ARN - Heavy Rapier Only?

R. Smith superboy at lsh.org
Thu Feb 24 08:00:20 PST 2000


Etienne said:
> To my view, those using heavy rapier tend to fall into one of two
> categories.  The first are those who are striving for as much authenticity
> as possible, a laudable goal, which will inevitably get them branded as
> 'those elitist snobs from Bryn Gwlad' (regardless of where they're
actually
> from).  :-)
>
> The second are those who want the heaviest toy that hits the hardest and
> looks the "kewlest".  They see foils and epees as 'wimpy' and are out to
> win-win-win.  These are the same sort of people who switched to
double-wides
> the moment they became legal so their opponents wouldn't have any doubts
> about whether or not they'd been hit.
>
> Of the two, the term "schlager-jock" applies more to the second group.
>
> Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Not to be contrary, but I think you probably are -- or rather, I think you
are trying too hard to categorize.  I personally prefer schlager these days
(I was a somewhat difficult convert, I think), but I can hardly make any
claims to "striving for as much authenticity as possible".  I probably
_should_, but... different discussion.  Anyway, I hope also that I have
never done aught to give the impression that I do anything to win, either.

Having said that, I'm on the spot as to why I prefer schlager nowadays.  It
probably does have its roots, at least, in authenticity of feel (well,
closer to authentic, at any rate), but it's not a conscious effort --
frankly, I haven't done the requisite homework to make a conscious effort at
authentic swords.  It just, you know, feels better. :)  Certainly it has its
downside; when we fought epee at NRT, I was astounded at the difference in
speed and endurance of arm.  Which was cool, as long as the melee fighting
went...

At any rate.  It seems to me to come down to a matter of personal taste,
which is affected by a number of factors.  A gentle here prefers schlager
because his lady bought him a gorgeous schlager for a holiday, and he wants
to use it (a good and noble reason, I should add).  As long as we accept
that people have their reasons on either side, there's no issue.

Going back to the topic that started this (I think):  I don't see a real
problem with a schlager-only tournament, but then, I wouldn't.  I will point
out that there are epee-only tournaments (well, epee and foil, but), and
while I agree that there are more people without schlagers (and schlager
auth) than people without epees (and appropriate auth), that doesn't
entirely invalidate the reasoning.  Does it?

Chandranath Mitra
Student of Walter Robin


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