The Historical Martial Arts Symposium by the Bay instructors are:
Antone Blair
Antone Blair began fencing in 1995 while studying Anthropology and Classical Mediterranean Civilication. Finding that he was more interested in fencing as a martial art, he began seeking information on the rapier and the duelling sword.
In May 2001 Antone attended a seminar on the art of Spanish rapier taught by Maestri Ramon and Jeannette Acosta Martinez. Antone immediately developed a passion for the Spanish school of fencing and soon thereafter become a student at the Martinez Academy of Arms. Antone primarily studies French foil, duelling sword and Spanish rapier. He also studies and trains in the use of the Spanish Navaja under Maestro James Loriega of the Ragen Arts Institute. In January 2006, Blair received the rank of Instructor in French foil and epee, and in June 2006 he received the rank of Instructor in Spanish rapier.
He is the fencing instructor at Humboldt State University, where he teaches French foil, and for advanced students, French duelling sword, Spanish rapier and navaja technique. He also offers fencing instruction at the Destreza Pacifica Fencing Club in Arcata, California, where students are taught the art of defense with an emphasis on universal principles of self-defense.
Bob Charron
After receiving his BS in Education from the University of Arkansas in 1985, Bob 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 begins with 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. Instruction includes hand-to-hand combat, knife fighting, swordplay, the use of the spear and the pollaxe, and techniques used when fighting from horseback.
Charron has spent the last several years translating the text, interpreting the techniques, researching the scientific principles on which the art is based, and locating the biographies of the men who employed it. He teaches weekly classes and private lessons in the Madison, Wisconsin area as the primary instructor of St. Martins Academy of Medieval Arms, a martial arts academy which studies the Fior di Bataglia. He has traveled the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe teaching seminars on this famous Italian instructor's art. He has also presented several papers and demonstrations on Fiore's work at the annual Kalamazoo Medieval Conference.
In addition to the translation of the text and demonstration of the techniques, Charron also teaches classes on the internal organization of the manuscript and the links within this work to memory systems, academics, art and culture of the period.
Charron uses his skills and enthusiasm as an educator to bring the art to life by presenting it to modern scholars within the context of the science and society that created this beautiful and effective martial arts system.
Kristi Charron
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
Gary Chelak began studying historical fencing in 1994 while attending college. He served as both assistant and primary historical fencing instructor. Mr. Chelak earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Northern Arizona University with an extended major in Visual Communication. A nationally recognized designer, in 2001 he refocused to full time graphic arts instruction at a private college. Since then he has received multiple awards, including Outstanding MultiMedia Instructor.
Gary heads the Southern California branch of Tattershall School of Defence, bringing a unique mix of competitive experience, academic research and creative padagogy. Instruction is available in the Italian systems of rapier, sidesword & longsword, with classes also available in Germanic swordplay and French smallsword. Additional studies include Italian & Germanic unarmed arts. Gary is currently completing his translation and interpretation of Nicolettó Giganti’s 1606 rapier text, due for publication in September 2004. His next project focusing on Camillo Agrippa’s 1553 sidesword text is also underway.
Known as Giacomo Cavalli da Treviso in the Society for Creative Anachronism, Gary is a member of the Defenders of the White Scarf (the organization's highest award for fence). Heavily involved with program & curriculum development in all three venues, Gary is currently seeking entry into the Cal. State M.F.A. program.
Eric Fick
Co-Founder of Davenriche European Martial Artes Schoole (D.E.M.A.S.) and younger brother of Steaphen Fick, Eric Fick has been a long time student of martial arts, combat sports and historical re-enactment.
In 1988, at the age of 9, Eric was first introduced to combat sports/martial arts by his foster father, Golden Gloves winner Steven Segura in Fresno, CA. Eric would go on to study with Segura and foster brother Christopher Segura for 2 years learning the basics of boxing, and sparing.
In 1991, with prompting from his brother, Eric began his study of swordsmanship and historical re-enactment. Over the next few years Eric would work with and learn from whoever would teach him. Working with sport fencers, Kendo practitioners, historical re-enactors and self proclaimed swordsmen Eric soon found that many had a "bag of tricks" but lacked solid fundamentals and basic mechanics of the sword and found his progression was limited to the knowledge of those around him.
