Stoccata

Welcome to the Stoccata School of Defence, Sydney

Founded in 1998, the Sydney branch of the Stoccata School of Defence is a modern school of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA), Western Martial Arts (WMA) or Historical European Swordsmanship (HES), that seeks to teach systems, principles and techniques drawn from texts on the subject of fencing written between the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries.

These systems designed explicitly for dealing with life-and-death situations, and what we teach is not re-enactment, sport-fencing, or theatrical stage-fighting (although many students do engage in these activities as well). The techniques are taught in reference to how they were used in real combat, and our emphasis is on safety, control, competence, and skill.

We offer regular courses of instruction in a variety of different weapons and historical styles. See “Weapons and Systems” for details.