Karin Verelst practices HEMA since more than a decennium and martial arts since twenty years.
She studied with the well-known Belgian trainer Alwin Goethals, co-founded the Brussels group Via Bruxellensis, and started her own fencing guild HSK De Vagant in Brussels in 2018.
She is co-founder of and acted as founding president of the Belgian HEMA-Federation SBSN. At present she holds the IFHEMA presidency.
Karin’s main practice focus is on longsword, ringen and dagger (Liechtenauer and Fiore), altough she broadened her interest to Destreza rapier and Messer over the past few years. Other favourites of hers are Jogo do Pau and Glima. She participates regularly in international competitions and other HEMA-related international events, and found her way into the international instructors’ circuit, with workshops on unarmed combat, bastoncello, and training programs designed for women in martial arts contexts. Her further martial experience includes Olympic boxing, Tai Jutsu and Shaolin Kung Fu.
She moreover acquired the basic professional qualification of the British Academy of Dramatic Combat (BADC) in 2016. She also followed several workshops with the well known fight choreographer Tony Wolf. Finally, Karin is active as a researcher and scholar in HEMA-Studies. She published (together with Daniel Jaquet and Timothy Dawson) a scholarly reference work, Late Medieval and Early Modern Fight Books — Tradition and Transmission of Martial Arts in Europe, published by Brill, in 2016.
