The little girl playing with her father's sabre in the garden after reading the Arthurian tales and watching Highlander wouldn't have imagined she would be in England one day, still playing with swords. Yet here I am. An adult with a persistent -huge - passion for armoured combat, even when instead of knights we're nothing but silly adults in armour craving violence.
When I was still in Brazil, I believe it was 2018, I moved out from my hometown and found out there was a history teacher in a university nearby my new city who had a study group dedicated to HEMA and armoured combat sports. I was a solicitor then, who would use any extra time to practice and teach Muay Thai (which I've done for 10 years) and the idea of fighting in armour fascinated me. The group S.C.A.M (believe me it sounds better in Portuguese) and the guys who now integrate the New Order Medieval gave me an amazing introduction to the sport, specially duels, for which I'm really grateful.
When I decided to move to England the first thing I looked for - even before looking for accomodation - was a team to fight with. That's when I found Invicta. Once here, in the middle of 2020, I felt more than welcome by my Invicta team mates, I felt like I belonged. My first tournament was the Passage of Arms held by Invicta in September 2021. But after that we didn't have enough women with constancy of training, not to mention some health issues at the time, to compete in the 5v5s buhurt tournaments.
I took any chance I had to merc and to duel at the league tournaments to gain experience, and luckily we have wonderful welcoming people in the female league. Meanwhile, when not fighting, I would do something that I couldn't avoid: spread the word. And I guess that when you talk about something with enough passion you might be able to awake in them enough curiosity to come along. Or maybe they just couldn't bear me taking about it anymore.
Nevertheless, we soon had more women training with us and being more and more involved with the sport. In 2023, at Castleton cup, we had our debut as a team and I felt so proud I still have to hold some tears when I talk about it. And we manage to fight all the league tournaments (and some more) with only 5 of us, no subs, for the whole season. At the AGM last year I was honoured to be voted KnightMares captain and this season promises memorable moments and more people to share with (yes we have more women involved).
Invicta and the Knightmares are a huge part of my life. It's where I found friends I'll take for life, where I felt at home, and where I fell in love with my husband. Buhurt is where I can admire people I'll punch in their wolfrib faces, and where I feel part of something I'll proudly be telling people about when I get older.
One thing is for sure, the little girl playing with her father sabre in the garden would be amazed and proud.
Bruna G. P. Longley
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