West Edmonton home to Canada’s oldest swordsmanship academy

By Kjell Wickstrom

GLENORA — Western martial arts is bringing practical defences and the swordplay of medieval times to a modern audience in west Edmonton.

The Academy of European Swordsmanship meets Tuesday evenings at St. George’s Church on 124 Street. There it teaches martial arts, but not judo or karate from the Asian traditions. It teaches its students the art of swordplay from the European tradition.

Johanus Haidner and some university friends started the academy in 1994. It is now the oldest western martial arts school in Canada, and has grown to three chapters in Edmonton, Calgary and Missouri.

All martial arts have things in common, but western martial arts differ in both their tools and practicality.

“The human body only gets broken in so many ways, so you’ll find a lot of similarities,” said Haidner. “However we haven’t had the big sport tradition.”

This lack of sport has been what drew some of the students to the school.  Rather than being focused on point-scoring, the academy’s martial arts are focused on practical applications.

“The techniques are ridiculously effective,” said Nikolia Gloeckler, who has been a student at the academy for seven years. “Nothing is flashy or showy, everything has a purpose.”

The academy’s martial arts focus on weapon combat. Students learn a variety of weapon styles, including staves, hand-to-hand and daggers.

The practicality of the hand-to-hand and knife fighting is something that is important to Haidner and his students.

“They’re all practical. Wrestling is probably the most likely thing, and dealing with knife attacks is probably No. 2 in this province,” said Vince Moroz, a fifth-year student.  “(It’s) not like you’re going to be carrying a longsword around.”

The academy and its students show a particular love of using swords.  Sword fighting is something that a lot of people have dreamt about at one time or another.  Whether they are watching a fantasy movie, reading Lord of the Rings or fighting with sticks on a playground, it is a fantasy that some people want to experience, said Gloeckler.

The fantasy is also something that can drive the popularity of the academy. Popular shows, movies or books can get people interested in fighting the way they see in movies or read about in books.

“We had a surge in numbers when the Lord of the Rings movie came out,” said Gloeckler.  “I think they were attracted to the novelty.”

Haidner said the students have all come here for different reasons. Some came looking for practical self-defence training, while others were interested in fulfilling a fantasy. But everybody keeps coming because it is fun.

“It’s fun to learn how to use a sword, it’s fun to learn how to use a knife and it is practical,” said Haidner. “I’ve got a couple students who have their black belts in other martial arts and come here because it’s practical, rather than tournament-oriented.”

The academy has a by-invitation-only cutting demonstration coming up before Halloween, which it calls its annual pumpkin carving contest.  It also runs a tournament in March, which is followed by a public demonstration.

Anyone interested in trying western martial arts should visit the academy’s website, swordsmanship.ca, or find the Academy of European Swordsmanship on Facebook.