HEMA Scorecard shows June packed with global tournaments

HEMA’s June slate has become so dense that one board snapshot now reads like a tour map for the sport’s main regions. From Atlanta to Melbourne to Hamburg, the competition calendar already had multiple events active or newly listed by June 5, a sign that Historical European Martial Arts is no longer living from one marquee weekend to the next.

The June board showed SERFO, the Southeast Renaissance Fencing Open 2026 in Atlanta, Friday Night Fights June 2026 in Creighton, Pennsylvania, Orange Slice Cutting Tournament 2026 in Orange, California, and Melbourne HEMA Open 2026 in Melbourne, Victoria. That spread matters because it puts North America and Australia into the same competitive window, forcing athletes, coaches, and clubs to make real choices about travel, recovery, and which weapons to prioritize. The board also listed Anfänger Turnier Hammaborg 2026 in Hamburg as active on June 6, extending the month’s reach deeper into Europe.

SERFO gave the calendar crunch a concrete shape. Atlanta Historical Fencing Academy listed the event for June 5-7 in Atlanta, Georgia, with Longsword, Rapier, and Sword and Buckler divisions. That mix of weapons reflects how HEMA events now serve multiple competitive lanes at once, instead of catering to a single crowd. For fighters chasing results across several categories, the June overlap can turn one weekend into a decision about ranking opportunities as much as travel logistics.

The rest of the month is just as crowded. Black Horns Cup 2026 is scheduled for June 12-14 in Kórnik near Poznań, Poland, and its organizers say the tournament has run since 2018 and ranks among the highest-ranked HEMA events in Europe. That kind of standing raises the stakes for anyone trying to manage a season, because skipping a major event can mean giving up visibility in one of the sport’s most competitive circuits.

The calendar also shows how HEMA is broadening beyond pure competition. Black Cat Historical Fencing described Pridefecht as a Pride Month charity event supporting a local organization aimed at queer youth, with Open Sword + Buckler, GenEq Sword + Buckler, Pirate Waiter, and a community talent show. It is another example of the sport’s organizers using tournaments as both athletic stages and community platforms, a combination that is becoming harder to separate as the schedule grows.

Taken together, the June board says something bigger than that the month is busy. It shows a sport that has matured into a global network of overlapping events, where travel strain, split attendance, and ranking pressure are now part of the competitive landscape. HEMA Scorecard, supported by the HEMA Alliance and built as a free online system for running tournaments, has become a useful window into that reality, because the sport’s next phase may depend as much on coordination as on fencing skill.