Pardubice 2018 HEMA Tournament - My fights

**PLEASE READ THE DESCRIPTION**
This is the "raw" footage from the Pardubický meč 2018 tournament I attended on December 1st in Pardubice, Czech republic. There were 41 people competing after a flu epidemic won over the 20 others who couldn't come :)
The rules are rather simple:
- All valid hits award one point
- In case of a double hit both fencers are awarded one point each
- It is possible to score a point by dominance - dominance in wrestling, dominance by disarming or weapon dominance
- The longsword tournament uses the “Vor” rule - a fencer who (in case of a doublehit) attacked in tempo and did no mistake in his attack (the doublehit is apparently caused by wrong reaction of the opponent) may be awarded a point for their hit (low percent of cases)
- there is no afterblow, most afterblows are doubles, sometimes the rule above is used
- The fights in pools are fought to 5 points, the fights in eliminations to 7 points
Some remarks
- the tournament was run from 10am (first pools) to 5pm (finals)
- not every exchange resulted in score, I cut out the judges rulling to show just the exchanges
- opponents vary in their skill; winning over someone doesn't mean they are bad or weak, it just happens, to everyone
- everyone does mistakes, it's the very essence of our HEMA path to learn and get better
- everyone has their style and video has its limits. Psychology, mood, stress etc. are important factors in every tournament
- visit my Facebook page: martinfabianHEMA
00:05 - pools, vs Tomáš Kedro
01:16 - pools, vs Kamil Kazelle
02:33 - pools, vs Filip Trcka
03:40 - pools, vs Tomáš Kohout
04:59 - pools, vs Jaroslav Tylich
06:14 - pools, vs Ladislav Vitovič
07:46 - elims 32, vs Tomáš Kedro
10:06 - elims 16, vs Viktor Kliment
11:32 - elims 8, vs Andrej Valacsay
13:34 - semifinals, vs Lubomír Pečiva
15:34 - finals, vs Zdeněk Brýdl

[@MartinFabian]

Hey guys, welcome to another one of my tournament videos. Hope you enjoy it - it contains 11 of my fights from December 1st in Pardubice, Czech republic. I enjoyed all of the fights but if I should put some above others it were number 9 against Andrej Valacsay and the final one against Zdenek Brydl. Both of them are 18yo, both of them are faster and more agile than me and it took a hell of an effort in both cases to win. Andrej (9th fight) is my student and when he asked me after the fight what did he do wrong I replied: "Nothing. it was mere luck for me". What wasn't so lucky was the hit at 04:56 which is hardly to be seen but made my thumb blue and numb for the rest of the day. I was in quite some pain so as you can see in the later fights I was fighting much more careful than usual, especially in some cases when the risk was higher. Some nice exchanges, lots of funny stuff and two flying swords. First to find gets a favorite comment :) All the best and thanks for watching!

[@brunogrimaldi2935]

What kind of hands protection are you using? just wondering, cant figure it out myself :)

[@MartinFabian]

@@brunogrimaldi2935 I use Sparring Gloves Mitten, my all time favorites :)

[@TheGeorgianOne]

Yeah, the 1/8 fight was awesome, probably the best of them all if you ask me. Tell the guy that if he continues like this he will start winning tournaments soon.

[@josiahtm866]

perhaps, one day in the future, people will have basketball tournaments in HEMA courts... yeah ngl that was kinda random

[@thuglincoln7699]

Congratulations on claiming the top spot on HEMA Ratings! It's about time!

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you very much :)

[@UNKA757]

Purple dude was highly aggressive. Very interesting sport to watch.

[@xanderj2581]

so great. Have been watching your videos to learn longsword.

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you very much Xander!

