Academy of Arms

Academy of Arms is a non-profit historical fencing school serving the greater Los Angeles area. They teach a wide array of weapons including medieval longsword, rapier, dagger, grappling, spear, pollaxe, halfsword, sickle, messer, sword and buckler, and staff, all part of the Historical European Martial Arts, or HEMA. They approach historical sword fencing as a martial art, not a sport, and students begin with plastic training weapons, advance to blunt steel, and eventually do limited work with sharps. The classes are available to adult women and men but do not teach anyone under 18 years of age.