Spar?

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zignal_zero

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Apr 16, 2008
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curious, what's everybody using for sparring? my friends and i have made fairly soft training swords so that we don't have to wear any protective gear. i'm not really that happy with the weight of them though and am figuring out a way to improve them.

their just hard enough to sting a tad, but not hard enough to do any damage. a friend of mine likes to spar with wooden bokens and just has a "no head shot" rule, but i don't really like that idea too much.
 
How is sparring LARPing? He didn't say he's putting on costumes.

Unless you're advising he put live steel to live steel without any rules or constraints or understandings, it's a legitimate question.
 
zignal_zero said:
curious, what's everybody using for sparring? my friends and i have made fairly soft training swords so that we don't have to wear any protective gear. i'm not really that happy with the weight of them though and am figuring out a way to improve them.
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Shinai and bokken.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
We start with wooden weapons and progress to blunt steel weapons and armour.It usually takes a beginner around 6 to 9 weeks to go to limited steel training , then to controlled free sparring.We train with armour and weapons applicable to the period we re-enact(1150-1250, based around the third crusade).
 
cool, i appreciate the feedback. we don't do any type of re-enacting. not that i don't think that it's really cool (it is) we just try to keep the level of required preparation down. we also made sure our training swords are the same length as the ones we actually carry, but the weight is off, so i'm going back to the drawing board.

edit to add - i have no idea what the term "larping" means.
 
zignal_zero said:
cool, i appreciate the feedback. we don't do any type of re-enacting. not that i don't think that it's really cool (it is) we just try to keep the level of required preparation down. we also made sure our training swords are the same length as the ones we actually carry, but the weight is off, so i'm going back to the drawing board.

edit to add - i have no idea what the term "larping" means.
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european? japanese?

just shinai and bokken myself

what do you mean by:

we also made sure our training swords are the same length as the ones we actually carry

just curious
 
Battlesword said:
We start with wooden weapons and progress to blunt steel weapons and armour.It usually takes a beginner around 6 to 9 weeks to go to limited steel training , then to controlled free sparring.We train with armour and weapons applicable to the period we re-enact(1150-1250, based around the third crusade).
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Ren faire stuff?
 
SShepherd said:
european? japanese?

just shinai and bokken myself

what do you mean by:

we also made sure our training swords are the same length as the ones we actually carry

just curious
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we are not committed to any particular style. i can hear the purists groaning, now lol. we've read on basic sword techniques and we spar to see what actually works for us. we also practicing cutting, with live blades, to make sure the strikes we're using on each other would be effective. some of my baton training (from LE) kind of bleeds over into my style, too. don't get me wrong, i understand the difference between a blunt object and a bladed one. i make sure to drag on impact, i realize it's a cut and not a thunk :cool: but some of the mechanics are similar.

for me, the proof's in the pudding. (for me) it's not about properly re-creating a particular technique with perfect form. in an actual armed confrontation, if you manage to win, then there apparently isn't anything wrong with your methods. it's like the old "point shooting vs aimed fire". well, once the bullets start flying, somebody finds out how great their philosophy really is or isn't.

as for what i meant - i ALWAYS keep a sword handy, always. i make sure the (practice) one i spar with is the same length as the one i carry. i guess it's like someone putting a 22 conversion on the 1911 they carry, instead of them practicing with a Walther P22 - they're just practicing, but they're trying to keep the equipment as similar to their carry piece as possible.
 
SShepherd said:
so, you carry a sword? where?
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it's not normally on my person, neither is my M4, but both are almost always very near. when i take the gixxer, i have to leave the rifle, but not the sword - FL has no state statute prohibiting the open carrying of non-firearm weapons. i haven't walked into to pay for my gas, with it strapped on, yet. my last one was a lot cheaper so i was comfortable leaving it strapped to the bike, when i walked into the stores.

that's why i said i always keep one "handy", it might not be strapped to me, but i can promise - it's NEVER very far away.

when i'm on duty, it rides shotgun in the patrol vehicle.

edit to add - i encourage everybody to exercise rights that other people find abnormal. because, even though something may be totally legal, if people are not used to seeing it, it can cause issues when they do. i've actually met LEO's who think there's a "3 step rule" in FL and said they would arrest people for having a charged handgun in their unlocked glove compartment. if someone can be shamed into not exercising their right, then it's already been stolen :(
 
zignal_zero said:
curious, what's everybody using for sparring?
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Most of my MA training is Japanese, so shinai (bamboo practice swords) mostly and occasionally boken (wooden practice swords) with my instrutor or other students I trust (and who trust me!).

zignal_zero said:
edit to add - i have no idea what the term "larping" means.
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LARPing is Live Action Role Playing. Its playing "role playing" games like Dungeons & Dragons in costume and physically acting out the characters actions (as opposed to sitting at a table and talking about them, like RPGs are traditionally played). I think the various Vampire and Werewolf games are currently particularly popular with the LARPers.
 
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We do participate at Medieval Fairs but a lot of us train as a martial art as well as for show.For tourney fights we keep a lot of the more effective techniques out.We also train with mixed weapons ie long knives,pole arms etc as long as they are 'period ' for us.One combo is seax/dagger and hand axe, totally devasting and versatile.Once you've done some live cutting with a seax you understand why it was so popular with warriors for so long.
Ron
 
Haven't done much sparing for years, but I used to keep a set of foils and masks in the van. Whenever we felt like it, especially at Highland games, out they would come for some fun fencing. For demonstration sparing and weapons, we would don the padded tunics and caps, and use blunt swords, or wooden swords.
 
zignal_zero said:
a friend of mine likes to spar with wooden bokens and just has a "no head shot" rule, but i don't really like that idea too much.
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Bokken are fine if you are using protective gear. You absolutely must never spar full speed with bokkens without good protective gear for any reason with anybody.

Here's the short explanation: you can end up crippled or hospitalized or dead or by some other details in horrific pain.

Here's the long explanation: you'' be smacking each other with something like baseball bats only with a smaller striking surface to multiply the danger of the impact.
 
I use Zweihänder and I spar with my friend who uses an Estoc. We keep them dull and wear fencing armor. It's very invigorating.
 
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