Valley of the Sun Cutting Tournaments 2023

2909 South Dobson Road,Mesa AZ 85202

14 January, 2023

Description

Valley of the Sun Cutting Tournaments is back after a long slumber!! Your hosts Phillip Martin and Brittany Reeves are excited to be doing this event again! Valley of the Sun is solely dedicated to cutting with European weapons of the Medieval and Renaissance periods. There will be tiered cutting tournaments and high quality workshops suitable for complete beginners to experienced cutters. Our aim is to encourage the growth of cutting and make it more accessible to the wider HEMA community. Our instructors will be announced shortly! TOURNAMENTS: Advanced Longsword Cutting - Competitors must meet the following requirements to be eligible to compete in the advanced longsword cutting tournament. Competitors must have competed in an advanced cutting tournament at a recognized HEMA event within the last 2 years, or have won an advanced tournament in the last 5 years. Competitors can also be eligible by organizer invitation or having won an open cutting tournament at a recognized HEMA cutting event in the last 2 years. All registrations will be subject to final approval from the organizers. Bring your own sword (subject to organizer approval) or use one of our Valley of the Sun loaners. Open Longsword Cutting - Open to cutting competitors of all skill levels. No previous cutting tournament experience required, though competitors must have prior cutting experience in general. First time cutters will not be permitted for safety reasons. First timers should consider our workshop and class options. All tournament registrations will be subject to final approval from the organizers. Bring your own sword (subject to organizer approval) or use one of our Valley of the Sun loaners. Arming Sword Cutting Tournament - Arming sword only. Bring your own (must be organizer approved) or use the event loaner. Open to all levels of competitors who have competed in a HEMA cutting event in the last 2 years regardless of placement or tier. All registrations will be subject to final approval from the organizers. INSTRUCTORS: Angus Trim - Legendary sword maker Angus Trim will be joining Valley of the Sun to deliver a lecture followed by generous Q&A time. Eric Lowe - Eric Lowe is the Founder and Head Instructor of Swordwind in Charlotte, North Carolina. He will make the journey to the desert to offer a class on half cuts in the Bolognese tradition. Julian Schuetze - Decorated cutting champion and president of The Historical Combat Collective, Julian Schuetze, will be joining us from Vancouver, Canada to run a class on how to 'desportify' cutting. RJ Mckeehan - Founder and Head Instructor of SoCal Swords, RJ Mckeehan will be offering a class on how to thrust to cut and other advanced cutting combinations. FEATURES: Valley of the Sun is proud to partner with SoCal Swordfight this year to offer early cutting qualifiers for SoCal Swordfight. Competitors in the open steel longsword categories for SoCal Swordfight 2023 are welcome to get qualified at Valley of the Sun. We encourage folks to take advantage of this at Valley of the Sun to help alleviate some schedule time for SoCal to help their event run smoother. All participants of SoCal Swordfight for Open Steel Longsword Tournaments (regardless of tier) must pass a cutting qualification before being eligible to compete. The qualification is valid for 2 years from the time it is completed. Participants who do not pass the cutting qualification are still eligible for competition in Synthetic Longsword. Individuals who have not pre-qualified based on cutting at previous events must attend the scheduled cutting qualification time slot. The cutting qualifier is part of your tournament registration, and you are not required to participate in a cutting tournament. For more information visit www.socalswordfight.com -- We can only admit a limited number of free spectators. Those wishing to bring friends and family should please contact the organizers at [email protected] prior to the event. All questions can be sent to [email protected]