This was the 2nd year of the Houston HEMA event, Fechtschule America. This year we brought down a team of students to learn from, train with and fight with some of the worlds top Instructors and competitors. If you did not attend this year, you should put on the calendar for next year. 

Our fighting team consisted of 6 members, Instructors Lee Smith and Nicole Marchen, along with students Jesse Tucker, Callyn Poulin, Miles Ripley, and Steve Kime.

Although all of the participants fought both skillfully and valiantly, on Saturday, meeting in the Dusack final for the 2nd year in a row, was GHFS instructor, and noted Tournament Champion, Axel Pettersson, vs our own Instructor Lee Smith. 

After a vicious and grueling bout, Lee was victorious and narrowly defeated Axel, taking first place in a hotly contested dusack tournament. 

An honorable mention goes to our highest ranking student, Jesse Tucker, who fought very hard, and was bested by Matt Galas in the final few rounds of the tournament, by a single point.

On Sunday, B&I instructors Nicole Marchen, and Lee Smith were invited to participate in the instructors longsword tournament. Lee fought very well having a very lengthy run as king, and as a result made the final match, in the end was defeated by Maryland KDF instructor, and skilled swordsman, Jake Norwood. 

All of us at Blood and Iron would like to give a a big thank you to our friends and exceptional hosts in Houston, Schwert am Schwert. These people worked hard to put on an exceptional event, and even after the event was over they stayed around to show all of us real meaning of southern hospitality. 

Now, we can hardly wait until next year to once again attend what has become one of HEMA's best events.