Jaclyn & Joshua “Knights in Shining Armour”
Joshua Knowles
Kind ~ Courageous ~ Inspired
Adventurer ~ Activist ~ Truth-seeker
Jaclyn Ziemniak
Tenacious ~ Courageous ~ Compassionate ~
Confident ~ Goofy ~ Resilient
Jaclyn is on Target and Joshua is on Titan.
I am now back from Egypt and Halifax, and over a bout of bronchitis. My transition into retirement has officially begun. The two books are well on their way. I am now focused on introducing a half dozen stories in “Passion and Purpose of Ordinary People.” The third book, “The Essence of Judo,” has caught fire, and it too is well on its way.
In the meantime, we are sending you the best wishes for the holiday season, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May the next year be the first in a long, long series of “best-ever” years. Please share this link on your social media to introduce others to this fantastic project.
Finally, everyone has a story. Suppose you know someone passionate about anything and would like to share their love. I would welcome any opportunity to spread the joy. I would like to include as many different passions as possible.
I must thank my son Chris for making this connection. He told me that no book on passion and purpose would ever be complete without including these two incredible people.
The title is not just a simplistic, cutesy catchphrase – in this case, they are not only knights in shining armour but also [professional] jousters. Jaclyn is one of the few women who compete in men’s tournaments because, you guessed it, there are not many women who do so.
This reminds me of the famous line about Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Ginger had to do all the same steps as Fred, but in high heels and backwards. Jaclyn is significantly lighter and gives away a lot in height and reach against the men she’s battled. This is not acting but actual full contact.
There is a link and contact details at the bottom that will take you directly to their website. For now, meet Jaclyn Ziemniak and Joshua Knowles, my knights in shining armour, in their words.
Left to right; Target, Jaclyn and Titan
At some time, you reached a fork in the road. At that time, it didn’t feel like it, but looking back, you realize it was a big moment. One that changed your life. Describe yours.
Jaclyn:
Many years ago, I came across an advertisement seeking people to train as full-contact jousters. At the time, I had no idea what that meant. I had never even seen a joust in person. I signed up thinking it would just be a weekend adventure, one for the bucket list. What I did not know then was that this single decision would become a defining moment in my life and my career.
After my first weekend of jousting training, I was hooked. Over the next decade, I trained and competed internationally in full-contact jousting, becoming one of a few women worldwide to compete at this level. It was through jousting that I met the love of my life and future business partner, Joshua.
Knighthood has historically been history’s most exclusive club, and the more Joshua and I learned about the current sport, the more we realized that little has changed in that regard. So we decided to create a safe space where absolutely everyone could experience the feeling of knighthood. This is how our company, Knight School Inc., was born. At Knight School Inc., we train people of all ages, abilities, and demographics to be knights through sword-fight stunt choreography, mounted medieval games, first-aid training, and more. We live our lives working to empower others and help people feel confident.
All of this grew from that one brave step into the unknown, the decision to attend that very first weekend training camp.
He makes it look so easy.
Joshua:
I grew up in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where I spent my youth as a beach bum, surfing when I could, saving up all my earnings as a busboy to buy my first car, a 1991 baby blue Buick Skylark with blue crushed velvet seats. My next purchase was an orange “Pura Vida” surfboard, which I promptly paraded up and down the beach with “Jesus is my Sponsor” emblazoned along the stringer. Born and raised in a tourist town, I naturally gravitated toward the restaurant industry, of which my mother, Debra, was a part for many years as a waitress while she completed her Master’s and became a High School teacher. I learned carpentry from my father, Terry, who owned “Coastal Property Maintenance,” and when I was in my early twenties, I returned to carpentry and helped build custom homes. I just assumed I would always work in either the service industry or carpentry, since that was what I had grown accustomed to.
When I was 22, I was approached at Gold’s Gym in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, by a man enquiring about where I worked. Turns out “Ponche” was the Assistant Head Knight at Medieval Times and thought I “had a good look.” This was news to me, as I was currently working as a carpenter framing houses and found myself unable to get a restaurant job due to my shaggy hair and beard. Summer in Myrtle Beach is brutally hot, and I was not opposed to returning to the world of air conditioning, especially inside a castle. Ponche invited me to become a knight, which he described as “a bunch of big kids playing in a giant sandbox with swords and horses.” I was immediately intrigued, and in that moment, everything changed.
This fated invitation began an odyssey that continues to this day, a true tale of knighthood for the modern era. I spent eight years at Medieval Times as a theatrical jouster, which is a combination of stuntman and actor. I went from Squire to Senior Knight, responsible for training horses and men in stage combat for live theatre. I was typecast as the villain and attempted to overthrow the Kingdom in 3 successive productions. I loved every minute of it and hoped it would last forever.
