Martinez Academy of Arms

Last weekend's Smallsword Academy was a success! Special thanks to Maestro Acosta-Martinez, Maestro Martinez, Maître Longino & all our participants for taking part in this CombatCon Event #Combatcon #HEMA #historicaleuropeanmartialarts #swordfighting #hemafencing #HEMAcommunity #Fencing #smallsword #swords

Small-Sword Academy in New York City
May 22nd- 24th
Early Bird Registration ends on March 31st.
Price increases on April 1st.

Smallsword Academy 2026 - CombatCon Smallsword Academy 2026 Explore the precision and skill of smallsword New York City May 22nd – 24th, 2026 CombatCon is pleased to host the Small-Sword Academy, a three-day intensive seminar. This seminar will provide students with no previous experience a well rounded introduction to the art, whil...

For Women's History Month

For International Women's Day

Irene Mabel Marsh in 1900 founded the Liverpool Physical Training College for women. This was a college to train teachers of physical education. Fencing was a part of the curriculum among other sports and dance. She was also familiar with the German and Swedish models of physical education. Her school continued to evolve and is today a part of the Liverpool Polytechnic.

Happy International Women’s Day

The Viennese lady fencers were contracted to do their demonstration of foil and dagger twice daily at the Toronto Industrial Fair in 1888. Also, Miss Oaks from England and Miss Blumen from America, both champion cyclists, would ride various heats each day of the fair with the winner receiving a purse of $1,000.00.

For Women's History Month:

Petruso Resort was the perfect location for our training. The staff was amazing and accommodating. They certainly added to the experience.

Oggi ultimo giorno di attività della Martinez Arms Academy al Petruso Redort. Da domani maestri e studenti lasceranno i luoghi da dove è originata la loro attività del cuore e torneranno negli Stati Uniti, ognuno nella sua città d’origine. Nei loro cuori serberanno il ricordo di questa esperienza indimenticabile, nei nostri resterà la gioia di avere contribuito, in piccola parte, a rendere concreta questa esperienza e la speranza di poterla ripetere. Grazie mille a tutti! Alla prossima!

Training in Sicily 2025

Every couple of years the Martinez Academy of Arms travels abroad to different destinations for intensive training. Training daily from early morning until past midday; the goal is to train under various conditions and types of terrain. This provides the students with the opportunity to train at a level not possible within the confines of the salle. This time we concentrated on the Southern Italian School. The students could choose from 3 tracks. The evolution from rapier to late rapier/foil of the early 19th century. We also looked at some of the elements that exist in foil and how they are applied in Sabre. Finally the last track examined the elements of Italian rapier that remain in French small-sword. In each track the students studied one weapon for 3 days and then moved on to the second weapon for another 3 days to see the evolution or similarities in theory.