[@xanderj2581]

@@MartinFabian my tear is running down, omg u replied me.........i gotta share this to all my friends lol

[@TurulHEMA]

🔍 Lots of great exchanges I want to take a closer look at! 🔍

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you! If you needed the uncompressed original or some slowmo parts let me know ;)

[@TurulHEMA]

@@MartinFabian Sounds good, but I should be okay. Mark Wilkie is up before I re-review you =)

[@MartinFabian]

say whaaa

[@MartinFabian]

Hello Steven? Is there any fight in particular you'd wish in slowmo, or generally the whole thing? Checkmate was filmed by Kuba Potocki in Poland. I do workshops all the time and there is some footage from it on KZbin, but I don't plan to film it myself :) Too much work at once :)

[@dtndtn4762]

Awesome fights man! I've been into HEMA longsword for a few months already and you are my idol so far. Like in Turnhaw 2018, always fast and clean thrusts, and very agile overall! Also love your hands defence while in langort (personaly getting hit a lot). Congratz man, and keep it up!

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you very much! Hope not to dissapoint in the future. Good luck in your endeavours ;)

[@ArthurHerbst]

Exceptional fencing. Reminds me on how far behind we are in germany. Arround here i'd regard myself as a fairly competent fighter. But i wouldn't stand a chance against against you guys. Its all relative. Repcet and Greetings :)

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you very much Arthur! I've been to Germany a few times in the last years and plan to go there 3 more times next year (so far) and I'm always looking forward every time. Germany has got a great number of competent fencers, a huge number of people doing HEMA overall and the potential is I'd say larger than anywhere else. The only thing Germany is "behind" is the competitive scene which will drive people even further but that already started and is happening and will improve things quickly. Every tournament has its own dynamic and if someone is advanced and knows their deal well enough, higher average/better fencers can push them to fence even better. So yes, like you said, it's relative and you never know. All the best :)

[@JRT176]

Hey Martin what does your training/ workout regime look like? I don't think there are too many people in HEMA as explosive and precise as you. It's a joy watching you fence

[@MartinFabian]

Hello JRT, you're very kind, thank you very much! I do a lot of cardio and fitness exercises, agility ladder, HIIT and some sparring specific preparatory exercises. I don't think it's that much special, it's just years of repetitive practice. Still way to go!

[@mikekalf207]

Great fencing as always, very enjoyable to watch! One question though, what type of feder do you use?

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you very much Mike! In this tournament a custom regenyei - 102+34cm, wide schilt, medium blade, POB around 5cm.

[@mikekalf207]

@@MartinFabian Nice choice! Thanks for the response 🙂

[@Zetrao]

Hey Fabian! as someonhe who doesn´t actually practsie HEMA for the moment but am really looking forward to one day trying it. I wondered if you could do a video about grappling in HEMA, i have seen a lot of it in different manuscripts but i almost never see it in competition (i´ve seen a few skilled fencers on youtube doing it sucesfully in sparring) so i wondered if you ever try it? and how hard is it to pull off and how often is it usefull.

[@MartinFabian]

Hello! Here and then I go into grappling but personally I prefer not to. The reason is it's much safer behind the blade and when grappling, physical dispositions play a larger role than art. Not necessarily, but much more than when fencing with swords :)

[@Zetrao]

@@MartinFabian Thank you so much for the response! it helps a lot since i´m currently not able to train hema but it´s really interesting to see and read about it and learn as much as i can before i start

[@frozenorb550]

What fencing mask + protection for head, and pants do you use? In need of some new gear!

[@MartinFabian]

Hi! I use an All-star 1600N coach mask, All-star leather overlay and SPES Locust pants :)

[@frozenorb550]

@@MartinFabian Appreciate it! And great fencing :)

[@ondrejh571]

11:20 was very enjoyable to watch :) Btw congratz again. Btw(2) 13:45 :D

[@MartinFabian]

Thanks :)

[@thebobbytytesvarrietyhour4168]

What gloves do you use?

[@thestuffmonster9856]

Alex Hutchins He uses SparringGloves mittens, not sure if he uses long or short cuff though

[@MartinFabian]

Hey, as Stuffmonster said, I use SG Mittens with a shorter cuff.

[@user-nk4qz2bs9i]

11:19

[@thestuffmonster9856]

Going to fight the Russians with a broken thumb?

[@MartinFabian]

Hopefully it's not broken and hopefully it'll pass within a week :)

[@thestuffmonster9856]

Martin Fabian good luck!

[@ondrejh571]

​@@thestuffmonster9856 Attacking Russia in winter is usually not a good idea, but Martin Fabian equipped himself with excellent hat :D