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.

Back to Full Episode List

Podcast Tag: tournaments

Sarah Hay

Episode 98

Laser Focus, Thought Control, and Jousting with Sarah Hay

Sarah Hay has been jousting since 2008. Just ten years later she won the Queen’s Jubilee Horn at the Royal Armouries’ Easter jousting tournament in Leeds. In this episode we find out how Sarah’s passion for jousting came about, her background with horses, getting your own armour, and the vital role that mindset plays in her success. Sarah casually dropped into conversation that she “controls her thoughts”, and we dig a little deeper into […]

Episode 77

Hope and Black Powder with Dr. Milo Thurston

Milo Thurston is the founder of the Linacre School of Defence in Oxford, UK. He’s an absolute bastard with a single stick and a leading expert in the work of Sir William Hope. In our conversation we talk about the essence of Hope’s New Method of Fencing and what is so good about it. We also talk about Napoleonic battle reenactment, being late to class, Ken Monschein’s PhD, and why Milo would use Guy’s […]

Episode 70

Classical Fencing and Digital Pedagogy with Dori Coblentz

This week’s episode is with Dr Dori Coblenz, lecturer in Communications at Georgia Tech, specialising in early modern English drama, digital pedagogy and the history of fencing. She’s the author of many papers and the book Fundamentals of Italian Rapier: a modern manual for teachers and students of historical fencing, with David Coblentz. In our conversation we talk about the differences between classical Italian fencing and historical fencing. Dori’s passion is for teaching teachers, […]

Episode 63

Pirates and Batons with Julie Olson

This week’s guest is Julie Olson, senior instructor at the Athena School of Arms in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a director of the Iron Gate Exhibition, the largest New England historical martial arts event. She’s also well-known on the longsword tournament circuit. Julie was placed 7th in the Longsword Triathlon at Longpoint 2019, the highest ranking woman in that event. In our chat we get into the nitty gritty of running a club and competing in […]

Episode 22

Tournament Mindset, with Brittany Reeves

Brittany Reeves is the co-founder of Mordhau Historical Combat in Mesa, Arizona, and has taught internationally. She has medalled at tournaments in longsword, cutting, glima, and ringen. She also has a degree in Ancient and Medieval history. In this conversation we discuss tournament mindset, her advice to beginners wanting to go to tournaments for the first time, and of course, equipment. […]

Episode 19

Founding Longpoint and Fencing in Armour, with Jake Norwood

Jake Norwood is a highly experienced and widely respected historical martial arts instructor. He co-founded the HEMA Alliance (one of the largest historical martial arts associations), and Longpoint (one of the best-known US historical martial arts events). He has taught and competed internationally. We talked about the founding of Longpoint, creating tournament structures that give you the outcomes you want, preparing for armoured combat, and many other things. I met him for the first […]

Episode 15

Anyone can do HEMA! With Robyn Alman

Today’s guest on the show is Robyn Alman, from the Athena School of Arms, in Boston. She is well known on the US tournament circuit, and believes that “anybody can do this and enjoy it and engage in it in the way that is the most meaningful to them.” In this episode we talk about how she got started (hint: there was a Sci Fi and Fantasy Con involved), the challenges of training during […]

Episode 14

Making videogame swordfights real, with Kirk, Knight of Green

Kirk Williams, also known as the Knight of Green (to find out why, listen to the interview), is a practising historical martial artist… and also recreates video game sword fights in real life. Let’s be honest- most of us take up the sword because of something we read in a book or saw on a screen. I certainly spent a good chunk of my childhood trying to recreate sword fights from movies. Kirk takes […]

Episode 4

Lightsabers and Rapiers, with Airrion Scott

This week’s guest is the excellent Airrion Scott. I met Airrion at Lord Baltimore’s Challenge in 2019, and he was scheduled to teach at an event in London this June- but Covid-19 had other ideas. You can find our conversation here, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Airrion Scott is an Italian Rapier and Sabre Fencer and Instructor out of the Mid-Atlantic Society for Historic Swordsmanship in Annapolis, Maryland. Since joining them in […]

Sign up!

Sign up to receive email updates from Guy, and get your free Sword-Person’s Care Package!

We won’t spam you, and you can unsubscribe at any time. Check our privacy policy for details of what we will do with your data (short version – we’ll send you occasional emails about interesting stuff, and nothing else!)

Swordschool.com: an online academy for students of Medieval and Renaissance Italian martial arts, blending historical accuracy with practical training.