[Youth-combat] RE: [Elfsea] RE: [Steppes] Fwd: [Ansteorra] YouthfulCombatants

[Michael of Langley]

To all concerned,

My concern is that during a melee, such as Gulf Wars, the younger fighters 
will be indistinguishable from older more seasoned fighters.  At Gulf Wars 
last year, during the spear tournament, an Ansteorran combatant had his 
chinstrap broken and the helmet hit him in his face when he took a heavy 
spear thrust.  This was not in a grand melee, but a two against two spear 
tournament.  Our KING took the blow well...

Now, lets think about a 16 year old, who is still growing, taking a face 
shot from a fiberglass spear.  Unfortunately, our Earl Marshall will not be 
there to make sure that the fighters are going to take it easy on them and 
not bruise them too much.  The younger fighters, still maturing, will be at 
the mercy of the opposing force - I stress the "still maturing" part.

We wear pads now and have parents attend the tournaments for a two fold 
reason, to avoid unnecessary injuries and law suits and to get the parents 
more involved with their youth combatants.  A lawsuit can be placed against 
anyone for any reason - waiver or not (and while it may not stand up in 
court, it must still be defended against).  Is it worth it? I can hear it 
now when the first serious injury occurs - "You said he was ready and that 
big guy just hit him way to hard!!! Who is going to pay all these doctor 
bills! Why didn't someone stop him! I would have stopped him if I was here 
watching (but because I was on merchants row because I'm not REQUIRED to be 
here - I was off shopping for my wife/husband)."

Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, we have fighters with prejudices - 
"I'm gonna smack every (girl/Saracen/crusader/guy/archer/whatever) as hard 
as I can when I see them, because they shouldn't be on the field".  After 
the blow is thrown, "Oh, I'm so sorry - I didn't mean to hit you that hard!" 
rarely makes up for it.  Yes, we are always chivalrous and say "Its ok - no 
problem - groan...” but inside, we're secretly hoping they get creamed on 
the field and we get to see it (be honest).

What will we say when a 16 year old is carried off with broken ribs, or a 
ruptured spleen from too hard of a thrust? "Oh, sorry kid, that's life - can 
we get a 'Lay on' here?"

My SINCERE hope is that one of our youth fighters NEVER has anything like 
this happen to them.  This may ruffle a few feathers, but the youth fighters 
are worth it.  They will be 18 soon enough, after all, its only 730 days...


"...Faith is daring the soul to believe what the eyes cannot see..."

Lord Michael of Langley
Squire to Sir Corwin von Xanten and Sir Anton Qwith
Southern Regional Youth Marshal




>From: "Vicki Marsh" <xaraxene at comcast.net>
>Reply-To: Youth Combat in Ansteorra <youth-combat at ansteorra.org>
>To: "Barony of Elfsea" <elfsea at ansteorra.org>, <steppes at ansteorra.org>,     
>    <youth-combat at ansteorra.org>
>CC: dukepmg at aol.com
>Subject: [Youth-combat] RE: [Elfsea] RE: [Steppes] Fwd: [Ansteorra] 
>YouthfulCombatants
>Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 18:00:55 -0600
>
>Xene here:
>
>I was also in martial arts at the age of 16. Of course, this was a long 
>time
>ago, in the 1970's, but we fought without pads.  My parents didn't have to
>stay around to watch, even at the tournaments.  In practice, I sparred
>adults, but only the ones that the instructor knew had the ability to spar
>with me without hurting me badly. I would get bruises, but nothing major.
>The only injury I got was at a tournament from another student that was in
>my division. I got smacked in the nose pretty good and it taught me to keep
>my guard up. Did my father sue anyone?  No. It was my fault for dropping my
>guard:)
>As I improved in fighting, the intensity and speed was kicked up a notch,
>because the instructor knew I could handle it.
>
>16 and 17 year olds vary in size and maturity. Some of them are adult 
>sized,
>some are not. Some have good judgement and some don't.  They can legally
>drive on the streets, once they get get their training and license, but 
>they
>don't get to jump in all at once. It requires in-classroom training,
>behind-the-wheel training, 6 months with an instructional permit (and
>driving with someone 21 yrs or older in the car).  They then have another 6
>months with a provisional license. See
>www.txdps.state.tx.us/administration/driver_licensing_control/graduateddrive
>r.htm
>Oklahoma also has the GDL (graduated Driver's license) See:
>http://www.dps.state.ok.us/dls/gdl.htm
>
>
>I figure if the procedure of increasing responsibility and risk is good
>enough for the States of Texas and Oklahoma, it's good enough for 
>Ansteorra.
>
>Under the new proposed rules, as I understand it, *I* can decide whether or
>not my son is ready or not. Then, the Kingdom Earl Marshal will provide an
>impartial decision as to whether or not my son is fit and mature enough to
>fight with adults.
>That is reasonable.
>
>My only concern is that if we have a EM who doesn't travel enough, or
>parents who aren't able to travel to the EM, they won't be able to have the
>requisite approval. Unfortunately, we have had kingdom officers who
>virtually fell off the face of the earth during their tenure. If the power
>of final approval only rests in one person's hands, it can become a
>bottleneck, or a political issue.
>
>Baroness Xene Theriane, OL, OP
>
>
>-
>
>_______________________________________________
>Youth-combat mailing list
>Youth-combat at ansteorra.org
>http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/youth-combat