Under the instruction of Coach Raul Castillo at Santa Maria High School, Eric learned the basics of Greco-Roman wrestling, and its role in the martial arts. Coach Castillo ingrained the basics of "How" to train. As Eric was not interested in "the sport" of wrestling he did not complete, but continued to train with the team during the following seasons.
Upon his move to San Jose in 1998, Eric came back to sword work full time and was introduced to John Hudson. Working with John and his brother Steaphen, Eric started his studies of “True” Historical European Swordsmanship. In 1999 Eric attended his first WMA convention in Toronto, Canada. This would forever change how Eric looked at European swordsmanship; he found the wealth of knowledge and experience in the fellow practitioners was astounding. This started Eric’s study into European unarmed techniques in addition to his studies with the sword.
In addition to his role as assistant instructor at DEMAS, Eric started teaching a course on Classical Pugilism and Unarmed self defence in 2001. This class would continue until the end of 2004 when he and his wife had their daughter.
Currently Eric is learning a mix of Choy Lay Fut and San Shou Kung Fu from Paul Tosetti and Damon Chen at Fearless Fitness in Foster City, CA.
Steaphen Fick
Bringing history alive is the passion of Steaphen Fick, founder of the Davenriche European 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.
While playing with swords is “fun,” for the children, teens and adults who attend his classes, Steaphen is quick to emphasize that the techniques one learns can be used in situations where one needs to defend oneself. For example sword techniques can easily be applied to a cane, a pool cue, or a heavy cardboard tube as well as the open hand. In the same way, the technique one learns with a dagger can be applied to a folded up newspaper or magazine, a pair of gloves, a purse strap or a closed umbrella. These techniques also work with your bare hands.
Frank Fletcher
Frank Fletcher is a fitness trainer certified with the American College of Sports Medicine. He specializes in both Post-Rehabilitation and Sports Specific Conditioning. He is also currently studying Cognitive Science at the University of California at Berkeley.
Frank has studied several martial arts, mostly from the Japanese tradition: Karate-do, Judo, Aikido and Kendo. His interest in fencing came from his involvement with Kendo and Iaido as well as having had the opportunity to train and study several competitive fencers of various different styles during the past 5 years.
Steve Huff
Steven Huff is the founder and director of the Historical Martial Study Society, a WMA practice group focusing primarily on the 17th through the 19th centuries with a strong emphasis towards the fighting arts of early America.
The Historical Martial Study Society (HMSS) is an affiliate of Dwight McLemore’s School of Two Swords, and Steve holds not only a full Instructor Certification through Dwight but an official School of Two Swords charter as well. The HMSS is also recognized by Pete Kautz as an American Heritage Fighting Arts Association study group. The HMSS is also affiliated with the Historical Maritime Combat Association, founded and directed by Gareth Thomas, and Steve holds an Instructor rank in that organization as well.
Aside from his many years practicing WMA, Steve has conducted seminars and lectures for several reenactment and historical groups, local area colleges and high schools, as well as seminars for WMA groups, including classes taught at the WMAW event this past year. Steve has also worked as an Assistant Director for Camp Flintlock, an 18th century style residential summer camp for children, which has given him the opportunity to not only introduce WMA (primarily tomahawk throwing and basic fencing) to a new group of younger students, but also to “live” an 18th century lifestyle in period conditions. He is also currently working with John Lennox of Art of Combat, inc. and Gareth Thomas (both HMSS Instructors) on maritime weapons techniques from the late 18th through mid-19th centuries and the three are currently finishing a book on the subject.
In addition to his WMA practices, Steve holds several certifications in Eastern martial arts in both unarmed and weapons styles, and holds an Expert Level Instructor ranking in knife combat in the Scientific Fighting Congress. He has a Bachelor’s degree in History (with a focus on the Colonial era) from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and is currently working towards his Master’s in Teaching through Towson University.
He currently works as a teacher at the high school level (history and literature) in the Emotional Adjustment program, working with students with emotional/disciplinary problems, and also owns and operates the Universal Martial Study Center (a martial arts facility offering both Eastern and Western martial studies) in Waldorf, MD.
Sean Kiernan
Sean Kiernan started fencing in 1996 with the Order of the Rose School of Defense. Under the instruction of Brooke Boyer and Brint Roland he gained experience in SCA rapier combat.
In 1999 he was bequeathed the school and that is where his education really started.
