The Sword Guy Podcast

Listen in as Guy interviews a wide variety of interesting swordspeople and historians from around the world. Learn more about the practical, the tactical, the theoretical and the just plain awesome from a diverse group of voices.

Podcast Tag: pedagogy

David Wagenfeld is a fencing coach, creator of the En Garde model for teaching fencing in schools, and the co-founder of Table Mountain Fencing and Historical European Martial Arts. He lives in Cape Town, South Africa and has been instrumental in creating the HEMA scene in the country. We talk about how he got into sport fencing, then coaching, then HEMA. He feels that coaching fencing is what he was born to do, but […]
Photo Credit: Angel Uribe Dr Sara Lewis is a neuroscientist specializing in the biology of childhood movement disorders, and a longtime historical martial artist starting in the SCA in 1999, where she is known as Perin De La Serena. Since 2016 Sara has been with the Phoenix Society for Historical Swordsmanship, where she has written many articles on improving diversity and inclusiveness in historical martial arts, and has written reports on the challenges facing […]
Dr Marie Meservy is a neuro radiologist, a psychologist, historical martial artist, sword mom to the Noble Science Academy in Nevada and the organizer of Fraufecht, which is the only American women’s event west of New York. In our conversation, we talk about running a school and training students to create the best outcomes. We discuss how to get new people, especially women, to join your club and how to create a good curriculum […]
Jana Howson lives near Chicago and is a historical fencer, a Ph.D. candidate, mother and spouse, as well as being a Lutheran pastor. She started off with Taekwondo and Karate, and also fences in the SCA. We discuss how on earth Jana balances her time to fit it all in! Trying to do swords with babies and kids in tow can be tricky, so we talk about what can be done to make training […]
Kari Holman is a rapier fencer and a licensed therapist. She has also written Psychology and the SCA Fencing Woman: a Manual for Students and Teachers. The moment I read it, I asked if I could include it in my How to Teach course because it’s that good. You can also download it from here: Psychology and the SCA Fencing Woman – A Manual for Students and Teachers copy So of course, we talk […]
Luis Preto is a Jogo do Pau instructor and author of multiple books, including a tutorial on multiple opponent combat with one handed weapons. He also has two master’s degrees, one in teaching sports and the other in Kineseology. Jogo do Pau is known as Portuguese stick fighting, which shares a cultural heritage with similar combat systems in Europe, but one difference is that in the Portuguese system, the multiple opponent training has been […]
Cain Maxwell is an instructor of physical culture, who’s been teaching physical skills his entire life, from swimming to military firearms to ballroom dancing, even. And now he is teaching mounted martial arts and runs a school called Martial Equestrian, a mounted combat school in Hinckley, Ohio. Cain learned to fight by fighting for real in a rough neighbourhood. In his own words, he had a chip on his shoulder. So he approaches martial […]
Andrew Newton lives in the Annapolis Valley in Eastern Canada. He is a historical fencer and mounted archer and runs the Annapolis Valley Historical Fencing Club, teaching broadsword, sabre and cutlass. Andrew was also an officer in the Air Force, so of course there’s a bit of plane chat. In our discussion we talk about the business end of running a club: how to make money, effective marketing tips, and why even if you’re […]
Leigh Shocki works for Blue Origin as an Instructional Designer – she can teach you to build a rocket, even though she flunked maths. You too can work at a space company, even if you’re not a rocket scientist! Leigh is passionate about making both space travel and swords more diverse and we discuss the code of conduct she wrote for Lonin which builds in things like inclusive language and ensuring everyone feels safe: […]
This episode of the podcast is a little bit different because I’m not interviewing anyone. I’m here to talk to you about how to teach. I believe that teaching historical martial arts or anything else is a skill, and as such it can be studied and taught. In other words, you’re not born a good teacher, you become one through mindful practise. So the question, I guess, is how do you set about that […]