[Cynnabar] Youth fighting in Cynnabar
Randy Asplund
randyasplund at comcast.net
Thu Nov 17 00:51:59 UTC 2011
Good question Gregoire. Thanks for asking.
This came up when the question of doing a demo for Boy Scouts arose. I
suggested that we ask the youth fighters in nearby areas if they
wanted to join in the demo because youth are where we will find our
future members (and their parents!). One of the fencers started
talking about Cynnabar trying to make an effort for youth fighting
because they had been turning youth away.
According to Lord Kazmer, there are youth fighters within reasonable
driving distance from Ann Arbor, whether they are in Cynnabar or not.
We have children within the Barony, your step-daughter included, who
have come out to try fighting but hadn't found opponents. All of these
are potentially people we can help if we can manage to get our act
together. Even my 8 year old neighbor is interested.
At demos, and at other times when we are just talking with people
outside of that, parents and kids have expressed interest. Not only at
Celtic Festival, but I for one have had the conversation 3 or 4 times
this year with parents and kids. But we always have to end up saying
the nearest place to go is the monthly Detroit area practice because
we don't have anyone for them to fight here.
Why don't we have that? Not enough kids in gear and of the right age
and when they express the interest. We can't get over that hump. The
letter to Kazmer was to ask for suggestions about how we might get
over that hump so we can provide this for people who want it when they
ask in the future.
Nobody is talking about "the group" rushing out and buying anything at
this time, although obviously Ld. Andrew had a suggestion about how it
could be done at lower cost. In fact, my own suggestion was to
continue sending people towards Detroit.
You ask why we might do this. The answer is the same reason why we
provided for fencers and why we help foster other aspects of the
Society. People have expressed interest and we failed to come
through. The more people we involve, the more stable we are as a
group. We need to recruit. The more youth we involve, the more parents
and friends will join. We need to be accessible to young people.
The background check process was slow under the K Seneschal who
handled it when I did t, but it is actually very easy from the
applicant's end. And we don't have to pay or get fingerprinted.
As for the marshal warranting process, we only need one Youth Marshal
present. Parents can conduct the practices under that person. Its
just that only same class youth, the Youth Marshal and that specific
child's parent may spar with the child. Lord Kazmer has not been in
the Kingdom office that long, but is working on improving the system
for parental participation. It should get easier in time. And we do
have time. Nothing is pressing right now.
I hope that helps answer your questions.
RanthulfR
On Nov 16, 2011, at 4:40 PM, Greg Less wrote:
> Before we get to far down this path of buying and prepping... do we
> actually have any youth that are interested in fighting, are in the
> same age division as other youths and have parents that are willing
> to commit to making sure we have critical mass? Furthermore, the
> barony has exactly one authorized youth marshal. The authorization
> process, not to mention the background check, make the prospect of
> us getting more seem slim at best.
>
> So, I guess my question is - why are we considering this and who
> plans on supporting?
>
> Thanks,
> -Gregoire.
>
> On Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 4:36 PM, Randy Asplund <randyasplund at comcast.net
> > wrote:
> 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
>
>
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>
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
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