User:Barry Keyes

I have been playing with swords( or SLO's) since I could hold things in my hand. As a young boy my brothers and I would have " sword " fights in the back yard while our parents watched on and admonished us not to hurt each other (We never listened) As I got older I studied martial arts but was always fascinated by the knights of old and still dreamed of actually learning how to use a sword. But alas... it was not to be as I could find no one crazy enought to have a go with "real" swords. I found the SCA but it wasnt what I was looking for so I looked on line and found out about the manuals and downloaded a few. I first started reading Fiore, but found the language to flowery and indecipherable, so I then tried Lichetenauer ala Christian Toblers first book, Fighting with the German Longsword. It was straight forward and to the point ( pun intended ) and I had found what I had been looking for. I advertised on the Local SCA's website to see if there were any like minded people and lo and behold, there was. We started up a study group ( AnyHau ) and I havent looked back. Ive been studying and teaching German sword fighting for 15 years now. Ive been lurking on this forum since its inception and have watched it grow over the years into quite a valuable resource. I hope to be able to add to its vast resources and look forward to the next 15 years to see how the community grows even further.