Society of Creative Anachronism (SCA)

[Philip Overby]

I've seem some members post about his before, but I don't know much about it. I am planning to join a group here in Tokyo that does medieval chivalry training (yeah, in Japan, go figure), complete with sword training and the like. I'm curious to get opinions of people who have had something to do with the SCA and what your experiences have been.

Some questions (please bear with me):

1. Does it hurt? I was a pro wrestler in the past so I can deal with pain, but surely your knuckles get whacked or people suffer injuries doing this if they're using real weapons (albeit blunted). Just curious how many injuries I'm going to get.

2. How time consuming is it? I only plan to go maybe once a week to this place in Tokyo, which is over an hour and a half away. My main interest was learning sword play to enter tournaments, because I think that is so awesome!

3. Is it expensive? I know some people spend loads of money on various swords, pieces of armor, etc. so I was just wondering as a casual hobbyist, how much money can I expect to pay? This place has a monthly rate of about 10,000 yen (100 bucks) and they have all the equipment there, so I don't think I'd have to pay too much.

4. Some positive experiences? What are some awesome experiences you've had from joining?

Anyway, just some questions from a newbie. I'm interested to see what I'm getting into. The only thing I've done like this before was pro wrestling and I was told I was pretty good at playing a character by complete strangers a lot. And I did a Civil War reenactment once, which was...interesting.

Any ideas would be appreciated! Thanks1

 

[Codey Amprim]

While I haven't participated in these, I do know of a friend who did gorgets (armored combat with either dull or wooden weapons) last semester in college. He said it was fun, but he did get banged up a bit. Gotta be careful, some people are just out there to hurt others.

And from personal experience with my real weapons - don't think just because you saw something awesome in a movie or video game that you can do it, because you will cut or stab yourself, and it isn't fun. : )

 

[Sheilawisz]

Hello Phil, I have never tried that but I can tell you this:

When I was researching to start my Aluminum Swordmaking, I contacted a person with experience on these matters- he told me how careful they need to be when they practice with Aluminum blunt swords (even wearing protective gear!!) describing one occasion when he ended up in the hospital after a blow to the head, where the doctors had to put many staples to close the injury =P

Learning these arts with sword training and everything is dangerous, please be careful!!

Aluminum practice swords are not as expensive as steel blades, some people prefer to use the wooden ones and even plastic is getting more and more common these days =)

Good luck!!

 

[myrddin173]

I've been thinking a lot about joining the SCA lately. As for how much it costs, that is really up to the individual I think. Here is a good article on it. I know there is a thread on the SCA her somewhere... Ahh here it is, on page 8, not very much happened with it.

 

[Philip Overby]

Ah! I didn't know there was already a thread. Doh!

Well, I got some new information anyhow, so that is good. Thanks everyone for the thoughts so far.

 

[Ravana]

1. Does it hurt? I was a pro wrestler in the past so I can deal with pain, but surely your knuckles get whacked or people suffer injuries doing this if they're using real weapons (albeit blunted). Just curious how many injuries I'm going to get.

Assuming you're going into the combat end, you'll get bruises from time to time… frequently, if you wear lighter armor, rarely if you go for mostly rigid protection. If your armor is properly designed, it's unlikely you'll ever suffer anything more. To the best of my knowledge, in its 46-year history, there has yet to be a single contact-related death in the SCA. Compare that to… well, anything.

I would add, given your prior experience: there are no scripts. Just sayin'.

2. How time consuming is it?

As much or as little as you want it to be. If you want to get good at heavy weapons combat, you'll need to practice. If you don't mind losing a lot, no biggie.

Of course, there's a lot more than just heavy weapons combat that goes on. There are plenty of people whose living is entirely derived from SCA-related activities… from their point of view, it probably doesn't "consume" any time at all.

