Welcome!

We are glad you are here. We’re excited to give you the opportunity to try out this activity, and hope that you will stay to be a long-term member of our group.

Your first months in the Fiore group

There will be a lot to learn, and some confusion, as the material is challenging. Give yourself time to get familiar with things. Practice outside of class as much as you can – even ten minutes a day can be very helpful. Try to make it to every practice. Ask your coaches and training partners for help.

What to wear

• Wear comfortable workout clothes.
• Bring a pair of clean indoor shoes to change into, before entering the SANCA gymnasium. Ideal shoes are flat-soled, such as Converse All-Stars, or one of the many varieties of Puma sneakers.
• Men must wear a groin cup

Equipment

Within the first year of practice, you should plan on purchasing the following items, which are listed in rough order of priority (most important first). We have loaner equipment for all of this, but if you are serious about sticking with this hobby, you will want to buy

• A blunt longsword, such as the I-beam trainers made by our local swordmaker Angus Trim, or by the folks at Arms and Armor, who make a very nice fechterspiel.
• A fencing mask, such as this one from Zen Warrior Armoury. You’ll need one fairly quickly, as we only have a few loaners… Terry Tindall of That Guys Products makes excellent masks manufactured from perforated steel, but his waiting list is long. Get on it now and when your name comes up a year from now you can get one of his masks and pass your fencing mask on to someone else.
• A neck protector, such as this Reebok which is very comfortable and sufficient for training purposes, or a proper gorget which will be more protective when you eventually start free play with steel
• A fencing jacket, such as this one, which these wonderful people make to your size.
• Hand protection (talk to the coaches about this– this is the most challenging equipment purchase). The reason this is at the end, is it’s really only needed for free play with steel swords. You have a lot of work to accomplish before you’re going to want to do that.