Long Island Point Historical Fencing Tourney Returns

Swords clashed and cheers rang out at the Omni Fitness Center in Uniondale during the second annual Long Island Point HEMA tournament, hosted by the Long Island Historical Fencing Society on Nov. 16-18.

HEMA, which stands for Historical European Martial Arts, is a growing field of study worldwide and across the country, spawning numerous tournaments such as Longpoint, Swordfish, Purpleheart Open and Iron Gate Exhibition in which competitors from numerous clubs can test their knowledge and skills while learning more about the art. Its growing popularity has led to coverage in the “New York Times” as well as ESPN’s airing of Longpoint South tournaments held at the Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

Long Island Point featured two different competitions this year: sword and buckler, in which 32 participants fought using single-handed arming swords and small shields known as bucklers; and longsword, which featured 49 fencers from around the Northeast dueling with both ferocity and finesse in front of excited spectators. Among the sponsors were Albion Swords and Purpleheart Armoury.

In an exciting rematch of last year’s Long Island Point longsword finals, Eddy Louis of Boston’s Forte Swordplay got revenge for his loss in 2017 by defeating Stephen Cheney of Pennsylvania’s MEMAG Crossing Fight School for the gold medal. Kevin Willi of the LIHFs won bronze over fourth-place finisher Henry Sharum of New Jersey Historical Fencing Association.

In the sword and buckler event, which began on Friday evening, Cheney proved victorious, with New York Historical Fencing Association’s Jeff Kim taking silver and Louis earning bronze over Willi.

Derek Wise of Boston Armizare was named overall tournament champion for earning the most control points while yielding the least points against in both longsword and sword and buckler.

On Sunday morning, Jay Tsulis (NYHFA) and Nathan Weston (Athena School of Arms) were among the guest lecturers presenting workshops on longsword technique. Capping the weekend was a fun group event, the Battle of Long Island, in which four-person teams met head to head in a series of different “skirmish” scenarios such as “Kill the King,” “Hold the Door” and “Protect the Noble.” The NewJersIans quartet of LIHFS stalwart Ian Craig and NJHFA members Shane Brown, Eugene Osetskyy and Konstantin Osiecki took first prize in the glorious battle.

“What an incredible experience it was for our club,” said Bradley Rangell, the founder of the LIHFS. “Some of the highlights for us included witnessing an unquestionable surge in quality canonical fencing and watching some of the competitors elevate their game to accomplish new fencing milestones and achievements. A hearty congratulations to the participants, who all fought with honor and valor. They are all winners in our book!”