How do begin ?

[Esel Lose-Därme]

Hallo, I am new here ! Well met !

I am wondering which is the best kind of fighting to learn, with the spade.

Is it the Japanise spade, the Chinise spade or the Euro spade ?

Also, do you recommend a best teacher ?

Where does one begin ?

Thanks
Esel L-D

[Benjamin Smith]

Here we learn Western Martial Arts, ancient European fighting. I assume English is your second language, most of us have a second language that we can communicate with, so let us know what language you would prefer to communicate in. For now:

1) Find someone to teach you, go to the Practice Partners list and look up someone relatively close by to teach/coach you and help get you started

2) If there is no one close by at least get someone to e-mail back and forth so that you can get some groundwork

3) Buy/find a Historic Manual (Fiore de Liberi and Joachim Meyer are good places to start).

4) If you have no one to teach you get Medieval Swordsmanship by John Clements and start there. Much of the material is dated, but its a good start.

5) Get yourself a waster (wooden sword), better yet get a pair so that someone can practice with you.

As for what is the best weapon/fighting style? It's with is the one you win with. The martial art we teach is the best I have personally encountered.