[Ansteorra] Story from Crown Tourney

[Chris Zakes]

At 10:25 PM 7/11/2010, you wrote:

>Yes, he was proud. Most of the fighters are proud. And we are proud 
>of them. :)
>
>But what about the rest of us? Should we all start heat-training as 
>well? The majority of people at events are not fighters. Some of us 
>are older, some of us are children, and some of us are healthy 
>24-year-olds who get over-heated, anyway, as I did.
>
>Fighting outside in the worst heat isn't historically necessary, 
>healthy for the majority of participants, or even the most fun. So 
>why do we resist making accomodations for the worst summer weather 
>as we do for the worst weather in every other season? I don't understand.
>
>So far, all I've heard is 'because we've always done it this way', 
>which is countered by the fact that this is only our 2nd mid-summer Crown. :P
>
>I don't want to argue about it. Ansteorra belongs to all of us, from 
>the artisans to the waterbearers to the fighters who desire the 
>outdoors. I'm just asking that the needs and desires of the other 
>participants, be considered along the needs and the desires of the 
>participants who disagree, for next year's summer Crown.
>
>
>-Rose the Obnoxious

It's not as simple as just changing the date of next summer's Crown 
Tourney. For a major portion of Ansteorra's history, Crown Tourney 
was fought in the spring and fall. Coronation was in mid-winter and 
mid-summer, with Queen's Champion a few weeks later, typically in 
late January/early February and late July/early August. That meant 
that it was the rapier fighters having to deal with the worst of the 
heat and cold (anybody else remember Kayleigh's Queen's Champion, 
that was fought inside Bjornsborg's BFT in below-freezing weather?)

A few years ago, the powers-that-be decided to change things, and put 
Queen's in the spring and fall, and Crown in winter and summer. Part 
of the reason for doing that was so that we'd have a Crown Prince and 
Princess at Gulf War and Pennsic, to make negotiations and alliances 
for the next war easier.

The kicker is that *everybody* wants to have their fighting events in 
the spring and fall, when the weather has a greater chance of being 
nice--if you look at the Kingdom Calendar, you'll see that the 
majority of baronial and shire championships are scheduled then. If 
we change things so that Crown and Queen's (and, of necessity, 
Coronation) are held in the spring and fall, then that's six weekends 
a year when no other events may be held. Oh, yes, and don't forget 
Gulf War--that brings us to eight weekends that can't be used for 
other events.

Now notice how many of those spring/fall local events are marked as 
"Perpetual Event Dates." (Not to mention how many of those weekends 
have two, or even three events scheduled on them.) Whose events 
should be evicted from their traditional weekends to be replaced by 
Crown, Coronation and Queen's?


As for the main question of fighters getting overheated, how much of 
that is a legitimate concern, how much of that is a training issue, 
and how much of that is fighters not keeping properly hydrated? (I 
wasn't there, but judging by the story that started this discussion, 
*one* fighter got too overheated to safely continue, and he had the 
good sense to withdraw. That does not sound like an endemic problem.)

There's also this: looking at the various group websites 
http://www.ansteorra.org/groups/ the majority of groups have their 
fighter practice scheduled in the evening, rather than during the 
heat of the day. While that may be more convenient for people's 
schedules, it is *not* the best way to train for Ansteorran summer weather.

         -Tivar Moondragon