#singlestick

Longsword is everyone’s sweetheart.  It brings in the most competitors, it has the best prizes, hogs the spotlight, and is likely the raison d'etre of anyone beginning HEMA.

And to judge a longsword competition, it’s actually not that bad.  There’s a huge psychological barrier because it’s scary longsword.  Everyone put on their serious faces before the day began.  But really, the level of familiarity with longsword by the competitors and judges makes this actually rather smooth to judge, honestly. 

Icebreaker 2018 was my second year judging, and first year judging longsword.  The biggest challenges seem to be getting experienced people to judge.

The biggest issue with judging longsword is actually safety.  Safety for the judges.  I stayed well behind my judge’s stick.  I put my footwork practice to good use.  My biggest fear was getting struck in the head or hands with a stray zwerchaus or mezzani.  That’s lights out and hello hospital.

Mixed Steel weapons.  It’s quite different.  Generally everything is permitted except shields over the size of a buckler, longswords, polearms, and montantes (goes without saying).  People usually take this just about as seriously as longsword, but try to fence cleanly.  I competed in this category last year, and I’ve never judged it at Icebreaker.  I imagine that it’s still a challenge with the somewhat odd combinations of weapons (e.g., rapier/dagger vs messer, sabre vs sword/buckler)

Singlestick.  This is the most vastly underestimated event to judge.  In the MidWest USA, it seems most people do longsword and singlestick (or sabre) as their primary studies.  There are skilled and top ranked competitors in Minnesota and Wisconsin, as listed on HEMA Ratings.  Singlestick is their element, arguably more than longsword.  Worse yet, the sound of a hickory or rattan stick hitting a leather or plastic bell can sound just like it hitting a piece of protective equipment.  You can’t rely on sound like in longsword or mixed steel as much.  I’ve judged it twice now, and I feel like judging singlestick is one of the biggest technical challenges of a judge’s skill.

However, thankfully, singlestick isn’t difficult to judge because the fencers are messy, it’s just fast and complex.  It takes a lot of mental energy to stay focused for so long.

Mixed Synthetics.  Almost anything.  If your weapon or shield was made from a reputable manufacturer (e.g., Red Dragon, Purpleheart, Blackfencer, etc.) and is not a polearm or montante, it’s likely allowed.  Myself and others earnestly consider this the “fuck around” event.  This is a great place for someone who wants to compete, but is new to it.  It’s great for someone who wants to try something unorthodox (e.g. hand axe and shield, sickle sword, dagger only).

But it’s the worst to judge.  If singlestick tests your skill as a judge, the mixed synthetic tests the limits of your patience.  First, you’ve got those people using rotellas and “heater” shields.  They block your view, they usually drag matches on and on.  Some people try to use them how the sources say and do so quite intelligently (yay!).  Some people just pick them up and more or less improvise (boo!).  Second, super odd combinations.  Have you ever judged a match with a sickle sword vs a scimitar and rotella?  I didn’t, thank god.  A hooked sword reaching over a shield that you may or may not have vision of?  Even with a self-call promoting ruleset, it’s a challenge.  Third, the combination of shields and the less-seriousness of it seems to encourage some fencers to throw caution to the wind.  I wouldn’t say it ruins fencers, but for some fencers it brings out the worst in them.  For a couple matches, I had to remind fencer/s to proverbially chill the fuck out.

But the good of mixed synthetic.  The real good fencers use this opportunity to bring nothing but a dagger into the ring.  I believe it was started by Lars Johannes a while ago, and it caught on.  Now there’s a metaphorical gang of fencers purposefully entering mixed synthetic matches with daggers (rondel or parrying dagger).  At Icebreaker 2018, one of them won 3rd place in mixed synthetic with just a parrying dagger.  Cameron Metcalf, I believe.

Overall, judging isn’t scary.  Do more of it.

But a parting story.  Above, you see a group of four Canadians from ... Manitoba I believe ... who came down to Icebreaker.  They all fenced in multiple events, but generally didn’t go all out.  Except for mixed steel.  They used their skill with the rapier to earn all the medals for mixed steel.  Everyone, including myself, admired them and was vicariously proud of their fencing skill.  Longsword isn’t everything, and certainly shouldn’t be.