Instructor
About Milan
Milan has achieved athletic accomplishments in a number of competitive sports – most notably sport fencing where he has been primarily self-taught. This has led him to medals in all disciplines of sport fencing and national team appearances on behalf of Croatia. His most memorable is an appearance for Croatia at the European fencing championship in Wien / Vienna, where Milan had the great opportunity to represent his homeland in Croatia’s first appearance in an international sport event. After moving to Canada, Milan won an Alberta provincial championship and later went on to win several medals at the Western Canadian Championships.
Milan has been teaching and coaching adults and children for over 25 years with notable success in Western Martial Arts (WMA) / Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) as well as competitive and community sports. He has also instructed at international martial arts events.
Milan is able to utilize his high-performance athletic excellence and his extensive experience in teaching / coaching to benefit the learning of his students. Milan’s teaching and all of his experiences are focused exclusively on Western Martial Arts (WMA) / Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) without influence from disciplines from other regions, ensuring the skills are as authentic to the historical sources as possible.
In addition to the accomplishments listed above, Milan is a highly skilled public speaker, guest / panelist in graduate classes and an expert on authentic European weapons (this excludes firearms).
About study methods
Milan’s teachings are based on his extensive use of European weapons as well as the study and interpretation of the European historical and period sources (most notably historical manuals, though there are other sources). It is worth noting that Milan has practiced with European swords his entire adult life which has helped to refine the techniques he shares with his students in Classes, Courses, Lessons and Events.
Milan studies and teaches based on the interpretations of the following traditions (listed without getting into the details of naming the masters as it is quite a lengthy list): – German medieval and renaissance tradition – Italian medieval and renaissance tradition – English renaissance tradition – French medieval tradition
About Milan’s teaching philosophy
Milan’s teaching philosophy is based on his life-long teaching experience and many insights gained on this journey.
Classes are non-competitive to facilitate utmost safety, yet allow for all students to get the most out of the classes. Students very quickly graduate to the use of steel weapons. Only exception to this rule are weapons that are partially or fully made out of wood – such as axe (wooden shaft), spear (wooden shaft), poleaxe (wooden shaft), halberd (wooden shaft) and staff.
Classes follow pedagogically sound approaches and teach skills in carefully devised sequences that build on each other and progressively increase in complexity.
About the competition
Milan’s competition in Calgary is an interesting topic.
Two instructors at the competition are Milan’s past students and also past eastern martial arts practitioners. So in short – you might wish to learn first-hand from Milan himself rather than second hand from his former students.
If you are interested in Western Martial Arts, the breadth and width of what Milan teaches is unparalleled. Unlike competing instructors (who have been eastern martial arts practitioners), you get the authentic experience, and you don’t have to wonder if you are learning a modified eastern technique or training for unrealistic situations.