Capital Kunst des Fechtens - CKDF

In honor of Pride Month, Capital Kunst des Fechtens is hosting Give a Girl a Sword, a beginner session exclusively for women and members of the LGBTQI community. Find out more here:

Give a Girl a Sword Intro Course 2025 | Capital Kunst des Fechtens | TidyHQ In honor of Pride Month, Capital Kunst des Fechtens is offerring this beginner session exclusively to women and members of the LGBTQI community. Our club is dedicated to providing and maintaining a safe training space for Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). All are welcome, and we do not tolera...

Heads Up!
CKDF is holding an introductory sabre course starting on February 27th. No previous experience needed, just come ready to try something new!
Registration Below:

Introduction to Sabre | Capital Kunst des Fechtens | TidyHQ Before purchasing a ticket, review the three waivers below which includes important COVID-19/coronavirus-related information, our gym's internal waiver, and the HEMA Alliance Insurance Waiver. You must SIGN the Brazen Fitness Waiver individually. By signing up for this course, you are indicating you...

Heads Up!
CKDF is holding an introductory rapier course starting November 7th. No previous experience needed, just come ready to try something new!

Registration Below:

Introduction to Rapier | Capital Kunst des Fechtens | TidyHQ Before purchasing a ticket, please review our liability waiver: https://ckdf.tidyhq.com/public/pages/ckdf-liability-waiver. By purchasing a ticket, you are affirming that you have read and agree to the waiver.

Good news, everyone!

Starting on May 2, we will be holding our Monday and Thursday practices indoors at Brazen Fitness at 607 S Ball St, Arlington, VA 22202. In addition, our schedule will be adjusted slightly to accommodate our new location:

Monday:
Open Floor 8:30pm-10:30pm
Saber, etc: 8:30pm-9:30pm

Thursday:
Polearms (outdoors at Long Bridge Park): 6:30pm-7:30pm
Common Fencing: 7:30pm-9pm
Kunst des Fechtens: 9pm-10:30pm

Rapier times are still TBD.

For the first week, we'll have a short introduction to the new space and rules. If we are good stewards of the space, there might be more opportunities for additional training days in the future.

Brazen Fitness is a 10 minute walk from the Pentagon City Metro. There is a small parking lot available for your use, and there is also plenty of street parking available.

Brazen Fitness · 607 S Ball St, Arlington, VA 22202 ★★★★★ · Gym

Hello CKDF,

Happy news! Classes will be resuming effective this Thursday, February 3rd.

Case rates appear to be stabilizing in our area, however with Omicron's infectivity we are reinstating the mandatory mask rule at practice. We will be meeting at Nannie Lee Rec Center per our usual Thursday class times, and in the event of rain we will move practice to our usual rainy day location, Jones Point Park. One final annoucement, our Dagger Off-Site practice has been moved to Wednesdays moving forward. All class details, times, and registrations can be found in the Events section: https://ckdf.tidyhq.com/public/schedule/events.

Let us know if you have any questions or if you need more information.

-The CKDF Team

P.S. It has been extremely cold in the evenings. If you are attending class, please dress accordingly. We will try to ensure there is a warm beverage available to sip on in between drills.

Events | Capital Kunst des Fechtens | TidyHQ Our club is dedicated to providing and maintaining a safe training space for Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). All are welcome, and we do not tolerate discrimination based upon gender, gender identity and expression, race, sexual orientation, disability, nationality or national origin, ethnic...

After much deliberation and following case rates in the DC, MD, and VA areas, the CKDF Council has made the tough decision to suspend classes at this time. With break through cases on the rise for vaccinated and boostered individuals as well as the infectious nature of the Omicron strain we feel it irresponsible to hold classes and put our members and their loved ones at risk.

We will continue to monitor the situation and are hopeful we can resume classes in February. Please stay tuned for online events happening on Zoom. Keep training, keep studying, and please, please stay safe.

As always feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.

New beginner session starts up October 14th! Don't forget to mark your calendars for when registration goes live October 9th.

Introduction to German Longsword & Capital Kunst des Fechtens | Capital Kunst des Fechtens | TidyHQ Before purchasing a ticket, review our waiver which includes important COVID-19/coronavirus-related information. https://ckdf.tidyhq.com/public/pages/ckdf-liability-waiver

Tonight (Thursday, Aug 19) we'll be at our rainy day location, Jones Point Park.

For students in the Intro to Longsword class, tonight will be an optional/extra class, and we'll bring some cool stuff for show and tell. We will continue with week two of the course next Thursday.

Jones Point Park:
Address: Jones Point Dr, Alexandria, VA 23242
Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/t81ccPFhGT5t3cow9
Website: https://www.nps.gov/gwmp/planyourvisit/jonespoint.htm

Jones Point Park - George Washington Memorial Parkway (U.S. National Park Service) Jones Point Park

Mask & Vaccination Policies in Response to Delta Variant

As promised we are continuing to monitor the COVID situation. Tuesday evening, August 10th, we held a Council Meeting to discuss the sharp increase in case rates observed in our regions of interest (counties/cities in which members live and work). At this time, we feel it is still safe to hold classes with the following changes to our Mask and Vaccination Policy.
Effective immediately, members are required to wear masks at all CKDF events. We are also now requiring vaccinations for CKDF event attendance. We ask that you add proof of vaccination or proof of exemption to your class kit. We are not collecting this information, but we will be verifying your vaccination status before each class, so please bring a copy of your vaccination card (a phone photo will suffice) and you will be good to go.

