Huntsville, AL

🖥️: https://rocketcityhema.org/ 

📱: https://www.facebook.com/rocketcityhema 

"Rocket City HEMA was founded in 2016 and is the largest HEMA school in Alabama. Coming from small beginnings with only one class a week, we’ve grown to a multi-class school with a permanent location. Our school focuses on promoting good physical health, bodily control, and familiarity with the sources. We study the systems of a wide variety of masters, including Johannes Liechtenauer, Francesco Fernando Alfieri, and Johannes Lecküchner, among others. We don’t just want you to know the general moves, we want you to know why and when to use them. We have a diverse range of students from teens to older adults across many differing levels of athleticism. All are able to find a place in our classes and become proficient with their favored weapon art given time and practice.

Our school studies three main traditions: the kunst des fechtens (KdF) or art of fencing from 15th century Germany, which is grounded in the use of the longsword; the Italian traditions of rapier from the 16th and 17th century; and the Scottish backsword systems of 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Each of these traditions expand beyond their core weapon to include additional weapons and other unique aspects. For example, KdF includes wrestling and armor, rapier features the use of off-hand weapons like dagger and cape, and backsword is trained for use in tandem with the bayonet. If you desire to study something that we don’t have a class in, no worries. We encourage our students to pursue their own interests after learning the basics of fencing from our core classes. "