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Lightsaber Dueling Registered as Official Sport in France (theguardian.com)
It's now easier than ever in France to act out Star Wars fantasies. The country's fencing federation has officially recognized lightsaber dueling as a competitive sport, granting the weapon from George Lucas's space saga the same status as the foil, epee and sabre, the traditional blades used at the Olympics. From a report: Of course, the LED-lit, rigid polycarbonate replicas can't slice an opponent in half. But they look and sound remarkably like the blades that Yoda and other characters wield in the blockbuster movies. The physicality of lightsaber combat is part of the reason why the French Fencing Federation is now equipping fencing clubs with lightsabers and training would-be lightsaber instructors. Like virtuous Jedi knights, the federation sees itself as combatting a Dark Side: the sedentary habits of 21st-century life.
"With young people today, it's a real public health issue. They don't do any sport and only exercise with their thumbs," says Serge Aubailly, the federation's secretary general. "That is why we are trying to create a bond between our discipline and modern technologies, so participating in a sport feels natural." In the past, Zorro, Robin Hood and The Three Musketeers helped lure new practitioners to fencing. Now, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader are joining them. "Cape-and-sword movies have always had a big impact on our federation and its growth," Aubailly says. "Lightsaber films have the same impact. Young people want to give it a try."
"With young people today, it's a real public health issue. They don't do any sport and only exercise with their thumbs," says Serge Aubailly, the federation's secretary general. "That is why we are trying to create a bond between our discipline and modern technologies, so participating in a sport feels natural." In the past, Zorro, Robin Hood and The Three Musketeers helped lure new practitioners to fencing. Now, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader are joining them. "Cape-and-sword movies have always had a big impact on our federation and its growth," Aubailly says. "Lightsaber films have the same impact. Young people want to give it a try."
...what percentage of French people are happy, or even care, about this. Or is this just another of the strange things that get to happen in today's world?
Who knows. But here's a list of other odd sports that exist.
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
Lawsuit incoming in 3....2....1.....
The longer I live, the more I understand why nerds get bullied.
You are welcome on my lawn.
We don't go around calling your cities "Nouveau York" or "Laveington/Laverton".
It's spelled "épée" not "epee".
#DeleteFacebook
Now we just need to invent light sabers.
The longer I live, the more I understand why nerds get bullied.
Going to slow down substantially when the bullies find themselves beaten with glowing, sound emitting staffs.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What's the penalty for participating in an unregistered sport?
In the year 2946 when real light sabers are created, and someone discovers this old law from 2019 that had long been forgotten about. It'll of course be excellent for the robot-arm and robot-hand industry, which will reap massive profits.
can finally be a champion jock and lose his virginity,
Star Wars lightsaber fighting isn't the real thing. Spaceballs lightsaber fighting is the real thing.
Seriously .. it looks like Kendo .. https://youtu.be/n7XfOA7Ly6U
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If it gets more people interested in these "combat" sports, why not? Those that really enjoy the sport might eventually switch to one of the more traditional weapons. This could bring a big boost to the national program for France.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Better than savagely beating each other with sticks they found outside, like when I was a kid.
The Japanese sport of Kendo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... using a bamboo sword called a shinai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... is very close to lightsaber fighting.
It's really no weirder than a sport based on obsolete weaponry (used in a way that that nobody gets hurt with).
In today's world, light sabers are not especially more fictional that swords, as far as everyday life goes.
It seems like fun unless you get nailed in the wrong place. Thou I wonder if plastic stick dueling (which is more accurate) would take the fun out of it.
Ugh. I'm a rated epee fencer who's been competing since, like, 1986. The great thing about fencing is that it is full-on combat. The weapon bends to take up the force of your attack, so you can legitimately try to put it right through your opponent's rib cage ( or wrist, as the case may be).
This seems like a pale imitation of real fencing. I suppose it's cute, but it ain't close to the real thing. Sweat, steel, and Canvas is still my idea of a great night out.
On the other hand, I reckon it's cheaper than Kendo.
Among other things, the duelists tended to freely acknowledge when their opponents scored a hit. It was the honorable thing to do.
Be who you are...and be it in style!
You mean fencing? That's already a thing.
You are NOT deflecting all 9 pellets of 00 Buckshot with a lightsaber!.
I've said this before (and promptly got yelled at in the comments), but I'll say it again:
The problem with Western fencing is that it just isn't much fun to watch. This is true even if you've done some fencing yourself, and can sort-of follow what is going on. In recent years, the Olympic bouts haven't even been televised.
The main issue is that the action is over in about two seconds. The other issue is that you usually can't follow what happened in those two seconds. Quite often it appears that both fencers have scored a hit, and the question of who gets a point comes down to the judge's interpretation of arcane "right-of-way" rules.
This is just wrong. Swordfighting is supposed to be fun to watch! How on earth do you take a swordfight and turn it into something duller than a golf tournament? Western fencing rules, that's how.
It's time they developed some variant forms of fencing. To begin with, get rid of the idea that the action should grind to a halt whenever anyone scores a valid touch-- and get rid of the idea that anything which happens a half-second after the touch "doesn't count". Boxing doesn't work that way. MMA doesn't work that way. Neither does real swordfighting, I would imagine.
While you're at it, why does everything have to take place on a fencing strip, where your only options for movement are "forward" and "back"? What is this, a side-scroller video game?
(Of course, on a serious note, I recognize that traditional Western fencing has its devoted followers, and I'm not suggesting that it should be abandoned. But variant forms can, and should, exist along the traditional forms.)
Still much less popular than the #1 sport in France: White flag waving!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Errol Flynn is rolling over in his grave.