[Cynnabar] Youth fighting in Cynnabar

Wed Nov 16 21:36:36 UTC 2011

Actually, I was just out at Share House on Jackson d. the other day  
and they had a lot of hockey helmets and other stuff for CHEAP.

RanthulfR

On Nov 16, 2011, at 4:03 PM, andrew at prometheusmotionpictures.com wrote:

> Recycle Ann Arbor has youth hockey helmets (usually 2 or 3) on the  
> shelf nearly everytime I go there.  Hockey pants and elbow and knee  
> pads as well.
>
> I'm not in a position right now to volunteer for anything, but in  
> the future I would be interested in getting a youth combat  
> authorization / marshalette.  I've already been background checked  
> to death from working at CPS, and would certainly be willing to do  
> it again.
>
> Best,
> Hjorleif
>
>
> On November 16, 2011 at 3:27 PM Randy Asplund <randyasplund at comcast.net 
> > wrote:
>
> > Unto the members of the Barony, Greetings from Sir RanthulfR, Youth
> > Marshal, etc.
> >
> > At our last Baronial meeting we had a discussion about promoting  
> Youth
> > fighting in both boffer and rapier in Cynnabar. I volunteered to  
> write
> > to Lord Nylas Kazmer, the Kingdom & Pentamere officer responsible  
> for
> > Youth Combat, and ask his advice.  The following is my letter to him
> > and his reply back (posted with permission). I am forwarding it to  
> you
> > all because it is a bit much for reporting at a meeting, and it
> > affects many who are not regular at the meetings.
> >
> >
> >
> > > On Nov 14, 2011, at 9:34 PM, Randy Asplund wrote:
> > >
> > >> Hi Kazmer,
> > >>
> > >> This is a scoping out kind of letter. I just got back from the
> > >> Cynnabar weekly business meeting. The subject of demos for boy
> > >> scouts came up. I suggested that we talk to youth fighters in the
> > >> area and see if any wanted to be in a demo for kids close to  
> their
> > >> age. That inspired a long discussion about what we could do to  
> get
> > >> youth fighting going here.
> > >>
> > >> We all recognize that we have parents bring kids around every  
> once
> > >> in a while, the kids are enthused, but  we have no loaner gear or
> > >> youth of the right age/size for them to spar with.  The people at
> > >> the meeting all want to have the barony be ready to provide youth
> > >> fighting, but we just don't seem to have the youth critical  
> mass to
> > >> accomplish it.
> > >>
> > >> I suggested that we point parents to the materials online so they
> > >> could become familiar with armor & weapon standards and learn the
> > >> rules. Then we would send them to the larger youth practices when
> > >> they are held out near Detroit. My thought being that once we  
> had a
> > >> few doing that, we wold gain the critical mass locally to pt it
> > >> together here with regularity.
> > >>
> > >> The concern expressed by the others was that once they went out  
> to
> > >> Detroit, -if indeed the parents could be talked into that drive-
> > >> they wold keep going there instead of settling here, even after
> > >> local opponents were found.
> > >>
> > >> I asked if they would like me to write to you to see if you might
> > >> have some helpful suggestions on how to get our group "over the
> > >> hump" so to speak.
> > >>
> > SNIP
> > >> Have you any advice or thoughts on it?
> > >>
> > >> RanthulfR
> > >>
> >
> > On Nov 16, 2011, at 12:34 PM, Lord Kazmer wrote:
> >
> > Sir RanthulfR,
> >
> > Achieving a “critical mass” is always the problem with youth combat.
> > Nothing is more frustrating for the kids than not having anyone to
> > play with.  One of the reasons that youth combat has been successful
> > at the Roaring Waste practice is that we draw from several  
> groups.  No
> > one group usually has enough kids for a viable practice but by  
> drawing
> > on the surrounding groups the critical mass can be achieved.  The
> > Roaring Waste practice is really a regional practice and by  
> holding it
> > once a month we can sort of concentrate participation.  There is a
> > limit to how far parents will drive though, probably less than an  
> hour.
> >
> > Some of the marshals in Andelcrag are trying to get a Baronial youth
> > combat practice started out there because, again, they don’t have
> > enough kids in any one group but the barony as a whole has quite a
> > few.  They want to try the once a month model but are having trouble
> > settling on when and where.
> >
> > An Ann Arbor practice could also draw in other groups.  I know there
