Joshua Alan Baker, Coach
An avid smallsword and rapier fencer, Joshua started up with Jim after the Pandemic. He took individual lessons, but also enrolled in Jim’s parks & rec class. In fact, he credits Joshua with much of the local interest in smallsword, for not only did Joshua boost enrollment in that class, but also created a practice time for all of them outside of it. It was from these meetings that Capitale Escrime Historical Fencing emerged.
Noah Olson, Coach
It all started with Tolkien. Noah’s interest in fencing and with historical martial arts began with reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in elementary school. Noah spent the Covid 19 pandemic watching HEMA videos on YouTube and eventually decided that once the pandemic was over nothing would stop him from pursuing that interest. Noah studies a variety of fencing traditions, from smallsword to a couple of different sword and buckler systems and anything else he can get his hands on in the meantime.
Noah is a coach at one of our brother clubs, Northwest Armizare, but graciously shares time with us at CEHF https://nwarmizare.com/2026/
Jim Tschen Emmons, Maître d’armes & Head Coach
Training, Experience, & Certifications, Fencing
- Certification: Maître d’armes, Barbasetti Military Sabre since 1895, Prague, CZ, 2025
- Certification: Prévôt d’Armes, Barbasetti Military Sabre since 1895, Prague, CZ, 2024
- joined Storica Defensa as an advisor, 2023
- Certification: Moniteur d’escrime, sabre 2022
- assisted Maître Delmar Calvert with younger students at Salle Trois Armes, Portland, 2008-2010
- competed in collegiate and USFA tournaments from 1991-1996, UC Santa Barbara
- started French foil 1986
Training, Experience, & Certifications, Academic
- College Professor, Northern Virginia Comm. College & North Idaho College, 2003-2016
- Special Collections Librarian, Maryland Historical Society, 2007
- Archivist, Maryland Historical Society, 2006-2007
- MLS, Library & Archival Studies, University of Maryland, 2007
- PhD, History, UC Santa Barbara, 2002
- MA, History, 1996
- BA, Classical Archaeology, 1993
Jim Emmons started fencing in 1986 as a high school student in northern Virginia. In 1991, he transferred to the University of California, Santa Barbara, joining the fencing club there and competing in NCAA and USFA tournaments. While at UCSB, Jim had the honor to work with Maestri Edwin “Buzz” Hurst and Albert Couturier. After moving to Oregon, he worked with the late Maître Delmar Calvert.
Most recently, connections made with Barbasetti Military Sabre (since 1895) in Prague, Czechia, led to Jim joining the school formally as a student. In 2023, he was awarded the rank of Prévôt d’armes; in September of 2025, he traveled to Prague to attend and teach at SabreSlash 2025, and, took his master’s examination. Jim is now a maitre d’armes and runs one of the school’s first North American satellite programs. Jim is also a member and advisor with Storica Defensa, a Canadian-based training program for both fencers and coaches, the goal of which is to help improve pedagogy in historical fencing. SD recently launched the first master of arms program tailor-made for historical fencing coaches–see the link above.
Currently, Jim teaches smallsword, sabre (Radaellian and French), rapier, broadsword, and bayonet each week in Newberg and in Salem. His research, at present, is focused on smallsword, and he has nearly completed a draft of a book on smallsword, its history and use.
Research, Interviews, & Media
Capitale Escrime Historical Fencing 