ANST - CHILDREN REJOICE!!! (parents, too)

[Casey&Coni]

>Well, Sir Dieterich, you said, "just pipe right on up."

I sure did, Your Grace, and I completely meant it.  Thanks for being the
first!

>The MOC officers have no experience in construction, inspection, use,
>training, and/or the authorization of pretend weapons.    Additionaly, the
MOC
>does not have the manpower to do any of these things and has no vested
interest
>in kids being interested in faux combat.  However; The Marshallate has all
of
>the above.  Before she could even consider this, she would need to know
what the
>proposed rules are and how this all came about.

I am typing in a set of proposed rules as we speak that are currently in a
hazy third-generation hardcopy.  They actually amount more to guidelines
than the kind of rigid system, say, the East has in place, naming only who
should be 'playing' (the Society Senechal says that they're not weapons,
remember?) with whom and how to build the weapons for the two basic age
groups.

To catch you up (and the public, if they've forgotten so soon), about eight
months ago a few people who are worried about the general decline in
interest in the sca in the 8-18 year-old age group were talking on the net.
Some other people said, "why don't we start a boffer tourney circuit to
mimic that of the heavy circuit like in [insert one of eight kingdoms who
have this system here]?  It spurs growth and interest early on and gives the
teens a better reason to go to events than just babysit, work, watch the
little kids paste together mock crowns."  More people, among them one of the
higher level officials of our kingdom replied variously with: "We can't.
The BoD said so.  It would affect our insurance in some fashion.  And
besides, it's child abuse... if not in this state, in another."  So some
more people from this kingdom volunteered to find out about these 'facts',
namely myself.  I took it to the King who told me to take it to the Earl
Marshal;  I took it to the Earl Marshall who told me to take it to the
Kingdom Senechal;  the KS informed me to research it on my own, come up with
a draft set of rules, and check with the Society MoC (who, by then, I was in
contact with).  One by one, the arguments were found out to be a load of
hooey, but there was a little log jam when the Society MoC was asked about
it and said to hold off til she got a chance to clarify it in person at 'the
next BoD meeting' with the Society Senechal.  Today I got a response in the
clear affirmative to go ahead... that it was *entirely* in our court to
manage this activity and that we have carte blanche so long as we use what
is traditionally called a 'boffer' and no adults whack on children.  I am
now going to type these guidelines up, make several copies, disseminate them
to the necessary parties (crown, earl marshal, MoC, seneshal, and anybody
else who'd like to see what they look like), and put the ball in the crowns
court (pun intended) as to what action, if any, will be taken.

As it stands, there are no rules in our kingdom *against* boffer so really
what I'm doing is just a safeguard to insure that we all use that sense that
is not-so-common these days... just to be on the safe side.  Hopefully, the
king will look at the guidelines and say in a large and majestic voice:
"These guidelines are a good idea and should be signed and go into the files
of [insert either the marshallate or the MoC here].  Disseminate copies
immediately to all the groups of Our realm that the children of Ansteorra
may have a standard set of rules to play by in the many glorious youth
tourneys that are sure to follow in the next tourney season." The crowd will
cheer, the people will be happy, peace will reign, and kids everywhere will
be more excited about going to events.

>
>I would like to question the need for this to be "an organized activity."

So that we can have youth tourneys at events that provide a fun, safe, and
level playing field for all the children in our kingdom, Your Grace.  To
provide a furthur incentive for our children to not only wish to come to
events, but to stay active, hopeful, and interested til they're old enough
to have 'real armor' like mom or dads.

>When
>I started in the SCA almost mumblemumble years ago, everybody played boffer
>daggers.  I was able to play at the first demo I went to and had a blast.
I
>would still boffer fight, given the chance.
>
>I could see the need to keep adults with adults and children with children,
but
>publish the boffer construction instructions and let the parents supervise
their
>own kids.  We have done it that way for years ( with our four children) at
our
>house.

I totally concur with your sentiment, Your Grace, but without at least a
sheet of paper that says what a 'boffer' is and which kids can whack at
which other kids (on top of the no adults whackin kids thing) we won't be
able to host the type of tourneys many of the parents are wishing for (I
have over 80 letters of encouragement on this issue).   The ideal outcome
would be kids asking their folks if they could please go to such-and-so
event because it says right here in the Blackstar that there will be a youth
tourney there for them to play in.

A nice predicted side effect of this is that they'll be little killin
machines already when they turn 18 and we set em loose on Trimaris;)

I hope I adequately addressed your concerns, Your Grace, and I'm sure that
there were others with similar questions out there who are glad you asked.

Ritter Dieterich

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