Coffee & HEMA: In praise of skill divisions

The Coffee & HEMA series examines a range of different topics in Historical European Martial Arts. I try to make a point about an important area in the time it takes for my coffee to brew in the morning.
On the back of taking Silver at in the Alibion Cup Open Longsword A divisions, I have thoughts about skill divisions in HEMA - and why I love them.
All opinions are my own, and are based upon my several years of experience in running clubs, teaching classes and organising tournaments.
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[@ChrisOToole89]

You judged my pool in tier B. Had some very fun exchanges, really enjoyed it

[@adamtennant4936]

I didn't know where to look when Longsword A was going on, all the fights were awesome!

[@StevenGallagher-wi9me]

Agreed on all points, Tiering seems to be a good thing so far, Albion A tier is definitely the hardest pool I've ever fought in, but it was great fun, and nice to go for it

[@jasonbaldwin2171]

The praise you give worthy opponents, says a lot about your quality of character. Its nice to see more appreciation for the quality of fights than on results against less skilled opponents.

[@PhilippoVadi]

@jasonbaldwin2171 hah thanks. And I should say for anyone looking on: I am perfectly happy and thoroughly enjoy fencing with newer fencers. But tournaments are not a good place for that. When fencing someone less experienced I'll normally not exploit any major errors they're making more than a few times to see if they self correct. If it's a gap in their fencing I'll move on and tell them about it if they ask for feedback. I'm much more likely to try and find their strength areas and deliberately set up situations they can use it - that's good practice for both of us as I'll be trying to counter something they are doing well. But a tournament format encourages/,rewards me to find their biggest weakness and exploit it until the cows come home. That's not fun for either of us, and not a great way to get decent feedback about your fencing as a whole. I'd much rather just spar with someone newer so we can both relax and not worry about the numbers

[@GaryHoward87]

Interesting to hear this from the other side, Jamie, and I'm glad it works for the better fencers too. I applied for beginner's longsword at a Wessex last year and was chucked into the main Longsword event for numbers reasons (which was fine and a great experience), but what stood out to me was the capable fencers taking a spot in beginner's longsword because they fit the tournament criteria. Splitting is a great idea and I hope the majority continue to use it as a route to challenges and better fights rather than an easier trophy!

[@PhilippoVadi]

The Beginners division last year was a bit of a learning experience for us - it was a pretty last minute addition because we realised that a lot of the hall was empty during the women's+ competitions. Defining what a "beginner" is in HEMA can be really hard. We had some people