I had the chance to watch one of the students from my gym compete in armored combat recently. This was a day long event in Nashua New Hampshire, the home of a major training center, and was billed as a rookie rumble.
While this is the first event I was able to go to live, I have had the chance to watch some previously. In fact, an old friend of mine started the Connecticut chapter/team several years ago and told me all about the sport. The first thing to note about this day, other then it being all about the rookies, is that it was held outdoors due to the restrictions. Unfortunately it was bright sun and searing heat that made everyone have to work twice as hard.
The event kicked off with inspections of the weapons everyone was going to use. My student showed off his gear on the video you can watch above. Not only do they wear plate armor, but the underlayer is heavily padded. Some even have different kits to change into based on whether they are doing duels or group battles! This padding, though, adds to the heat significantly.
There were quite a few different events throughout the day including sword and shield duels, long swords duels and even polearms. These matches were won through a point based system of scoring. Later in the day the group matches, or melees, consisted of significantly more grappling. If you can take an opponent down they are out of the battle entirely and so that becomes a key way to win.
Safety is take quite seriously, even weapons that have passed inspections previously, failed that day, as my student discovered when he could no longer use his favorite axe. Several times throughout the event some piece of armor would be knocked loose and the matches would be quickly stopped. I witnessed a single injury that appeared to be a knee injury I'm very familiar with from my MMA training but otherwise things proceeded very well. If anything, there probably should have been more heat related issues, but everyone handled things surprisingly well in the sun.
Now, how did my student do? He won his first duel rather lopsidedly. Striking both with his sword and shield and an occasional front kick I've landed on him numerous times. After just this first match he had already sustained quite a bit of heat fatigue and the second match quickly went down hill from there. In the group melees he suffered from a height disadvantage against the many taller folk. He was still able to sneak around and use a speed advantage to find technical openings to trip the larger opponents, but once pinned to the wooden ring he became an easier target.
If you find yourself in an area that has Armored Combat events then you should go witness one live. It's a cool experience that while similar to modern combat sports, is different enough to have it's own vibe. The crowd consisted mainly of friends and family and were all equally as nice as the participants themselves. While there is much controversy about the safety of the sport, it's just like MMA was in it's infancy and should continue to be supported and developed locally where open minded governments allow so that it can grow and develop.
If you were a participant and would like a copy of any of the photos in full size then please contact me on Instagram.
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