1. Pole contact only- that means no punching,
kicking, spitting, or wrestling.
2. No helmet, no fight, (our only serious
requirement is a forty dollar street hockey helmet that comes
with a face cage.)
3. Hold means stop.
4. A backstab is a tap! Spinal injuries can be a
real nightmare, we all signed a waiver, remember this rule!
We meet twice a week for regular practice and to build our toys, and every so often we try to do something a little spectacular.
Aside
from the waiver and the safety guidelines, we also have a referee
type guy/gal to watch during practice. What makes them correct in their calls is
the stick they carry that's bigger and heavier than yours. They watch out
for flaring tempers and injuries.
THE EQUIPMENT
An
essential part of every self-respecting fighter is their armor and weapons.
The weapons are inspected by the group for terror value and
safety . it's got to be a round dowel at the core. I personally recommend
a rattan bo staff to start with but they get expensive. You can always grab
a wooden dowel at your local hardware store for about two bucks.
After the stick, you get the pad; pipe insulation, pool noodles or
whatever strange foam you can scrounge up. As long as it can take a beating
and still be spongy. Tape it up to whatever shape ( axes, swords, hammers, flails, etc) weapon you want to learn about and go to town.
I'll point
out that these pads make the armor standards real cheap and easy to meet.
ARROWS
Arrows are the now traditional golf tube with a
tennis ball on it. The bows can vary depending on what the
player has access to. They are closely inspected by the group and
tested at point blank range on the player who brought it.
THE ARMOR
The gear can make the fighter here. if you don't have at
least a hockey helmet, we do have one full suit of loaner gear. But armor
for our fighters is always a cornucopia of artistic expression. Our genuine SCA guys wear their metal armor, a couple of us have hockey gear.
One guy
has a ninja set made from paper and office supplies. Then there are the
bucket suits. As you may guess, these are made from plastic buckets,
in a
variety of shapes and styles. The point is, you can probably make a decent
suit of protective gear from just about anything. That is even if you want
it. One time a guy decided that a helmet and a kilt were all he needed, and
he was never seen again.
THE "TUDE" ADVENTURES
By nature these get pretty rowdy. But a
respectful environment is always maintained. Maybe we figured out that if
you didn't suck, you wouldn't have to practice. It's really tough to show
off when there is someone just itching' to clock you upside the head.
That
and this hobby WILL PROBABLY NOT GET YOU CHICKS! So be cool and keep
practicing nicely.
Our most
recent endeavor was to invade this dude's birthday swaree. We fought
well and commenced relieving our host of as much liquor as humanly possible.
Which reminds me, I'd like to give a shout out to the bikini girl for mixing
me up some pretty tasty goodies. THANK YOU BIKINI GIRL! Our next
mission is going to be a war zone oriented scavenger hunt out in the country.
This is a woods war environment, however it is not restricted to fighters.
During this adventure you can bring a friend. I plan on taking my kid
through it even.
CONTACT INFORMATION
If any of this interests you please drop us an email
at don@astromonkey.net. There
is also a fight club forum at
www.astromonkey.net where events are announced and discussions are held
concerning fight club.
We fight in Audubon, PA, (about 30 minutes outside of the
Philadelphia area).
Please visit the Gallery to get a better idea of what we
do.
Thanks,
Fight on.
