Our Instructors

James Reilly

James Reilly began his study of martial arts in his early teens. His first focus was on western boxing, later moving on to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  At 20 years of age he joined the Armed Forces where he achieved the rating of Navy Chief after just  5 years of service. He began his study of historical swordsmanship in 2009, after stumbling across the highly acclaimed documentary “Reclaiming The Blade.” He joined the HEMA Alliance as an individual member in 2011.

James is the Principle Instructor of the Goliath Historical Fencing Academy. He uses the recital of Liechtenauer as the basis for his longsword curriculum, and has gained some notoriety for his work interpreting Joachim Meyer’s text on the longsword and Rapier. He is the founder and President of the Midwest Historical Fencing League, and has taught private seminars and at major historical fencing events across the United States and Internationally, including Longpoint, Western Martial Arts Workshop, Vancouver International Sword Symposium, Fechtschule New York, and the International Meyer Symposium. He holds the Fechter rank by the MFFG in Longsword, dussack, dagger and rapier.

Bob Powers

Bob has been studying longsword for half a decade, as well as rapier, with no prior martial arts experience. He holds master’s degrees from the University of Chicago (Humanities), Boston College (Philosophy), and Marquette University (Philosophy) where he is currently teaching and working on his PhD in Medieval Philosophy. Bob fell in love with the sword at a young age when he read JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. He likes to say that he breaths the air of the cultures of Middle-Earth.

Bob is assistant instructor at Goliath Historical Fencing Academy. He uses Aristotelian physics and Medieval philosophy to explain Liechtenauer’s art of fencing. He is interested in how the art of fencing was understood in the middle-ages and how that differs from the present day.