society of American Fight Directors.

Several years ago, while working in Edinburgh, Scotland, Tim stumbled across the Dawn Duellists Society and its somewhat mad president, Paul Macdonald. Upon learning that this group of nutters studied and practiced historical technique, Tim immediately threw himself into the fray, and has not wised up since.

After returning to the States, Tim and his friend Jared Kirby founded the The New Dawn Duellists Society in Minneapolis, MN.

Tim has been teaching for several years now in a variety of historic western weapons and unarmed styles.

W. Jherek Swanger has been practicing and studying various forms of fencing since 1986, within organizations and institutions such as the University of Texas at Austin, the Society for Creative Anachronism, Tattershall School of Defence, Academia della Spada, and others. Since 1999 he has focused on Italian swordplay of the 16th through early 17th centuries. To this end, he has translated, in whole or part, a number of texts of this period. While his chief forms of interest are the Bolognese sword and early 17th century Italian rapier, he also dabbles in grappling and English sword and quarterstaff forms. Jherek's current research obsession is the intellectual evolution guiding doctrine of use in Italian civilian swordplay in this period, and he is therefore focusing on "transitional" texts of the mid 16th century. He is in the process of editing his forthcoming translation of the Trattato di Scientia d'Arme of Camillo Agrippa. He is happy to teach what he knows wherever he can get to, tries to learn what he doesn't, and plans to sleep when he's dead.

Christian Henry Tobler has been a longtime student of swordsmanship, especially as it applies to the pursuit of the chivalric ideals. A passionate advocate of the medieval Liechtenauer School, his work in translating and interpreting Sigmund Ringeck's commentary firmly established him as an important contributor to the growing community of Western martial artists. This work is encapsulated in the 2001 Chivalry Bookshelf title Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship: Sigmund Ringeck's Commentaries on Johannes Liechtenauer's Verse. His most recent work is Fighting with the German Longsword (Chivalry Bookshelf, 2004), a training guide for students of the Liechtenauer tradition. Mr. Tobler was born in 1963 in Paterson, New Jersey. A graduate of the University of Bridgeport's computer engineering program, Mr. Tobler has worked as a software developer, web designer, product manager, and marketing specialist in the analytical instrumentation and publishing fields. He is the Grand Master of the Order of Selohaar, an eclectic, mystic order of chivalry that he co-founded in 1979. A veteran of 17 years of tournament fighting, he is also an avid collector of reproduction arms and armour. He has been focused on the study of medieval fechtbücher (fight books) since the late 1990's. He has taught classes at the annual Schola St. George Swordplay Symposium, in the San Francisco Bay area, and at two of the annual Western Martial Arts Workshops, appeared as a guest on Cablevision News Channel 12's daily "The Exchange", and has traveled the United States teaching weekend long seminars. He has also lectured at the 38th International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In 2002 he was named to the Advisory Board of Swordplay Symposium International (SSI).

William Wilson is the President of the Tattershall School of Defence and is the advisor and coach for the fencing club at Northern Arizona University. Mr Wilson is also on the advisory board for Swordplay Symposium International. In the Society for Creative Anachronism he is known as Barwn Meistr Gwylym ab Owain, OL OP DWS and is the premiere member of the Order of the White Scarf of Atenveldt, the highest award for fencing in the Kingdom. In the SCA he has also been awarded masters level status for his research in historical swordplay and study of lifestyle of the Elizabethan period. Mr. Wilson is a prominent researcher in historical swordplay. He teaches seminars internationally on the use of the Italian rapier and the Italian 16th century civilian spada da filo (edged sword/sidesword).

The Tattershall school is devoted to the study and practise of the Art of Defense of the 15th, 16th and early 17th Centuries. This includes not only fencing but wrestling and the use of the dagger. The President of the School (William Wilson) is an expert in the use of rapier and has written and published the book "The Art of Defense." He has studied many original texts and is in the process of working on translations of Italian fencing manuals.

Mr. Wilson has been fencing for 30 years and began his fencing instruction under Master Bella from Canada and Mr. Silverberg in Buffalo, New York with further instruction from other masters and instructors including Maestro Sean Hayes of Eugene, OR and Dr Rita Ashcraft of Northern Arizona University. He specializes in teaching beginners either classical foil, epee or saber and teaches beginning and advanced students the art of defence with rapier and sword. He also teaches beginning longsword and backsword. Mr. Wilson currently teaches beginning Italian foil for the PE department at Northern Arizona University.