Reminder, please register before attending our classes held on Mondays and Thursdays. This is important for contact tracing should a COVID infection arise. If you are having difficulties registering, double check that your member status is active and in good standing.

Let us know if you have any questions or if you need more information. We will keep a weather eye on the situation and alert you all of any club impacts.

Capital Kunst des Fechtens Member Conduct

Document Purpose
To ensure we continue developing an inclusive and safe atmosphere at CKDF, this document highlights expected behaviors and conduct of club members. With the adoption of our Inclusivity Statement and a focus on building an exemplary club atmosphere where all are welcome to study, practice, and learn, a document laying out expectations will help ensure we continue on this positive track.

Inclusivity Statement
CKDF is dedicated to providing and maintaining a safe training space for Historical European Martial Arts. All are welcome, and we will not tolerate discrimination based upon gender, gender identity and expression, race, sexual orientation, disability, nationality or national origin, ethnicity, age, or religion. Harassment of any sort is similarly not tolerated. Club members who demonstrate a lack of respect and compassion for their training partners will be reprimanded, and may be asked to leave the club.

Behavioral Expectations
All members are expected to demonstrate behaviors exemplifying the CKDF Inclusivity Statement. All members will treat each other with respect and courtesy. This includes using correct pronouns and names while accepting that these pronouns and names may change. Discriminatory language, behavior, or any sexual
misconduct will not be tolerated.

Safety Expectations
Members will practice safety precautions at all times while in the club. This includes, but is not limited to: wearing proper safety equipment, drilling and sparring at appropriate intensity levels for individual and partner-based activities, alerting instructors to safety concerns, and practicing within the capabilities of their own person.

We recognize that everyone comes to us from different backgrounds, with various skill levels and capabilities. Listen to your bodies. If you are nursing an injury, recovering from an injury, or have residual injuries, communicate these with your sparring partner and/or instructor. We practice an opt-in environment where everyone should feel safe enough to step in or out as needed in accordance with their physical limitations. We want you to challenge yourself and try new things, but want you to do so while acknowledging and adhering to limitations your own body may have.

Furthermore, in sparring scenarios it is expected that members are able to scale their abilities effectively to suit their partner. Sparring is a useful training tool and should not be an excuse to show off and/or demoralize your partner. This sparring behavior and mutual respect should be demonstrated with all armed and unarmed practices. Consent should always be obtained before escalating sparring intensity or attempting an unfamiliar technique.

Tapping should always be respected. It is not uncommon in martial arts to reach a point where one’s body simply cannot go beyond where it is. Be it static positions or during sparring / drilling. Techniques involving levels of joint manipulation will always be explained in detail during class and will have extra supervision from instructors and assistant instructors. That being said, part of being a good training partner is listening to and responding quickly to the needs of your partner. A verbal, “Tap”, physical tapping, or an agreed upon verbal queue should be adhered to without hesitation. The technique or position should be released with a check in on the partner to ensure responses were adequate and to determine where positions can be held safely.

Reporting Behaviors
Members who are experiencing harassment, unsafe training, or unsafe sparring scenarios are encouraged to report these incidents to an instructor or to [email protected]. Their anonymity will be preserved. Council Members are all designated safe people and will proceed with taking the necessary actions with the offending party.

Instructor Expectations
When members take on an instructor role, they are held to a higher standard and are subject to additional expectations.
Instructors will refrain from inappropriate relationships with students. Inappropriate relationships may result in an instructor being asked to step down and in severe cases to leave the club as a whole. Sexual misconduct or discriminatory behavior of any sort will not be tolerated.
Instructors will provide coaching in friendly and respectful ways. Demeaning or abusive feedback will not be tolerated. Physical contact should not be relied upon when providing feedback. Instructors should be proficient in body positioning to a point where words and descriptions can be used to achieve desired feedback. Instructors should always seek consent prior to physical contact with students and refrain if the student does not provide consent. Inappropriate physical contact will not be tolerated. This includes but is not limited to caresses, gropes, and intentional contact with breasts, buttocks, and ge****ls.
Instructors should lead safe classes at appropriate training levels for the student population. Unsafe training tactics will not be tolerated. Lessons should be scalable and a safe atmosphere should be enforced at all times. Instructors should encourage students but not push them to participate in environments where they feel unsafe or vulnerable to injury either mental or physical. Drills where intensity may be a concern will also need to be explained clearly so students can determine how they will participate.
Instructors will ensure that the necessary safety equipment is worn for all class activities. Equipment requirements should be made clear at the beginning of all drills. Students who fail to follow these requirements will be excluded from participating in drills for their and their partners’ safety.