Gareth Thomas

Starting out as a stage combatant in 1987, Gareth began choreographing
fight routines for street faires and community theatre in the early
90's. His studies took him thru not only the ranks of the Society of
American Fight Directors, but to independent historical swordplay
instructors where he learned to adapt correct historical swordplay for
the theatre. In the early 90s he helped create the Order of the Black
Rose, an Elizabethen period fencing school for renaissance faire
performances and by 1996 had developed Skirmishers, an historical
demonstation troupe covering European swordplay of the 16th thru 19th
centuries.

His passion for historical swordplay developing rapidly, Gareth began
training with instuctors Sean Hayes, Bob Charron, Ramon Martinez and
Jeanette Acosta-Martinez among others. This eventually resulted in an
invitation by John Lennox and Jared Kirby to attend ISMAC, the
International Swordplay and Martial Arts Convention, in Lansing ,
Michigan.

Gareth assisted John Lennox in the Military Sabre Classes, and the
following year had begun to develop his instructional system for cutlass.
As cutlass instructor, Gareth also began to branch out in the maritime
weapons field taking courses in knife fighting and tomahawk fighting from
Instructors James Loriega, Pete Kautz, and Dwight McLemore. It was at one
of these events that John and Gareth began discussing maritime combat
with Steve Huff, founder of the Historical Martial Study Society, and the
Historical Maritime Combat Association was born.In 2005 ISMAC hosted the
first Boarding Weapons workshop aboard the Michigan Princess riverboat.
The class was an enormous succes and an advanced class is planned for the
2006 convention.

Today, Gareth continues his studies in the Western Martial Arts Field,
with a focus on any and all weapons used aboard ships of the 17th to 19th
centuries. He is also a contributing author of the upcoming book on
maritime combat, "By Sword and Tomahawk" with co-authors John Lennox and
Steve Huff.

John Lennox

John has trained in various forms of swordplay for over 20 years. Beginning with the katana, he later moved into the western weapon styles. Through his involvement in stage combat for theatre over the past 20 years he began to study a myriad of weapons. He is a Fight Director for Art of Combat, teaches stage combat at Lansing Community College, and is their in-house fight director. John also teaches stage combat and is the in-house fight director for Wayne State University.

In October of 1999 he met Jared Kirby at a convention in Chicago. The convention was the first WMAW, and this was the first time he was introduced to the works of actual historical masters. Realizing that he had been training in these styles for years without knowing the actual names of the masters themselves, and listening to the modern historical combat instructors voice their disappointment about the inaccuracies found in stage combat, he decided to bridge the gap between stage combat and historically accurate combat training.

He brought this philosophy back to the members of Art of Combat, and AoC now holds as their mission to choreograph works that are exciting to watch, safe to perform, and as true as possible to the historical style represented.

John is an instructor with the Historical Martial Study Society and with the Historic Maritime Combat Association. He was one of the three instructors for the Boarding Actions Class at the International Swordfighting and Martial Arts Convention, of which he is also co-founder.

John is currently in his dissertation phase of his PhD studies at Wayne State University. He minored in Historic Fencing, and his dissertation focuses on the relationship between actual personal combat and stage combat from the late 16th to early 20th centuries.

Steven Huff

Steve began his martial arts training over 20 years ago, beginning with Asian styles (including Japanese and Chinese swordsmanship) before branching out into fencing in his late teens. This led to his introduction into the historical Western martial arts, and in the fall of 1999 Steve founded the Historical Martial Study Society, a group devoted to the practice and study of various Western arts.

In the winter of 2000, Steve met Col. Dwight McLemore, well known in the martial arts community for his studies in early American fighting arts. Under Col. McLemore’s tutelage, Steve studied the fighting arts of early America and was given a full instructor’s certification as well as school charter from Col. McLemore in Spring 2004. In the summer of 2004, Steve met John Lennox and Gareth Thomas at ISMAC in Lansing, when, following a class on the cutlass, the three began discussing the weapons and martial tactics used during boarding actions. The three decided to examine these weapons more in-depth, and they taught a class on these weapons at ISMAC 2005. The three are currently working on a book on weapons and tactics of boarding actions for an early 2006 release.

Steve currently works as a high school teacher (history and literature), working in a program with kids with emotional and discipline problems. He has degrees in Ancient/Classical History and Early American History, and is currently working towards a Master’s in Teaching. Steve is the founder and owner of the Universal Martial Study Center in Waldorf, a mixed-martial arts training facility that offers both Eastern and Western martial arts as well as modern self-defense training. Steve also gives lectures and seminars for local colleges and high schools on a variety of topics from feudal Japanese society to the lifestyle of the colonial frontiersman.

Steaphen Fick

Bringing history alive is the passion of Steaphen Fick, founder of the Davenriche Martial Artes School (DEMAS), located in Santa Clara and Morgan Hill. Based on an ancient European style of self-defence (old English spelling), students from age six to seventy-six learn how to safely swing swords, fight with long sticks, daggers and rapiers, and learn other techniques that were part of the tradition of knights centuries ago.

Fascinated by the “days of yore,” Steaphen began sword fighting in full armor for a tournament company in 1989. Initially, he learned how to compete through what might be called the literal school of hard knocks. However, while on his honeymoon in Europe, he had the good fortune to spend over six months in Edinburg, Scotland, and on a return trip, was able to study 11 different weapons, as well as age-old wrestling techniques and styles. Steaphen studied and learned: 14th-16th Century Long Sword, 16th -17th Century Rapier, 16th Century Side Sword , 15th Century Dagger, and 19th Century Sabre.

When the tournament company dissolved, Steaphen founded his school, DEMAS, as a way to continue to share his enjoyment of the art. In addition to his adult classes in Long Sword Fencing, and Rapier and Dagger, and his Long Sword Fencing classes for children, Steaphen also offers a special class in street safety for women called, “Be S.A.F.E.” (Secure, Aware and Free Everywhere) in which women are taught how to best avoid potential harm, as well as simple maneuvers to escape from an attacker.

While playing with swords is “fun,” for the children, teens and adults who attend his classes, Steaphen is quick to emphasize that the techniques one learns can be used in situations where one needs to defend oneself. For example sword techniques can easily be applied to a cane, a pool cue, or a heavy cardboard tube as well as the open hand. In the same way, the technique one learns with a dagger can be applied to a folded up newspaper or magazine, a pair of gloves, a purse strap or a closed umbrella. These techniques also work with your bear hands.