NYHFA Officers


Michael Edelson
NYHFA Director
Michael has been studying swordsmanship in various forms since 1990. Prior to German longsword, his primary area of interest was Japanese swordsmanship. Among the styles he studied were Toyama Ryu, Yagyu Shinkage Ryu, Engi Iaido and others. He also has an extensive background in unarmed Eastern martial arts and worked for several years as a Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido instructor. Michael was hooked on Historical European Swordsmanship from the moment he picked up a longsword in July of 2005. Aside from serving as NYHFA's principal instructor, he is currently studying Toyama Ryu batto jutsu under Sang Kim sensei.

Contact: nyhfa.director@gmail.com



Brian Hook
NYHFA Instructor
Brian is responsible for NYHFA's ringen (wrestling), dagger and messer curriculums and teaches beginner longsword to new memebrs. He is a living historian focused on late 15th century Germany and is the founder and director of the Kompanie des Schwarzen Windes.




NYHFA Members

The following members are arranged in order of rank and seniority.




Tristán Zukowski
Senior Novice
Tristán has a great interest in medieval textile art—particularly embroidery—and medieval combat. He is self-taught in the former, and is glad to have found teachers for the latter. He is also a part-time student, working towards a degree in art history. He spent a year in Prague teaching English, and has visited a few dozen museums, castles, and armories in the Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland.




Jonathan Yee
Senior Novice
Jonathan Yee is an artist and a university student, with a background in fencing and assorted unarmed martial arts.




Vlad
Senior Novice
Vlad is not as mysterious as Steve, but he also likes his privacy.




Fabio Parisi, PhD
Novice
Fabio, originally from Italy, lives in Manhattan and works in cancer research.




Steve
Novice
Steve is very mysterious and likes his privacy. Sometimes he misses class because he is in Budapest(?!?!?!).




Patrick O'Neil
Novice
Pat is currently serving in the Army National Guard.




Jason Auerbach
NYHFA Member
Jason is a New York City Police Officer and has been training in various sword arts with Michael Edelson since 1993.




Katrina Miranda
NYHFA Member
Like most of us, Kat has had a lifelong love of swords. She has a background in jujitsu and wrestling, and is a talented musician and singer.




Ray Florio
NYHFA Member
Ray has had a lifelong interest in medieval history, and has been a collector of weapons and armor for over a decade. Though he had no formal sword training prior to the NYHFA, he has spent several years studying archery. When not indulging his more anachronistic hobbies, Ray works as a management consultant, specializing in pricing strategy; a subject on which he has written several articles and has recently co-authored a textbook.




Dave Smith
NYHFA Member
Dave is a musician with a lifelong interest in martial arts and history. He has a background in Karate and Jeet Kun Do.




Sam Paskewitz
NYHFA Member
Sam has several years of HEMA training with St. John's College Longsword Club and is studying to be a neuroscientist.