> > are interested kids in Talonval and Weald Lake.  Some have come to  
> my
> > practice on occasion.  A trip to Ann Arbor would be much more  
> feasible
> > for these parents than to come to my practice.  You could also draw
> > from Brackendelve.  The Detroit area youth combat practice is always
> > the last Sunday of the month.  If Cynnabar started a monthly  
> practice,
> > the second Sunday for example, those who are inclined to could  
> attend
> > both.  Some of the kids who come to my practice would attend more  
> than
> > one a month if available, but we have been reluctant to hold ours  
> more
> > often for fear of losing that “critical mass”.  When we started,  
> about
> > 12 years ago, we had my son Bill, and Maximilian’s son Odd.  Those  
> two
> > got awfully tired of only having the other to fight with.  As time
> > went on, and with the availability of loaner gear, we got more  
> kids to
> > play.  One of the “problems” with YC is that the kids do age-out.
> > About three years ago we had a bunch of division 3 kids at my
> > practice.  Then they started turning 18 and were gone.  Leoric from
> > Weald Lake was the last one.  Now my oldest regular participants are
> > 14, but I have 5 or 6 more right behind them in division 2.  Wait a
> > couple years and I’ll have a bunch of division 3 kids again.
> >
> > On-line information for parents is somewhat lacking, other than the
> > kingdom rules.  This is an area which I want to correct.  I hope to
> > get some more resources posted to the kingdom website.
> > Loaner gear seems to be the key.  Parents are dis-inclined to spend
> > money on gear until they are sure that their child is actually going
> > to stick with it.  I’ve suited up many a child over the years who,
> > after one practice, decided they would rather do fencing or archery.
> >
> > Accumulating gear is a slow process, my stash is about 12 years in  
> the
> > making.  I started by asking for donations of old sports gear.  I  
> got
> > more roller-blading elbow and knee pads than I needed initially.
> > Hawkland Moor authorized me to spend up to $75 which I used to buy
> > hockey helmets at Play-it-Again Sports.  I’ve also hit garage sales
> > and flea markets for most of the rest.  The only armor that isn’t
> > commercially available are gorgets, but I’ll bet that some of your
> > local fighters have scrap leather and barrel plastic lying around  
> and
> > could throw together a few.  Someone from Cynnabar would need to  
> step
> > up and be the point person for the program.  This should be a youth
> > marshal with a background check (you need one of those present
> > anyway).  Assistance can then come from parents, fighters, and other
> > adults.  Remember, you don’t have to be a warranted youth marshal to
> > work with the kids, just to “spar” with them.
> >
> > What can I do to help you get started?  Would you like me to attend
> > one of your baronial meetings to discuss this with the group?  I  
> would
> > also be willing to attend one of your practices and bring my loaner
> > gear, although I can’t make a regular practice of this.  Boy scout
> > demos can be a fertile recruiting field.  Over the last few years  
> I’ve
> > had several families get started in SCA because the kids were
> > introduced to youth combat either at demos or by friends in the SCA.
> > Little known fact: most of the kids in youth combat do not have a
> > parent who fights.
> >
> > I will be teaching a class at 12th Night in January for parents and
> > kids who are interested in learning about the program.  As part of
> > that class I am working on a set of hand-outs on how to find or make
> > youth combat gear.  I plan to post these on-line eventually.
> >
> > At the very least, lets keep talking.
> >
> > THL Nyilas Kazmer
> > Middle Kingdom Deputy Earl Marshal
> > Youth Combat
> >
> >
> > Randy Asplund
> > Facebook: "Randy Asplund, Artist"
> > www.RandyAsplund.com
> > Maker of Medieval books and
> > Illustrator of Science Fiction & Fantasy
> > (734) 663-0954
> > 2101 S. Circle Dr. Ann Arbor, MI 48103
> >

Randy Asplund
Facebook: "Randy Asplund, Artist"
www.RandyAsplund.com
Maker of Medieval books and
Illustrator of Science Fiction & Fantasy
(734) 663-0954
2101 S. Circle Dr. Ann Arbor, MI 48103

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.cynnabar.org/pipermail/barony/attachments/20111116/b69d182d/attachment-0001.html>