Say you’re the type of person that enjoys sports, you know some physical engagement or competition.
You look at soccer and baseball and although they’re competitive there’s no actual contact in the competition. You try football next and still, that’s not quite enough, so you have hockey a try, and though it’s almost what you want and full contact competition you can’t just wail on somebody with a hockey stick.
If this sounds like you then maybe you should look at the sport of armored combat.
If you’re not quite sure what this all means, here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia on the subject:
...armored heavy combat, is a combat sport developed by the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) in which participants in protective body armor compete in mock combat, individual tournaments inspired by forms of historical combat, and tournament combat practiced in medieval Europe. Groups also compete, under supervision, in group battles that may approximate historically real combat, using SCA-approved safe weapons. Combats are performed under the watch of marshals to maintain safety.[2] It is variously considered a combat sport, contact sport, or a form of martial art.
The slang term “heavy” is used to distinguish this from “light” combat, now almost exclusively referred to as rapier combat.
Participants use armor and weapons specified by SCA standards and rules. Weapons are made from rattan rather than steel for added safety.[3][4] All major vital points of the body must be covered by armor. The fighting is a full-speed, near full-force,[4] full-contact competition between two or more combatants, designed to resemble medieval combat dueling or melees of up to 2000 participants.[2][3]
This sport began a couple of decades ago and of all places, in Eastern Europe. Since its beginning, it has spread worldwide and even in the United States. And of course, it’s in the United States you know somewhere Texas was going to be involved with this.
In March 2024 during Comic Conroe from March 8th to 10th, the Texas Armored Combat group also known as TACO, put on several matches for visitors to observe. those had a panel where they answered questions, had their weapons and armor out for display for the General Public, and interacted with the visitors at the show. they explained the rules, how the tournaments worked, and why they got involved in this type of sport rather than traditional baseball, football, or basketball.
Just like any other sport, there’s plenty of training involved to be physically able to participate in the matches these people are involved with, also there are safety rules and regulations for these matches similar to what you might find in boxing or karate tournaments.
This is the first hobby where I can hit someone that’ll not get mad at me they just hit back and with the swords in them we use and the weapons we use something that gets broken we can reforge it or try to repair it no one’s going to be like why did you break my stuff; like the people it is actually a very forgiving sport. Therapeutic in a sense
-Devan Eads
Texas Armored Combat Member
And just like any other competitive sport trophies, prestige, and the right to claim victory as loudly as they can for the love of armored combat.
To learn about this group, click here to check their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TexasArmoredCombat/
To find out more about this sport in general click here, https://armoredcombatsports.com/knight-finder/ or here: https://www.acwknights.com/locator