By Greg Staskiewicz, Reporter
For as long as anyone can remember, Nebraskans could participate in football, softball, and track and field, but in recent years, a new sport has been growing in popularity – Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA).
HEMA first came to Omaha through Omaha Kunst des Fechtens (OKDF), founded in 2015 by Angel Reina, who had previously been studying fencing. Today, Tyler Sigman leads the club as head instructor.
Sigman bases the club’s curriculum on modern scholarly reconstructions of German manuscripts from the 14th and 15th centuries. The old manuscripts recorded the teachings of fencing grandmaster Johannes Liechtenauer.
These incarnations were incomplete in various ways, whether because of poor translation or missing pages. The version that OKDF teaches from is the most complete and accurate version currently available, Sigman said.
“The interesting thing about this book here that we follow, which is Manuscript 3227a, this one here was from a house book,” Sigman said. “Now a house book would have different recipes, manuals for farming, it had magic in there, and it also had how to fight.”
The club takes its inspiration mostly from the German tradition of sword fighting, which echoes stereotypical “German efficiency,” Sigman said. The style is straightforward, plain and effective, in comparison with Italian or French-influenced schools, which use elaborate, dazzling swirls of the sword around the fighter. Grandmaster Liechtenauer, in his texts, jokingly referred to these fancier teachers as the “dancing masters.”
Most of the club’s Wednesday night practices involve warm-up drills, then “three action/three action” drills, in which members pair off and take turns making slow, technical moves while the other partner defends. They end class with free sparring, where almost anything goes. OKDF teaches use of the longsword, dagger, and messer, as well as wrestling and grappling, since swordplay often gets too close to swing a weapon.
OKDF member James Sechser said he originally joined the club to bond with his son, but that over time he came to love HEMA for the combination of history and good sportsmanship.
“I like the idea of reconstructive history, and being reborn anew,” Sechser said. “So that’s really fun. And you know, they’re swords. Who doesn’t like swords, right?”
Sechser won his first tournament medal this year, taking third place at the Green Knight Tournament. OKDF can often be found at Renaissance fairs or the Nebraska state games. Members have competed at the national as well as international levels.