3. Is it expensive?

As with #2 above. "International" membership–I assume that's you–is $56 annually. However, you don't even need to be a member to participate in most aspects. You will need to be a member to engage in the combat end–the organization has to pay for its insurance. The helmet will be the most expensive part of your armor… most of the rest you can make yourself, though some parts are worth buying (articulated elbows and knees come to mind). Generally, you'll be able to borrow gear while you're starting out, until you decide you want to make the investment; often, you'll be able to find used gear from someone who's upgrading. Site fees for events vary but are generally small (and often give member discounts); feast fees (separate) are usually no more than a meal at a mid-range restaurant, often less (and sometimes give member discounts).

4. Some positive experiences? What are some awesome experiences you've had from joining?

First day: walked into a local meeting, whence I'd been invited by a friend who hadn't shown up yet. Three young women came up–before the door had closed behind me–and said "Hi! You're new here, aren't you? We're having an event this weekend in Athens, wanna come?"

It's like that.

I got a ride in a VW bug with five people I hadn't met prior to the morning of the event. The site was unheated. The feast was cold. Court ran way over. I got home after 2:00 AM.

That was 1983.

I'm still in.

Any other questions?

-

P.S. If you don't have any plans for the first two weeks of August.…

Watch This Space presents the Duckball Home Video THE PENNSIC WAR A Video Documentary Special Edition

 

[Philip Overby]

Thanks for the feedback! I guess I'm not planning on joining the SCA at the moment unless this place in Tokyo requires me to. I've watched a lot of videos from this group and they seem to have the technique down but it also looks pretty open (some are full armor videos and some are training with fencing masks). So I'm definitely still interested to try it out.

 

[Ravana]

The SCA does both heavy weapon combat and fencing, so that's probably what you're seeing. (For that matter, your local group may be throwing in kendo as well–which, however, is not an SCA combat form. But hobbyists will be hobbyists.…)

As mentioned, you don't need to become a member to participate in general. According to the SCA's official website, you need to be a member to participate in tournaments in "most" kingdoms–which implies that there are some you don't need to be. The rules for combat training may (or may not) differ from the rules governing events: at a minimum you'd have to sign a waiver… which I suspect is considered sufficient just about anywhere in the SCA, since we don't want to discourage new members by forcing them to pay up front. Depending on your kingdom rules, a waiver may be sufficient to participate in tournaments as well.

For you specifically: you're in the Kingdom of the West. According to their official site, you need to execute a waiver to participate in practice. According to their Authorization Procedures, a waiver is considered sufficient to become an authorized fighter (i.e. one who's demonstrated the ability to fight safely, and is allowed to participate at events), though you should check this, as there's a phrase in the West's Armored Combat Manual that could be taken to imply that you'd need to be a member first… or possibly that you could authorize without being a member, but couldn't fight in tourneys without being one.

Here's that manual; you'll be expected to know its contents prior to authorization… and you ought to know it anyway:
http://www.westkingdom.org/sites/default/files/Western Armored Combat Manual 2011_0.pdf

Just out of curiosity, which is the local group you're looking at? (SCA name or meeting location will do… "Tokyo" is potentially ambiguous.)

 

[Caged Maiden]

I grew up a Rennie (Renaissance Faire patron, and later actor) and joined the SCA when I moved out west because there are no faires here. I have loads of costumes and do archery and rapier (both fairly poorly) and I compete in Art and Science competitions. If you wanted to do it every day you could, but realistically, you could attend two events a year and have a good time without delving into every aspect. Heavy weapons fighting can batter you a bit. From personal experience, you need good-fitting armor. (I was 135 lbs and 5'3" and wearing armor from my friend who is 6'0" and 250 lbs. Yeah I didn't do well in that. It was resting on like my collar bones and things and I received some pretty nasty bruises. However, I have a pretty high pain tolerance. Some guys have broken bones, though it doesn't occur often. They fight with rattan, so they're not dulled swords, but clubs in effect.
With our fencers, there have been a few injuries, but unfortunately, when they do occur, they're often pretty gruesome. Before my time, there were a few broken blades which resulted in injuries where peoples' arms were run through by the end of the broken blade.

Yeah I stick with the artsy stuff.....