I will sweat, and I may bleed, but I will Not be broken.
Sword Carolina is located in Greenville County, SC. It is the first and only HEMA school in the area. It teaches the Kunst des Fechtens of Johannes Liechtenauer and the masters that followed after him.
Sword Carolina is a Christian school of martial arts. We do not have any religious or spiritual belief requirements for participation, nor are we ashamed of our own beliefs. We seek to honor and glorify God through our efforts, which seems to have been a focus of the Medieval masters as well.
Aaron Shober – Owner and Head Instructor
Aaron stumbled onto HEMA in 2010 and quickly became passionate about it. He practiced largely on his own for the next year, through books, DVDs, online resources, and events, before starting his own group in a local park. In September 2012, Aaron leased a Main Street space and opened up a dedicated HEMA school, one of only a few in the country. He is blessed to be a professional HEMA instructor, teaching and training as his full-time career.
Aaron has taught classes at events such as IGX, SoCal, and his own Study in Steel. He has won medals in Longsword, Dussack, and Dagger and has helped coach several students to win or place in tournaments. Sword Carolina’s YouTube channel is recognized as one of the best free resources to start to learn HEMA, and Sword Carolina Online is the first online school of HEMA available. Through Sword Carolina and Sword Carolina Online, Aaron now has students around the world.
HEMA Alliance
We support the HEMA Alliance, a collection of schools and individuals dedicated to advancing the knowledge of and participation in our arts and to serving the needs of the members in our community. They are also aiding research and scholarship of source literature, notably with the Wiktenauer website.
Adversity makes me grow stronger: More valuable to my Lord, more dangerous to my enemy.
Sword Carolina’s primary weapon of instruction is the longsword, its principles applying to all other combat situations. We also train with unarmed grappling (Ringen) and one-hand sword (Messer).
The fighting arts of Medieval and Renaissance Europe were athletic, brutal, and pragmatic, whether when used in war, in competitions, or in self-defense.
These arts were designed to allow you to leave a fight safely, whether by killing your opponent, disarming or capturing him, or giving yourself an opportunity to escape. Sword Carolina strives to teach the Kunst des Fechtens with its inherent intensity and functionality, but with provisions for safety. Martial arts are by their definition dangerous, but we take every precaution to prevent serious injury. Bumps and bruises are simply part of the territory.