Our Team

The Coaches

Djordje is one of Germany's most successful sabre fencers. He is a multiple-time German champion in sabre and has won gold at the Berlin HEMA Cup, among other awards.

At Twerchhau, he rebuilt the sabre section starting in 2021 and established Italian-Hungarian sabre fencing as a training focus. As head of the sabre section, he continues to shape the development of sabre fencing within the club.

In addition, Djordje is a translator of several historical fencing works, including Gusztáv Arlow's high third system, and combines his intensive research with many years of experience in competition and as a coach.

Django leads the advanced sabre class and is also a Strength and Conditioning coach. A successful competitor, he has reached the podium at numerous tournaments. With a keen sense of timing and distance and a focus on flexible, adaptable technique, he offers a modern, practical approach to training.

Melissa began historical fencing in 2021 and, within just a few years, became one of Germany's most successful HEMA athletes. She is a multiple German champion, including in longsword and other disciplines, and at one point ranked No. 1 in the world in longsword.

Melissa coaches at Twerchhau and shares her experience in national and international competition with our members. Her training combines technical precision with practical insights into tactics and modern competition training. She is also one of the co-organizers of the Berlin HEMA Cup.

Jesse is one of Germany's most successful HEMA fencers and has won several German championship titles. He is a member of the DDHF Rapier Squad and brings extensive experience from national and international competition.

At Twerchhau, Jesse leads the advanced longsword class. Together with Melissa, he plays a key role in developing our competitive longsword program and helps our experienced fencers continually improve their technical and tactical skills.

As an archaeologist, historical fencing is an ideal complement to Bjarne's professional passion. After many years of intensive training, he is one of the few instructors in Germany with a DOSB C license in historical fencing and is chair of Twerchhau.

He has taught workshops at clubs at home and abroad, and takes every opportunity to share his knowledge of historical fencing while learning from others. Despite his archaeological background and particular interest in historical context, he places great importance on modern training methods grounded in sports science and pedagogy, as well as on the forward-looking development of historical fencing.

Ziya has been training in historical longsword since 2017 and is now one of the instructors for Twerchhau e.V.'s Longsword Fundamentals Course.

A passionate longsword fencer, he studies the techniques, concepts, and ideas preserved in historical fencing sources in depth. He is particularly interested in the fencing masters of the late Middle Ages, especially Joachim Meyer. Alongside his focus on the German fencing tradition, Ziya also enjoys exploring older Italian sources, particularly Fiore dei Liberis Fior di Battaglia.

In both training and teaching, he combines a passion for history with practical fencing experience. He helps his students discover the art of historical fencing and develop their skills step by step.