User:Jeff Cunningham

Jeff Cunningham is an aerospace engineer from Orlando, Florida in the United States. His journey in Künst des Fechtens began in 2004 as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints assigned to northern Germany, where he gained proficiency in the language and his first exposure to regional dialects such as Plattdeutsch and Frisian. After returning to the States following his tour of duty, he discovered the Fechtbücher shortly after beginning his undergraduate work at the University of Central Florida and began studying them as a means to retain his German fluency. As luck would have it, he met fellow enthusiasts Jon Wolfe and Michael Vaughn on campus, and together they founded Knights Melee (now Knights Blade), a UCF-recognized student organization and Fechtschule, where he served as their translator and interpreter of the historical source texts.

Today, Jeff lives with his wife and son in suburban Orlando and trains with Crossroad Swords in Winter Garden. He advocates for more nuanced approaches to translation of the Fechtbücher with greater emphasis on taking German culture and idiomatic phrasing into account. Jeff is profoundly grateful for the impact and difference that HEMA has made in his life, including blessing him with the best friends and brothers he's ever had.