There is nothing quite like competing in games and performing in a tournament with your “brothers in arms.”This unique career path led to an opportunity to compete on the History Channel’s “Full Metal Jousting,” a 16-man, single-elimination tournament in the sport of full-contact jousting. This hard-hitting style was the opposite of theatrical jousting, which is choreographed and predetermined, using breakaway balsa-wood lances.
In full contact jousting, the lances are 11ft long, solid Douglas fir, designed to unhorse a fully armoured knight from atop a 2000 lb warhorse. This was the ultimate “on-the-job training” as I learned the sport while competing in a tournament, and a loss meant elimination. I set my face like flint, motivated by my desire to win for my daughter Delilah, whose photo rode into battle with me, taped in my armour above my heart. Once, during a match, the head coach told me that the other contestants were “trying to steal $100,000 from your daughter,” and I needed no further motivation. The very next pass, I sent my opponent crashing to the dirt. I was a man on a mission.
Laser-focused, I went undefeated, triumphing over equestrians from a wide variety of backgrounds, from professional cowboys to competitive dressage riders, to win a $100,000 USD prize – the richest in the history of the sport. My victory was fated, as I beat two close friends and fellow theatrical jousters by a mere point each in both the semifinals and in the final, a single lance strike deciding the victory on both occasions. I wept as the final match ended, knowing Delilah would someday see it was all for her.
I did not actively compete in full-contact jousting for 5 years, but I returned to compete in a charity tournament with some of my fellow “FMJ” cast members. This led to a brief tour on the North American jousting circuit, where I met my partner in life and love, my wife Jaclyn Ziemniak. Jaclyn was the only woman in the world actively competing in complete-contact jousting for nearly 10 years, and I was immediately intrigued, as there are no weight classes and no women’s division. Jaclyn had no choice but to compete head-to-head with significantly larger men, and her courage and tenacious determination immediately struck me.
Jaclyn and I bonded over our mutual love of medieval sport and horses, quickly beginning a long-distance romance which ultimately led to me immigrating to Canada and becoming a citizen. Jaclyn's story was vastly different, and as I learned of her struggles to gain acceptance in the sport, we connected over our shared belief that jousting and medieval sport should be accessible to all and make everyone feel included in a space with huge potential for empowerment. Jaclyn and I joined forces, determined to make a difference, and our company, Knight School Inc was born, created to actively remove barriers to participation in medieval sport so that all people everywhere can see themselves as knights – capable, compassionate, and courageous.
In a strange twist of fate, my last role in the South was the “Herald of the North” – who knew how accurate that title would become as I now herald a much different Kingdom in the North, one founded on inclusion, accessibility, and empowerment.
History’s most exclusive invitation-only club, knighthood, is now open to everyone.
What has been your biggest challenge, and how did you overcome it?
Jaclyn:
One of the biggest challenges I have faced, both in the sport of jousting and now again as I enter entrepreneurship, has been battling persistent doubt about whether I truly belonged in these spaces.
For much of my jousting career, I was the only woman in the world actively competing at this level. While there had been pioneering women before me, and I was fortunate to eventually share the field with another woman, for many years there was simply no one like me anywhere around. While this posed a variety of physical challenges, competing against men twice my size and weight, it also created unique emotional obstacles. I quickly learned that to compete and be accepted into the sport, I had to forge my own path. I trained twice as hard. I studied my failures and successes. And every time I hit the dirt, I got back up and back on my horse, literally.
Early in my training, I suffered a significant concussion at my first public tournament, leaving me shaken for a very long time. Mentally and emotionally, I was ready to get back into competition, but the longer-term side effects would send me into panic mode the second the ropes at the end of the jousting list closed. With medical clearance to compete again, I decided not to let fear define me. For nearly a year, I wrestled with that voice in my head telling me I wasn’t safe, but I kept showing up.
When I finally returned to the competition ring, a woman in her forties approached me afterward and asked for a photo with my horse and me. Covered in dirt and sweat, I listened as she called me her hero. It was a humbling, transformative moment. In that instant, I understood the importance of representation and the impact of simply being visible.
Since then, one of my personal mottos and guiding principles has been “you can’t be what you can’t see.” That belief now fuels my mission in business, to create spaces where people can see themselves reflected in roles, opportunities, and passions they might never have imagined possible.
