Summer Coronation 2019 was the sixth anniversary of Calontir Steel becoming an official activity.

To mark the occasion, Master Gavin Kappler organized a birthday celebration demonstration. Each combatant was to fight seven fights (six for the year and one to grow on!) with each other combatant.

The fighting was held at the park Saint Joseph’s Civic Center Park, just two blocks from the Coronation venue. Ample shade and a cool breeze made for a pleasant afternoon of fighting. And, afterward, there was cake!

photos courtesy Johann Steinarsson, video courtesy Mathurin Kerbusso

Detail of fol. 5r from Royal Armouries Ms. I.33, circa 1300. Public domain in the US

This was shared on the Calonlist by HE Duncan Bruce of Logan and further shared on Facebook. It applies to all fighters, but especially to longsword in the Stile community.

This is something we have just begun to work on and, as Guy points out, like HEMA, we are probably not doing an adequate job of it. Especially the point that fencing masks are absolutely not sufficient to protect from concussions, especially the microconcussions that can lead to CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). Adding padding to them actually makes the problem worse.

The second problem is that of perception of risk; that the more safe we perceive something is, the more risk we are willing to accept. This is the nature of human beings and, in our case as in HEMA, leads to excessive blow calibration. The Society has dealt with this by requiring padding to head protection and requiring rigid hand protection for longsword bouts. But, again, this is not sufficient for fencing masks.

He also gives a shout out to SCA rattan fighting for having addressed these issues already.

Definitely worth viewing and discussing.