She loves buhurt and is doing her best to develop HMB in Spain. She works hard to attract new people to sport in spite of Covid. How does she manage to do so much for sports? Our permanent She Fights For… rubric has a new hero. Today we will talk to Samantha Chapman and get to know this amazing woman better. Read to the end, there are many interesting things ahead!

We have known Samantha Chapman from Spain for several years now and we never cease to be amazed at the efficiency, organization and cheerfulness of this girl.

Her smile disarms everyone who is next to Samantha, but do not forget that she is a HMB fighter! In addition to fighting, she is also the national representative of HMB Spain.

It all started in a very romantic way!

“I knew about HMB sport thanks to my partner. It was our first date in 2018 and we went to the HMB event to watch buhurt first hand. I fell in love with the sound of steel against steel, it’s not the same as when you watch it in videos.

A short time later, I was already helping my boyfriend with armor and was acquainted with all the fighters of the Bohurt Zona Sur HMB club. There were only two girls on the team and they really encouraged me to try it”, said Sam. 

Of course, she lost that fight, but that attempt made it clear that she wants to become a part of the HMB movement, go in for our sports, improve, train, win and work to promote the sport to the masses.

“I prefer group categories, because I love fighting in a team. However, the Sword and Shield duel category will always have a special place in my heart too, I enjoy the technical side of it. I still remember my first tournament. It was in 2019 and was the most amazing and fun experience!

Being able to fight on the list with my team, covering each other’s backs is truly incredible”.

She was elected as national representative of HMB Spain and her work significantly increased. She devotes a lot of time and energy to promoting the sport.

“With the present situation in Spain it’s not an easy job to develop HMB. We are working on our new National Association, growing our social media presence and revising our possibilities for more tournaments, as well as reaching out to sports news agencies to raise awareness of the sport.

It’s practically impossible to hold tournaments here still due to group and travel restrictions, however, things are starting to slowly open up. So far there’s been one small event recently. There are also hopes of the possibility of a bigger national event in September with the idea of getting Spanish teams fighting again, but it’s so difficult to really commit to anything as the situation can change from one day to the next”, said Samantha.

According to Samantha, now, during the Covid-19, social media are very helpful in attracting new people to sports. Work in this area is very important. This is constant communication with people and explanatory work. However, nobody canceled the importance of communication with people during the event.

“Being active on social media is very important and also being welcoming during the events. When people see it in person some are very excited to know how to be a part of it. So it’s important to explain the sport correctly, as well as inform them that to be a part of buhurt, you don’t always need to be a fighter, that there are other important roles like marshals, and that it’s flexible, once they are certain they want to enter the list, they are more than welcome to try it out”, noted Sam.

Such a diverse and systematic work has yielded tremendous results. Today, according to Samantha, there are 17 women HMB fighters with a full set of armor in Spain!

They are from different teams, and there is an interclub formation called Spanish Armored Women team. Sam told us that the idea of such team creation was to raise Spanish female presence in buhurt and gain more attention from female spectators to join!

“Having said that, for now we definitely do have a full team for BOTN! We are super excited about it, and for us it’s a life goal to get to BOTN holding the Spanish flag with a full Spanish Armored Women’s Team! Of course I am planning on taking part in the women’s 5v5 with our team, and possibly 12v12!”

There is definitely something to be proud of! We are confident that even Covid-19 will not hinder the further development of sports in this country. We thank Samantha for the interview and wish her and her colleagues and like-minded people new victories in all their endeavors! And, of course, we look forward to meeting Samantha and the entire Spanish team at the HMB World Championship Battle of the Nations in Romania.

HMBIA News
Photos by The Medieval Things