Dear friends,

we had a great time at the Adventsfechten 2011 and with Spring now coming, we should look ahead to the Summer month, it is worth it.

"Der Fechtsaal - Gemeinschaft Historischer Fechter" is proud to invite you to our eights all day seminar on Saturday, 23rd of June 2012 in Krefeld, Germany.

"Martial Arts - Impressions"

In three blocks with 2 workshops we want to explore the special Moment in Martial Arts. The trainers want to share with you their Inspiration of their Martial Arts experience. The sudden seeing it differently, the change of perspective and unlocking a new understanding will be the focus of the day.

We are proud to present the following trainers:

Sonja Heer , Schwertkampf Nordhessen:„Stand and Bodystructur“

Jan Gosewinkel , Krumphau und Krücke, und Oliver Janseps, Mispeldorn: “Introduction to Bidenhänder"

Falko Fritz , Hammaborg: „The Curios of Good Mr Lecküchner“

Torsten Schneyer , Zornhau: „Wrestling at the Sword“

Stefan Dieke , Alte Kampfkunst: "Abstract Practice - Advanced Movement – Concrete Exercise"

Hans Heim , Ochs: „Legobricks, and what they showed me in regards to the German school “

It will be room for sparring in the Arndt Gymnasium after the workshops.

Traditionally we will conclude the event with a BBQ in Willich near Krefeld. Obernight stay will be possible in a tent or the Rittersaal. Arrivals at Friday evening are welcome.

For Seminar in a professional fencing hall including soft drinks and food we will charge EURO 25,-/person when registering till 01.06.2012 afterwards EURO 30,-/person. The BBQ including drinks will be EURO 7,50/person. Overnight stay from Friday to Saturday incl. Pre-BBQ and breakfast will be EURO 10,-/person and from Saturday to Sunday with breakfast as well EURO 2,50/person (can only be booked in conjunction with the Saturday BBQ).

Please register via eMail: info(a)fechtsaal.de . – We are looking forward to see you!

Your
Der Fechtsaal

Dear Friends,

"Der Fechtsaal - Gemeinschaft Historischer Fechter" is proud to invite you to our sevens all day seminar on Saturday, 03rd of December in Krefeld, Germany. It took a bit longer this year, but good things sometimes need their time.

„Makes the school a difference?“

This question we would like to investigate in depth this time. We will have to blocks focusing on the Langes Schwert and the Military Sabre. For each weapon we will have an introduction in two schools – each participant will have the chance to get to know the techniques of one school with one weapon only. Target will it be to get an introduction to the system and deepen the knowledge to a solid baseline. Please use the chance to get a feeling for a new weapon / style as we will stick to basic techniques. We will conclude these workshops with first practical exercises of fencing against another school.

We are proud to present the following trainers:

Langes Schwert, Italian School - Bastian Busch, Schwerkampf Osnabrück
Langes Schwert, German School - Heiko Meckbach, Schwertkampf Nordhessen

Militär Säbel, English School - Gerhard Gohr, Der Fechtsaal
Militär Säbel, German School - Marcus Hampel, Hammaborg

Following the workshops we will have a Fechtschule - a Tournament / moderated duel – in which we will be able to test the strength and weaknesses of the different schools against each other. We will follow the Tournament rules, used at this year’s HALAG in Hamburg. It was well received by the participants and trainers like Anton Kohutoviè and Roland Warzecha. It works well for trained fencers as well as beginners.

Tobias "Toke" Wenzel, Hammaborg will lead through the tournament. His long experience in free fighting will help to get a good introduction into the rules and get a good feeling what it means to fight against someone coming from different fencing school.

We will enjoy the rest of the day in a nearby venue to give room for socialising, chatting and heavy talking shop.

For Seminar in a professional fencing hall including soft drinks and food we will charge EURO 20,-/person when registering till 15.11.2011 afterwards EURO 25,-/person. Bank details will be provided in separate eMail.

Please register via eMail: info@fechtsaal.de. – We are looking forward to see you!

Your
Der Fechtsaal

Dear Friends of Der Fechtsaal,

Adventsfechten 2010 is over and it's been a blast! What started in 2008 with only eight participants in our small training hall became now an event with twentyfour fencers in a fully equipped training center - special thxs to the City of Krefeld to make this happen. So here's the review of the Adventsfechten 2010 on Saturday, the 4th of December 2010.

At nine o'clock in the morning doors of the gymnasium of the Städtisches Arndt-Gymnasium in Krefeld were opened for us and our twentyfour guests of groups as Alte Kampfkunst, Frequens Motus, Hammaborg, Krumphau und Krücke, Nauka-Fighting, MASD, Mispeldorn, PSV Oberhausen and Der Fechtsaal arrived.

Directly implementing our "participants focused"-approach we started at about ten o'clock with a spontaneous change of our program when Martin Bergermann (MASD) helped out on warming up the crew with some exercises containing yoga and stretching elements.

This was followed by Stefan Dieke's (Alte Kampfkunst) „Principles of Fighting“. Stefan split his class in two parts. Part number one was moderated discussion, finding access to fighting from a more theoretical point of view. We extracted principles we wanted to examine in detail in the second part, which were bridging the distance with weapons that either relay on impact like a cane or relay on sharpness like a saber. Very enlightening were movements in which the weapon followed the body and movements were the body followed the weapon as two extremes within the principle.

Around noon we had a short coffee and tea break with snacks and started off again about half an hour later with another spontaneous change of the program. Since we were surprised by a larger number of fencers than expected we organized a new schedule and held „Paulus Hector Mair‘s Sickle“ by Julia Gräf (Hammaborg), Ingo Petri (Hammaborg) and Daniel Nilges (Der Fechtsaal) and „Paulus Hector Mair‘s Flail" by Oliver Janseps (Mispeldorn) in parallel.

The sickle trainers Julia, Ingo and Daniel showed a new interpretation which condensed the Stücke that much that not three, four or more Brüche and Gegenbrüche were executed after each other but only one movement containing three, four or more ideas, meaning Brüche and Gegenbrüche happened in a concept of Obsessios and Indes. Sickle fighting becomes that way much more deadly than it's been seen before.

The flail class was, as all former pole weapon classes held by Oliver, biomechanically absolutely sound, based on a set of basic movements. Again Oliver proved his endurance on interpreting cumbrous material and also his nous in interpretation and made the flail the fun weapon of the event.

After another break all participants switched to the other topic. Only disatvantage of this solution was, that Julia, Ingo, Oliver and Daniel had to hold their classes twice and had no chance to check out the sickle / flail.

In the late afternoon we started sparring, using flail, sickle, Mordaxt, saber, Langes Schwert and as a special shooting with the sling. Also cutting tests with sharp sickles were possible were Ingo sliced a full target with his self made toothed sickle.

After taking a shower and closing the fabulous training hall we went to have a beer at the Limericks, Krefeld. Following our tradition we emidiatly started to plan the next event, Mittsommerfechten 2011, the theme is set and even the first trainers could be won. So, keep in touch and join our mailing list or become a friend on facebook. Latest arround early February we will come back with more details, by the way the gymnasium is already reseved.

All in all it has been a fun event and so far the biggest one Der Fechtsaal had, with help of all of our trainers, participants and friends. Thank you so much for attending!

And here, last but not least,you will find pictures online.

Best Regards

Der Fechtsaal