[Ansteorra] Vambrace Poll

[Marc Carlson]

Let me state clearly, I do not fight in the SCA, and while it is possible 
that I might someday give in to temptation and actually get involved at 
fighter practices, I am successfully resisting that urge, so really anything 
I have to say is from the view point of an interested observer, not as a 
participant.

I am curious, at what point do we want to stop trying to protect people from 
their own poor choices?  I mean, we’re talking about a hobby where grown 
adults are actually hitting each other with sticks.  One would assume that 
most people actually understand that there are certain inherent dangers and 
choose to protect themselves.  We shouldn’t have to legislate it, should we?

I am learning 15th century Longsword, and when we bout, I occasional come 
home with some pretty unpleasant bruises, and such.  And you know what, 
those are my own stupid fault because I’m putting myself in a position where 
someone with a stick might be able to hit me.  I need to either be 
protecting myself better, or not be there.  This past weekend I finally 
bought some of my first real armor, mostly because I keep getting whacked in 
the same place, and while a compression fracture at the junction of my right 
captitate and scaphoid might sound like fun, I’m thinking it will make some 
things less pleasant in the long run.  No one has to tell me to do this.  
Personally, I’d rather not, but since I haven’t been able to learn not to do 
whatever it is that would keep me from getting hit there, maybe some armor’s 
a good idea.

Do I wear forearm protection?  Sure, but it’s not up to Ansteorran 
standards.  I manage to deflect most shots there, but not all, so while I’m 
not without risk, that’s really my choice.  If I break something, I don’t 
have a lot of room to whine about it since I put myself out there in the 
first place.

So, back to my actual question – if we want to protect people from all harm, 
how far do we want to go with it?  How much further do we need to go to 
duplicate 16th century tournament armor standards?  When do we figure out 
that actually hitting people with rattan can hurt you and prohibit that in 
favor of something softer?  I know it’s a bit of stretch, and fair enough.  
But I am really curious.

Marc/Diarmaid

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