Goats Head
What is HEMA?
Find your Passion
The HEMA community has something for everyone, choose how you want to be part of the revival of this ancient discipline.
Train and Fight
Get Fit, train techniques and test yourself against other fighters around the world
Connect
You’ll never need another airbnb, join a dedicated global community of enthusiasts
Research
Help further the world’s understanding of our past
Rediscover Swordfighting
Since the middle ages fencing masters created complex systems of fighting that were practiced by knights, mercenaries and merchant patricians looking to defend themselves.
All that is left of these rich fighting traditions are the books these fencing masters wrote.
Starting in the late 90’s, academics, martial artists, ex military and sports scientists have joined forces to try and understand these texts through research, practical testing and competition.
The Historical European Martial Arts community translates these texts interprets their understanding of the techniques, trains them and then gather at international competitions to pit their interpretations against other fighters in full contact swordfights. Whether you are scholarly, competitive, a good community organiser or just enjoy like minded sword people, there’s a place for you in HEMA.
If you want to learn to be a swordfighting badass, this is it!
Join us in – Wexford, Waterford and Gorey
Our Instructors
Jack Gassmann
Jack has been doing HEMA for 15 years. He competes internationally on a regular basis, most recently winning bronze at the European Games in Minsk and gold at Socal Swordfight. The US’s largest tournament. He is currently ranked among the top 20 competitive longsword fencers in the world. He has been invited to teach around Europe, the US and Australia, and has coached multiple competitors to international levels. He also regularly speaks on medieval warfare at the International Medievalists Congress Leeds.
Paul Reck
Besides his HEMA and unarmed martial arts experience, Paul Reck heads our stage and screen combat team with more than 20 years experience. Regularly choreographing for local productions. He has also worked on well known shows such as Game of Thrones and Vikings Valhalla.
He focuses on Meyers longsword, as well as dussack and sword and buckler.