On the Sportification of HEMA

Tournaments Are Not Bad Things

Yes, I've fought in lots of tournaments

Let's not for a moment think that I'm in the "too deadly to spar" camp. I enjoy tournaments, and have fought in enough of them since about 2008 to have 25 or so medals hanging up in my closet collecting dust. Tournaments have had an incredibly positive effect on raising the skill level of HEMA practitioners over the years. Even for those who aren't tournament fighters, the lessons learned by their competitive counterparts help improve their club's interpretations of the techniques described in the manuals. And that's what we're all about, right? Reconstructing the arts described in the manuals as well as we possible can, yeah? Admittedly, some arts are basically completely reconstructed already, such as Italian rapier. Given that so much of rapier was preserved in Classical Epée, it was a fairly straightforward task, or so I'm told. I haven't done rapier since 2007 or so. For longsword, messer, and ringen (my areas of interest), there are still many outstanding issues to work on.

Eyes on the Prize?

That being said, not everyone in HEMA has reconstruction as a goal. For some, gaining medals at tournaments is their primary motivation. And that's fine as far as it goes. Competitive fencers are often the flag bearers of their respective clubs, and can facilitate positive relationships between clubs at tournaments. There's something about having someone swing three pounds of steel at your head that makes them stand out in your life. Ideally at a tournament we are all each others' biggest fans and most relatable teachers through the medium of sporting combat. It's a special type of community building that might not be possible otherwise. But are tournament medals what we as a community should be striving for as our main target?

Tournament Glory is Fleeting

Here's a secret: no one remembers, or even cares who won Swordfish 2012 or Longpoint in 2014 or whatever. I certainly don't remember who won Longpoint 2014, and I was there (and literally got the T-shirt). OK, maybe those who got the medals remember, but that's about it. In 10 years, no one will remember your medals, and even your spouse probably won't remember them either. I couldn't pick out every medal in my pile and tell you what weapon it was in, and sometimes not even the year unless it's engraved right on it. Why? Because it's not that important to me. So really, what's the point (ha ha) of it all? What was important to me about those tournaments were the friendships and lessons I acquired there, just like any good HEMA club's day to day.

One's Tournament Career is Limited

Now that I'm over 50, it's unlikely I'm going to win another tournament. Younger fencers are faster and more athletic, and have better training than I was able to access when I was learning. If tournament success is the main goal of HEMA, my training is now meaningless and useless and I should quit. Once you hit 40, pack it in and go play parcheesi on training nights or something, right? While HEMA isn't dead to me, am I effectively dead to HEMA? If it's all about the tournaments, then yes. My function would merely be to train the next generation of competitive fencers until they're too old to compete, and so on. That sounds unimaginably bleak to me. And it's so boring. Most good competitive fighters have at most about a half dozen techniques they rely on to win their medals, and everything else is just a means to get a "tokui waza" (favoured technique) to score. That's how it's done. Yawn. I'm interested in the art as a whole, not perfecting half a dozen techniques to lighting speed and maximum efficacy.

I Strive to be a Martial Artist, First and Foremost. YMMV.

I firmly believe that tournament success is not an accurate measure of one's worth as a martial artist. A fencer could (for example) focus on athleticism, refine their three favourite longsword techniques to perfection, win a bunch of tournaments but still not have a working understanding of the Liechtenauer system as a whole. They could do it by modifying epée techniques if they so chose. Does that make them a more legitimate martial artist than someone who fences well enough, diligently trains the sources, understands their underlying principles, and can articulate them to others in a kind and constructive way? Who would you rather have in your club? 

We're Going to End Up Exactly Where We Started

The funny thing is, it was to a large degree the sportification of swordsmanship and grappling that necessitated the HEMA movement in the first place. HEMA's been a thing for only about 30 years or so, and we're already at the point where we might need HEMA to put the HEMA back in HEMA to do HEMA. It's especially ironic to me that we see in a discipline where the first letter of its own acronym stands for "Historical" is demonstrating the old adage that "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."