Nicole and Lee Smith

Nicole and Lee Smith are Historical European Martial Arts experts based in Manila, Philippines. Nicole is a noted rapier and Women’s longsword champion and is widely considered to be one of the world’s top female HEMA practitioners. She is one of North America's only women teaching Historical Fencing and has taught at noted events around the world. She is also known for her skill with the dagger/knife, and late-period sword and buckler. Lee Smith is one of the world's best historical fencers and top European Martial Arts coaches. With an impressive competitive career spanning 17 years, Lee boasts 51 first-place tournament finishes in a variety of disciplines from combat knife to longsword and everything in between.‍ In addition, he is a proven coach with his students winning and placing in dozens of tournaments worldwide. ‍Lee holds a health sciences associate degree (pre-med focus) and is an ISSA-certified personal trainer.

Education

  • Associate's Degree, Health Sciences, Accelerated Career Institute (Lee)

Professional Achievements

  • Was the top North American female fencer for almost a decade and is the most decorated Canadian female historical fencer with the longest unbeaten streak spanning 4 years (Nicole)
  • First successful female HEMA YouTube host, and has taught all over North America, Europe, and Asia (Nicole)
  • First woman to win an open rapier tournament, and the only woman to win two (Nicole)
  • First women’s Glima champion, first woman to medal in an open longsword tournament, first to medal in an open cutting event, and the first to win a women's cutting championship (Nicole)
  • Trained in a variety of disciplines from combat knife, rapier, longsword, sword and buckler, side sword, saber, cutting, and the macuahuitl (Lee)
  • Fought in the first-ever televised historical fencing gold medal match on ESPN (Lee)
  • Helped develop and direct tournaments in Las Vegas and around the Pacific Northwest (Nicole and Lee)

Certifications & Organizations

  • ISSA Certified Personal Trainer (Lee)

Favorite Piece of Advice

  • If you don't put in the training, you won't get the results. (Nicole)
  • Train hard so you can fight easy. (Lee)

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Co-authored Articles (5)