All of our coaches are volunteers, be nice to them.
Also they’re great.
Alex Hanning
Alex focuses primarily on Sword and Buckler, and I.33 in particular. Also teaches some of the Saturday Escrima classes and helps out occasionally with quarterstaff and close quarter and wrestling practice. Sword & Buckler fighting since 2010, Latosa escrima since 2008, and 30+ years of learning and teaching assorted Asian fighty stuff.
James Hsu Liang Yu
James is a coach for the 1595 Club, a Lonin board member, and hosts open mat sessions. He began his martial arts studies 14 years ago in collegiate wrestling, boxing, and judo. He joined Lonin in 2017 and has been doing sword shenanigans ever since. James likes to describe himself as “a sabre wielding gorilla” and leaves that to be interpreted however you like.
Matt R-K
Matt R-K has been studying historical martial arts since 2015. He began his studies at Academy of Arms Los Angeles where he rose through the ranks to become Assistant Instructor. He teaches in the longsword tradition of Johannes Liechtenauer with a focus on earlier sources such as Ms. 3227a. He has also studied other weapon systems within the Kunst des Fechtens umbrella, and the sword and buckler system of Ms. I.33. His teaching ethos strives to explore these techniques through competitive experimentation to achieve a flexible, martially valid, and dynamic fighting style.
Andrew Somlyo
Head instructor of Seattle Escrima and one of the most senior practitioners of Latosa Escrima in the United States, recognized and certified by Rene Latosa, and working to carry on his legacy after his passing. Andrew Somlyo has been practicing martial arts and combat sports since 1989 and coaching since 1994. He started training Latosa Escrima in 1995, and moved to Los Angeles in 2000 to train, pursuing Wing Chun, no-Gi jiujitsu, MMA, and Muay Thai. He moved to Seattle in 2008 and founded Seattle Escrima in 2009, and became involved with HEMA through Lonin in 2010 with primary interests in the Italian tradition of Fiore, Vadi, and Monte, and the Elizabethean tradition of George Silver. Andrew runs the Seattle Escrima and competition longsword practices and is the most senior longsword instructor at Lonin. His other relevant interests include coaching education, motor learning, and strength and conditioning.
Paul Scheible
Paul began studying HEMA at Lonin in May of 2016. When the original KDF coach stepped away in 2019, as the most senior student, Paul stepped up as one of two co-coaches to keep Lonin’s KDF practice going.
When he isn’t holding a sword, Paul works as a video game localization translator, and can often be found gaming on a tabletop or digitally. Originally from the Cleveland, OH area, he has lived in Seattle since 2014.
Christopher Donka
Christopher coaches Tenshin Bukō-ryū Heihō, a traditional Japanese art specialized in the use of the naginata (glaive), in particular the kagitsuki naginata (naginata with a small cross piece) against both sword and spear. Other weapons include kusarigama, sword, spear, bō, and nagamaki.
Erik von Essen
Erik coaches Fiore Longsword!
Beth Hammer
Beth coaches Fiore Longsword!