A new hobby?

pips · Post by **pips** » 09 Jul 2005 07:32

Hey guys. I just got back from visiting my hometown in PA, and the 4th of July festival I go to every year had "the fencers" back. I was very excited, because they haven't been there since I was a kid. I went to see them and talked some. It turns out that they are part of a non-profit organization called SCA (www.sca.org). They say it is national. I just got an email today, telling me that there is a place closest to me in Marietta, Georgia where they practice. You can be interested in anything during the Medieval (however you spell it) Period. I am interested in their fighting. A guy told me about it and he said you go out on the field and see which side wins. He said it is real hitting and the swords are made out of (I think I heard) tanaka wood, which is a softer, flexible type of wood, and the duct tape around it is only to keep splinters out--not to soften the hit. I guess I figure that it is like paintball; a certain hit will kill a person, and that person falls to the ground. It seems really fun, and I am interested in joining. Of course if you guys already know about me, I have to wait until I am not pregnant anymore. The only thing kind of holding me back is that I am a girl that would be fighting big guys that can hit a lot harder than I could... Anyways, have any of you heard about this? Interested? Already joined?

Oh yeah...you have to be protected in order to play. You need knee pads, elbow pads, kidney pads, a cup, stuff like that, and I think they give you armor, a shield, and a helmet to borrow.

Bander87 · Post by **Bander87** » 09 Jul 2005 19:00

Fencing??? There is this girl that went to my high school (just graduated this year acuatly) that is really good. She went to nationals and is currently ranked one of the best in the nation, 2nd in her class I believe (or something like that). It's pretty cool.

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 09 Jul 2005 20:55

i used to fence, but not like that. i fenced for 9 years, and back in the day was ranked 31 in the world. i have never ever heard of that kind of fencing before. sounds interesting, but a big brawl would really change the strategy of it all, and i don't really know where you would practice. sounds interesting though.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 09 Jul 2005 20:59

Somebody needs to organise a fencing match between Andrew and Matt Baker (the Aussie Matt) - Matt was really good (might still be?) although I don't know how he ranked. I think he travelled to Europe and the US for fencing though.

The brawl thing sounds like heaps of fun. I've seen that kind of stuff on TV actually and it looks awesome. Would suck if you died early though and had to lie around for ages...

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 09 Jul 2005 21:06

Jeremy wrote:Somebody needs to organise a fencing match between Andrew and Matt Baker (the Aussie Matt) - Matt was really good (might still be?) although I don't know how he ranked. I think he travelled to Europe and the US for fencing though.

i haven't even touched a foil in 9 months, but i'm game! what weapon does he use? i'm a foilist. i'm guessing he's epee guy since, australia has some stronger epee fencers, but i have never heard of any really strong foil or saber fencers coming out of aus.

SlashC · Post by **SlashC** » 09 Jul 2005 22:30

On a vaguely similar note:

I practised kendo or "japanese sword fighting" for 2 years. Eventually, I quit because I didn't have time for both footbag and kendo during university, but it was a blast while I played regularily. My sensei was a woman and also my mom plays too. There was also a girl who did light practise while she was pregnant even. Kendo is all about technique and so gender or age is not really a factor. I think last years All Japan 8th Dan champ was over 60.

A short clip of some drills:
http://kendo-canada.com/kendov%7E1.mpg

Here's a music video I found that is completely ridiculous, but I that I find highly entertaining. It sure was windy inside her house...
http://kendo.bg/multimedia/obicham_hi.wmv

Kendo America Website:
http://www.kendo-usa.org/

Commodore · Post by **Commodore** » 10 Jul 2005 09:04

I like old medieval stuff. I used to go to a LARP (live action role play) practice. It's a role play game where people use PVC pipes with pipe isolation (?) as swords. They don't look like swords but atleast they don't hurt people. I haven't checked if the practice is still going because I left because the trainers didn't come to the practices anymore.

Sorry for my bad English today I'm very tired.

Splint · Post by **Splint** » 10 Jul 2005 10:34

When I was 16 I wanted to join the SCA but you had to be 18 in order to really get involved in it. As I recall they weren't as much fencing as they are mideval knights in shining armor style fighting.
It's pretty involved. Everyone makes their own armor and weapons and the fighting has a lot of rules to it. I know they have regional and national battles on large fields and everyone charging at eachother and all that fun stuff.

pips · Post by **pips** » 10 Jul 2005 19:20

hacksterbator wrote:i used to fence, but not like that. i fenced for 9 years, and back in the day was ranked 31 in the world. i have never ever heard of that kind of fencing before. sounds interesting, but a big brawl would really change the strategy of it all, and i don't really know where you would practice. sounds interesting though.

The big brawl thing is not fencing. You have wooden swords and metal shields. I called them "fencers" cuz that is what they showed at the festival back when I was a kid. Sorry if that confused you.

edit: http://w3.ime.net/~ivan/site/fieldbattle.html here's a quick pic I found.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 10 Jul 2005 19:56

hacksterbator wrote:
i haven't even touched a foil in 9 months, but i'm game! what weapon does he use? i'm a foilist. i'm guessing he's epee guy since, australia has some stronger epee fencers, but i have never heard of any really strong foil or saber fencers coming out of aus.

I really don't know what any of that means

. All I know is Matt was/is good at fencing. I don't even know where he is these days - last I heard he was in Holland