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Our instructors

Steaphen Fick

Fascinated by the "days of yore," Steaphen began sword fighting in 1989 as part of a touring company.  Travelling all across California, Steaphen and others demonstrated the use and mobility of armored knights and competed in full contact tournaments while fully armored.  In eleven years of touring, Steaphen participated in over 1900 fights.

 

In 1999 Steaphen spent six months in the UK, studying with Maestro Paul MacDonald and training with lighter weapons such a rapier, dagger, and the Spada di Filo (cut and thrust sword).  Becoming a recognized authority on the system of Joseph Swetnam (1617), he competed in four international rapier & dagger tournaments, two which he was the victor.

 

Steaphen opened the Davenriche European Martial Artes school in 2000, where he has served as head instructor ever since.  After 25 years, Steaphen retired from tournament fighting in 2013 to focus on teaching and consulting for theatrical combat and choreography.

 

Steaphen continues to travel and teach across the US and internationally.  He has been featured on The History Channel's Modern Marvels titled "Built by Hand" (season 6 ep. 43), as well as on CNN's "Somebody's Gotta Do It" with Mike Rowe (season 2 ep. 6).  Steaphen has also choreographed fight scenes for a Dawnrunner Productions television show "Dorkcore".

 

info@swordfightingschool.com

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Sean Baker

Sean joined DEMAS in 2015 studying the rapier and the montante. After working for several years with the rapier curriculum, he became the instructor for that class. He has also been working with Steaphen and other high level students on expanding the rapier curriculum to provide a better rapier and dagger training to his students.

 

Sean has previously studied karate and in college he trained with the foil. He is now sharing his love of the Renaissance fencing master Ridolfo Capo Ferro with the students at DEMAS

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John Dietzel

‘Gentleman’ Johnny joined DEMAS as its first Dragon Slayer when he was 12 years old.  He studied under Steaphen for two years, eventually moving on to other interests. But his love of swords never left him and in 2010 Johnny returned with an emphasis on dagger, grappling, and applying the medieval combat techniques to modern combat training.

 

In 2015 Johnny became a full instructor at DEMAS and developing the Dragon Slayers program to teach the Davenriche system to younger ages. He currently is the lead instructor for Dragon Slayers and the rangemaster for our D.S.O.C. Killhouse indoor airsoft range.

 

john@swordfightingschool.com

Marco Quarta

Marco co-founded Nova Scrimia in 1999 and has served as a senior instructor since.  He began training in Italian stick fighting in the earlies Nineties, training in Judo, Jujitsu, and Mixed Martial Arts before that.  He is also Maestro of historic fencing at Scrimia Scuola d’Armi. Since 2000 he opened Salles d’Armes in Bologna (IT), Padova (IT), San Francisco Bay Area (USA) and Mexico City (MX). He is also one of the founders of “Hic Sunt Leones”, a fighting club inspired by traditional assaults and combat rituals.

 

Marco began teaching Italian stick fighting and Abracar (unarmed techniques) at DEMAS in 2015.  He also teaches and promotes Italian Martial Arts (IMAs) at Stanford and in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Marco teaches the Intermediate Italian Stick and Pugilism classes. He has raised James Pendziszewski and Alex Laslavic to the level of Instructor in Nova Scrimia to teach the beginning classes of Italian Stick and Pugilism

 

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Ian Kuan

Ian's interest in swordsmanship was first piqued by fantasy novels and role playing games.

Since 2016 that interest has grown into a passion for HEMA and its community. He has studied longsword, dagger/knife defense, and grappling. In addition to teaching, he represents the school at local Renaissance faires and special events.

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Corey Somavia

Corey Somavia joined Davenriche European Martial Artes in 2013, studying longsword.  He has expanded his studies to montante and sword & shield.  From 2017-2019, he organized the longsword and mixed weapon tournaments held at DEMAS.  He assisted Steaphen Fick in revising the longsword curriculum and in 2019 began teaching longsword at DEMAS.

 

Prior to studying at DEMAS, Corey studied Kenpo Karate, Judo, and Jujitsu.  He currently teaches the Tuesday 8pm Longsword class.

Skye Hilton - Texas branch

Call or Text at 318-537-4334
https://www.swordschoolfitness.com/

Skye is a NASM-certified physical fitness trainer, sports and exercise nutritionist, Historical European Martial Artist and HEMA Alliance certified instructor in Italian Longsword. She joined DEMAS in 2014, studying longsword, sidesword, dagger, and primitive archery.  She developed a teaching curriculum for montante (great sword) and advanced longsword.

 

In 2018 Skye relocated to Texas, where she opened a branch DEMAS school in Midland, Texas.

 

Thomas Levine - Las Vegas branch

Thomas is a HEMA Alliance certified instructor in Italian Longsword.  He joined DEMAS in 2013, having obtained a black belt in jujitsu before that.

In 2016 Thomas relocated to Las Vegas, where he opened a branch DEMAS school that offers courses in longsword and spear.

 

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