Info Favorites Register Log in
myArmoury.com Discussion Forums

Forum index Memberlist Usergroups Spotlight Topics Search
Forum Index > Off-topic Talk > HEMA, in the Olympics? Reply to topic
This is a standard topic Go to page Previous  1, 2 
Author Message
Lafayette C Curtis




Location: Indonesia
Joined: 29 Nov 2006
Reading list: 7 books

Posts: 2,698

PostPosted: Mon 18 Apr, 2016 5:25 am    Post subject: Re: Olympic HEMA Rules         Reply with quote

Jordan Pohl wrote:
I feel that that HEMA could translate into an Olympic Sport quite easily without such a problem by implementing three simple rules.


It sounds simple in theory, but the reality is much messier. Let's just go over your three points.


Quote:
1) Weapons and to some extent armor must be historically accurate for the time period of the style used. This prevents such things as rapier turning into a foil and also.


But where do we draw the line? If we want to be strictly historical, unarmoured longsword, Dussack, and staff competitions must be done with no armour at all and we must accept the high risk of injury as an inevitable part of training. If we want to use armour to be able to fight safely, then we'd end up only being able to do Kampffechten/Harnischfechten and even then it's not going to be safe because the relevant techniques are specifically designed to hit where the armour isn't.


Quote:
2) The style must meet historical standards of the weapon used. This prevents the use such exaggerated lunges and vaults since they have no historical precedent.

3) There are no restrictions on shots or strikes since after all there are no rules in war. (albeit improper protection may require restrictions for a match.)


Ironically, these two points are impossible to reconcile with each other. If we place no restrictions on attacks and target areas, ahistorical techniques will creep in. If we restrict the set of moves to historical techniques, well, then we have to declare certain attacks invalid right from the get-go. Not to mention that all historical competition rulesets that we know of impose one kind or restriction or another; medieval wrestling matches were only played to the throw without having to knock out or submit the opponent on the ground, the German Fechtschule prohibited thrusting, most sabre system didn't count hits below the belt, and so on.

No kind of sparring or competitive ruleset can perfectly simulate lethal combat with sharp weapons all by itself. And if we take HEMA to the Olympics -- which means worldwide standardisation -- then everyone would be forced to learn to optimise their fighting style to exploit the rules rather than treating the competition merely as an imperfect (though useful) simulation and just one part of many in a holistic training regime.

Let's not even go into the issue of televisability. Modern combat sports have struggled with this -- many rules about the right-of-way in Olympic foil and sabre fencing today exist not to impose a martially sound mindset but rather to make the matches look more exciting on television. Similarly, MMA is not a truly no-holds-barred competition -- many things like gouging and biting are prohibited outright, and there are also certain rules to discourage techniques that are martially sound in the competitive context but make the matches look less exciting on the screen (such as prolonged groundfighting). Now, A martially sound HEMA bout between two highly skilled practitioners -- whether in wrestling, swordsmanship, poleaxe, or whatever -- would look boring on the telly because both people would be concerned with their defence and wouldn't attack if they couldn't do so without minimising the risk of being struck back. But that means potential sponsors wouldn't like it, and would push for changes that make the bouts look more spectacular even at the cost of martial integrity -- having competitors to fight to the knockout, for example, which in turn would encourage them to treat swords as bludgeons rather than sharp implements.
View user's profile Send private message


Display posts from previous:   
Forum Index > Off-topic Talk > HEMA, in the Olympics?
Page 2 of 2 Reply to topic
Go to page Previous  1, 2 All times are GMT - 8 Hours

View previous topic :: View next topic
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum






All contents © Copyright 2003-2024 myArmoury.com — All rights reserved
Discussion forums powered by phpBB © The phpBB Group
Switch to the Basic Low-bandwidth Version of the forum