From the 10th of August to the 7th of September, our club sponsor Jake Arthur Traynor lived in Warsaw and trained, every day he could, at Akademia Szermierzy. If you follow HEMA at all you will know the name. If you do not, here is why it matters: Akademia Szermierzy is the club of Antek Olbrychski, the world number one in sabre and world number three in longsword, and of Mikołaj Kołodziej, ranked in the world's top eleven in both weapons at once. Its founder is Rafał Kalus, a longsword and rapier fencer his own club calls "Fiore reincarnated". Three men in the world longsword top eleven train in one old Soviet gymnasium on the edge of the city, and they let a Cornishman in.
What he went for
Sabre. We love sabre at HEMA Penzance and we have never had anyone to teach it, so Jake went to the best sabre room on earth and asked to learn. He took the month pass, went to every class, and booked as many private lessons as the three teachers could give him: Antek in sabre and longsword, Mikołaj in sabre and longsword, Rafał in longsword. In his last week Antek squeezed in four lessons because Jake asked for as many as he could do.
Antek wrote about it afterwards. His post, in Polish and English, says Jake made "mega progres" in both longsword and sabre, and wishes him luck in his training. You can read it here. We are rather proud of that one.
What Akademia Szermierzy is like
Generous, is the honest answer. They translated the Polish classes for him as they went. They took him to the pub after Wednesday sparring, which is a standing institution there when a visiting fencer turns up. One of their top fencers, having beaten him and been beaten by him the same evening, stood outside afterwards in the dark for half an hour and explained the entire tactical layer of the game, unprompted and for nothing. Jake was invited to five tournaments by five different people, every one of whom offered to drive him there. And when he asked Rafał what he should do about training when he got home, Rafał told him to send footage and he would give him notes.
Their fencing is worth describing too, because it is Fiore. Rafał and Antek went through the sources a decade ago, kept what works and teach that, with a modern delivery around it. When Jake told them our club works straight from the manuscript, Rafał's eyes lit up. Everyone here who loves Fiore would love that room.
What comes home
Sabre comes home. We are adding a sabre night to the club, and some Polish sabre will be in it. To be clear about what that is and what it is not: Steve and Andrew teach Fiore's art here as they always have, and that does not change. What Jake learned in Warsaw is his own, personally, a month of it, and he is bringing it to his own training and sharing it with us. Akademia Szermierzy themselves, when asked about "Polish sabre", say they just do sabre. We like that answer. Come and hold one of the new Kriegers on a Tuesday and you will see why.