A Youth Combat Pell

Pells are poles used as a target for sword practice. They’ve been used for at least two thousand years, as documented in this article on the ARMA site.

Common pell forms used in SCA adult armored combat practice are generally based on a 4×4 post wrapped in rope, with the base sunk in a 5 gallon bucket of concrete encircled by an old tire, or set into a post bracket attached to a wooden base.

Unfortunately, these pells are hard to transport in a crowded car, and the rough edges of the wood tend to shred the padded weapons used in youth combat.

I constructed a cheap, portable break-down pell appropriate for youth combat using an H-frame base made of PVC pipe. There are a few H-frame pell designs online; this one at ARMA is pretty similar to the one I describe below.

Continue reading “A Youth Combat Pell”

Girl Scout Jamboree

On June 8, we drove up to the Shire of Glen Linn to demonstrate Society youth combat at a medieval-themed Girl Scout Jamboree.

Hundreds of girl scouts came by during the day, first watching a demonstration of adult armored combat, than of youth combat, and finally taking turns doing a bit of sword practice against a target pell.

The kids seemed to enjoy it, especially the pell practice — after the event I found that there were a dozen of our foam-padded weapons that needed repair because the girls had been so wild with them that they had torn the tape or split the foam!

Youth Marshal’s Staff

Marshals in the SCA use black-and-yellow staffs when supervising combat activities. The staff allows people to recognize the marshal, and may be used to   signal the beginning of the fight, to call attention to the edge of the field, or to keep fighters from crashing into spectators.

You can make your own youth-marshal staff with a length of PVC/PEX and some black and yellow duct tape. Continue reading “Youth Marshal’s Staff”

Pennsic XLVII

It was another great year of youth combat at Pennsic, with even more kids participating than last year. For more than a week straight, nearly every day had three sessions of youth combat in the morning, the afternoon, and the evening.

The Known World Baronial Youth Champions tourney was a particular highlight, with dozens of champions of youth combat representing baronies from numerous kingdoms.

And as always, the week culminated in the massive castle battle with all three age divisions fighting scenarios at the gate, sally port, and tower.