Changes

[dominyk]

I find it amazing that SCA rapier has morphed so much in just the short time that I have been participating. "Short time" being a relative term, I started about 10ish years ago. And that is a long time to do anything, but a short time compared to how long some people have been playing.

The change from epee to heavy rapier has been the biggest and

Comments

[zihuatanejo]

I don't see that so much, but that comes with a bunch of caveats. I do see Dante's vocal advocacy for HMA on the tourney field, but to an extent that's Dante being Dante. There could be some trend among the provosts that I'm not seeing, but that may be as much because it's a new thing they can try out and work on.

I expect that once the average level of competence with C&T reaches a certain point you'll see it turn much more competitive and C&T tourneys, while fought in certain period styles, will still be about mastery of combat. There's probably a point five or ten years down the road where C&T will usurp heavy rapier. Will that screw up your game? A bit, but I don't think it will break your game. A thrust will always be faster than a cut, and you will always be able to fight a C&T tournament without ever delivering a single cut. Tempo will always be tempo, measure measure, etc, etc

Also, there will always be scholars and free scholars who are thirsty for a win and need a sound beating.

My 2 cents

[gianetta]

My prediction is that you gradually will see more people spending time studying and drilling in a particular system in the next few years. Over time, I think you'll be seeing those people kicking butt on the field, but in a style that is more historically correct than what developed before people had ready access to good translations and explanations of the fighting systems and swords that were any good for them. You can't do Capo Ferro with a foil or old schlager blade, and not many people can make sense of it without the help of a good translation and explanation

Re: My 2 cents

[dominyk]

Studying a period style is great and wonderful. And many people could benefit from some hours of drilling. But what about studying all of the styles to learning concepts they teach? And then building your own style that fits your body, sword type and rules of our game. In other words, pretend like you actually had to apply your knowledge as a sword fighter(like they did in period

Re: My 2 cents

[dante_di_pietro]

"But I will point out that the last tournament he won was the C&T tournament at Pennsic where people spent a whole lot of time bragging about their period style

Re: My 2 cents

[dominyk]

"you literally could not risk a hit of any kind or you were done."

Good. I'm glad you had fun and that you triumphed so convincingly.

"The first type is vanishing. The cultural shift, as I see it, isn't about A&S vs. C&T vs. HR, but about what fencing means to people."

The focus on A&S and C&T has hastened this cultural shift.

"It has moved from a strictly competitive venue to one that is cooperative as well

This cooperative nature pervades the entire tournament environment at the expense of competition, even extending to the tournament fights themselves. Trust me on this, I actually ENTER the tournaments.

It seems to be what people want and enjoy, so I guess I have complained too much already.

[alricthemad]

Sorry you feel that way. Near as I can tell there is interesting in tournament fighting, period styles and recreating them and melee. Some do all, some do two, some do one. Each has it's draws and down sides. Each of us has talents and interest that lend themselves more to one than the others.

So, since I imagine one on one tournament is more your style, promote more tournaments. Sign on as the RMIC for an event and design the tournament format and prizes. Continue to teach one on one fencing as you have been doing to great effect.

[gianetta]

That's funny - I thought he was concerned about the rapier army, not tournaments. :)

Congratulations, BTW.

[alricthemad]

I was interpreting from the 'warrior' comment.
Congrats?

[gianetta]

Crud. I'm mixing up my Dragoons. Can't keep track of y'all. Haven't they given you all WSs yet? *grin*

I interpreted 'warrior' as member of an army. :)

[mateobard]

A true swordsman shouldn't scoff at the changing of the tide, he should learn to out sail his competitors. I think part of this shift (which, in my mind is not as complete as you may fear) is that our regular rapier game constrains the swordsman to a somewhat unrealistic fight. Cut and thrust offers the closest approximation to actual swordplay you can find in the context of a Society like ours. The fact that we can't throw an edge blow leads directly to the "fencing" style that encourages people in our game to just charge in pell-mell against their opponents and then stand there and try and negotiate who got who first with their dagger thrust. You just don't see that on the C&T field, because if you rush in headlong, you get your head lopped off

[rani23]

Matteo is smart. S.M.R.T.

[dominyk]

I should have known this would happen

[jamey1138]

Around here, we call your preferred forum "pwning n00bz