Joshua:
Healing from childhood trauma and harmful coping mechanisms. Honestly? Therapy and Jesus. Following my success on the show, I lost my job at Medieval Times because they did not appreciate the “conflict of interest” posed by my television show appearance. The loss of “knighthood” was a blow to my identity, and I lost my way, spiralling into harmful coping mechanisms, immersing myself in the “Dirty Myrtle” party lifestyle. I had set aside my faith years before, chasing the fulfillment of ego, and now I was left alone with my choices.
For years, I was in a cycle of coping and was not fully present. My drug of choice was alcohol. I had witnessed my father abuse this substance and had internalized this behaviour as what one did when overwhelmed by the stressors of life. Alcohol proved to be a thief, as it had with my father. It ultimately took his life and was coming for my own. This struggle continued for years until I found myself in Canada. Jaclyn was a loving and supportive partner and she did everything she could to help me overcome my past, but I was powerless to change. I did not drink every day, but when I did, it was often to excess.
During COVID I audibly heard my name, “JOSHUA,” as we drove through Mississauga. Shocked, I looked at Jaclyn, sure her voice was not the booming voice I had heard, but wondering if she had registered it. She had not. I looked out the window as the electronic sign in front of a church began to scroll “J...O...S...H...H...U...A...,” astounded, I thought the sign would start to give me instructions next, which it did, but in a different way than expected. The sign finished scrolling with “1:9.” As soon as I got home, I looked up the verse in my Bible, which I had not touched for years. What I read floored me: Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
In a single moment, God revealed the truth: He had never left my side. The reality of His love came flooding in, and a journey toward wholeness began. God was pursuing me, and he would not leave me as I was found. As a young man, I had avoided addressing my trauma for many years by self-medicating with alcohol, particularly when I found myself feeling overwhelmed. Eventually, my poor habits caught up with me and I reached “rock bottom” many times, until I felt like I had begun to tunnel beneath whatever signified that point. Even after God calling my name, I was continuing to fight addiction under my own strength, and rather than surrendering to my problems, I was proudly attempting to control alcohol and found myself a prisoner of the cycle of addiction. After a particularly severe bender, I finally cried out to God, literally, and begged him to take alcohol away from me.
I told Jesus that I didn't want to die and asked for His help. I asked for a new life. For the pain to stop. For the desire to leave. For freedom. From that day forward, so long as I do not open the door, it stays shut. I have no urge to drink, and my sobriety has awakened me to a life full of possibility. I am growing daily in my walk with Jesus, and therapy has provided an invaluable tool for self-reflection and examination. I now understand sincerely why Jesus said, “Bring the little children unto me.” It is our inner child that needs to be made whole so that we can reach our highest potential and live out the purpose for which we were created – loving and helping others.
I am free. The Truth has set me free. When I gave my life to Jesus, He gave me my life back. The skills I had learned, which I had used for self-promotion and that had driven my ego, were now being redeemed as talents I could use to empower others. I went from seeking fame and glory for myself to seeking healing and strength for others. I had experienced firsthand how knighthood could build a shy, wounded kid into a self-confident performer, and now I use my gifts to help others see themselves in a new light – as knights.
I once thought I had lost knighthood forever, now it looks completely different and the core truth shines through – a knight is someone who puts others before themselves. Love was always about sacrifice.
What is one gem you learned on your journey that you would love to share? Alternatively, what hint would you give a younger version of yourself?
Deni, but I want my picture taken too!
Jaclyn:
I’ve always believed that one of the best measures of happiness and success is to ask what your nine-year-old self would think of your life today. Nine-year-old Jaclyn was jamming to the Spice Girls, watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, begging my mom for horseback-riding lessons, and standing up in class to object when a substitute teacher mocked people by calling them “ladies.” I think she’d be pretty proud of where we are today – running a business that stands up for and empowers others, always chasing my passions, spending my days with these truly amazing horses, and still dancing through life, blasting the Spice Girls, with a little bit of that same fearless spirit given to me by my nine-year-old self.
A Deni favour
Joshua:
I would share this gem I (l)earned on my journey with my younger self:
Everyone has a unique purpose. Our purpose is found where our passion, skills, and talents intersect with our love. When we do what we love, it brings that love to others, and they will respond with love of their own.
My younger self actually helped me discover this; I once found a book I had authored in middle school at my mom’s house in South Carolina. In it was a section entitled “What I Want To Be.” Where I had written: “I don't know what I want to be when I grow up yet, but in the meantime, I am going to give away love. Love is the only thing you can never run out of, and the more you give away, the more you receive in return. Love is our purpose.”
Turns out that kid was right all along and Love never left his side.
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Website: www.knightschoolinc.com