His first exposure to Western Martial Arts was at a Historical Armed Combat Association seminar in Atlanta where he took classes on stage combat from John Waller and Andrew Dean of the Royal Armories. The next year he met Tommaso Leoni at the Schola St George WMA symposium in Livermore and had his first exposure to the teachings of Salvatore Fabris. Since then Sean has trained under Mr. Leoni several times, even hosting Mr. Leoni to teach a 20 hour seminar at his school. For 4 years now Sean has been training and teaching Fabris’ style working from Mr. Leoni’s translation of the Grand Masters 1606 work “Lo Schermo, overo Scienza d’arme” (On fencing, or the Knowledge of Arms).
Being a graduate of the U.S. Navy’s advanced military instructors program for NCO’s combined with the knowledge gained from study of the period masters has given Sean the ability to teach swordplay in a way that is methodical, easy to learn and effective.
In addition to rapier play Sean’s interests have expanded to include Bolognese Swordsmanship and some German longsword.
Sean is the Head instructor of “The Trayn’d Bande of the Blackfriars”, a renaissance guild that focuses on the swordplay of the 15th thru the 17th centuries. At renaissance faires throughout northern California and Nevada you will find him teaching not only his students but faire patrons and faire participants as well.
Tom Leoni
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 fencing treatises 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 an important International fencing lineage traceable well into the 18th century.
Besides the rapier, Tom Leoni’s other martial interests center around Baroque sword, French smallsword, the 16th Century Bolognese tradition, Italian polearms and Neapolitan dueling epee. As a rapier and martial arts teacher, Tom is regularly invited to appear as an instructor at several International events in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.
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. As the leading researcher of the rapier system of Fabris, Tom has published the first complete critical English translation of Fabris' treatise Scienza d’Arme which is available at Amazon.com under the title The Art of Dueling. Leoni resides in Alexandria, Virginia, where he runs the group he founded, the Order of the Seven Hearts; by day he is employed as a writer by a DC-based company.
Cecil Longino
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.
Christian Tobler
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 Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship: Sigmund Ringeck's Commentaries on Johannes Liechtenauer's Verse. His most recent work is Fighting with the German Longsword , 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).
Jim Alvarez &
Dave Wilson
Jim and Dave founded the Mugen Dachi Company (www.tameshigiri.com) in 1999. The goal of the company has always been to provide safe, useful information and instruction, along with top quality and reasonably priced target material, to those who want to pursue the training challenge of learning to use their sword for effective cutting. Together they have developed and teach a set of cutting principles that any student can learn during their seminar, “Body Dynamics for Effective Sword Technique". They will also offer a semi-private class "Principles for Effective Cutting” for an additional fee.
Jim Alvarez
Jim is the chief instructor of Aikido of Livermore-Shinrei Dojo, founded in 1989. He holds the rank of Godan (5th degree black belt) in Aikido personally awarded by his teacher Mitsugi Saotome Shihan, a personal student of Aikido’s founder. Additionally he holds the individual rank of Jie-e and the teaching rank of Chuden Renshi in Shinkendo as well as Nidan (2nd degree) in Toyama Ryu Batto-do both awarded by Toshishiro Obata Soke.
Jim started his training in the martial arts in 1973 with Hung Gar (Tiger-Crane) kung fu. In 1978 he began a lifelong study of Aikido. Aikido contains within its training curriculum elements of sword and staff. His desire to deepen his understanding of Japanese sword led him to Toshishiro Obata Sensei and his art of Shinkendo. In 1992 he began his training under Obata Sensei and has since been exploring the connections between Aikido and Japanese swordsmanship.
Dave Wilson
Dave has been training in the Martial Arts since 1987 when he started studying Wado-Ryu Karate under Hidetaka Abe Sensei. He currently holds the rank of Sandan (3rd degree) in Wado-Ryu. Dave also spent one year studying Tendo-Ryu Nagianata under Miyako Tanaka Sensei. He took up the Japanese Sword Art of Shinkendo in 1995 because of a long-term appreciation of the Japanese Katana and a deep desire to learn how to use it correctly. He was awarded the personal rank of Jie-e (3rd degree), and the teaching rank of Chuden Renshi, from the founder of Shinkendo, Toshishiro Obata Sensei. He was also awarded the personal rank of Nidan (2nd degree) in Toyama-Ryu Batttodo from Obata Sensei. Dave met the world-famous sword smith Francis Boyd in 1996 and has been a student and friend ever since; learning about, and working on, Japanese swords, to gain as much knowledge as possible from such a rich and remarkable resource.
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