<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Unto the members of the Barony, Greetings from Sir RanthulfR, Youth Marshal, etc.<div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br><div><div><br></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div>On Nov 14, 2011, at 9:34 PM, Randy Asplund wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Hi Kazmer,<div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div></div><div><br></div></div></blockquote></span></blockquote>SNIP<br><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><blockquote type="cite"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Have you any advice or thoughts on it?</div><div><br></div><div>RanthulfR</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></blockquote></span></blockquote><br></div><div><div style="font-size: 12px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">On Nov 16, 2011, at 12:34 PM, Lord Kazmer wrote:</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px; "><br></div><div style="font-size: 12px; ">Sir RanthulfR,</div><div style="font-size: 12px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-size: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">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.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; font-size: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-size: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">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.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; font-size: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-size: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">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.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; font-size: 12px; "><br><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-size: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">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.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-size: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">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.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; font-size: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-size: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">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.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; font-size: 12px; "><br><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-size: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">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.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; font-size: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-size: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">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.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; font-size: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-size: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">At the very least, lets keep talking.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-size: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><br></span></div><div apple-content-edited="true" style="font-size: 12px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>THL Nyilas Kazmer</div><div>Middle Kingdom Deputy Earl Marshal</div><div>Youth Combat</div><div><br></div></div></span></div></div><br><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><div>Randy Asplund</div><div>Facebook: "Randy Asplund, Artist"</div><div><a href="http://www.RandyAsplund.com">www.RandyAsplund.com</a></div><div>Maker of Medieval books and </div><div>Illustrator of Science Fiction & Fantasy</div><div>(734) 663-0954</div><div>2101 S. Circle Dr. Ann Arbor, MI 48103</div></div></div></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span> </div><br></div></body></html>