New French Fencing Federation lightsaber sport! Rules analysis

[amanal]

I will see if I find some materials about that ....

Thank you.

[Master Seblaise]

Thank you.

This unfortunately in French but there is a vid ... maybe it can be interesting to you

http://www.escrime-ffe.fr/academie-de-sabre-laser/anthony-lococo-s-impose-a-beaumont-sur-oise

PS: Lightsaber was wrongly translated by "Sabre Laser" (LaserSaber) in 1977 ...

[amanal]

This unfortunately in French but there is a vid ... maybe it can be interesting to you

Something else that I didn't quite put together until I saw that video is just how much shorter the play field is. 

[amanal]

Last night I took my two sabers into the club. Had at least one coach interested in forming a lesson plan and the two students he was with were both interested.

I have also had at least one colleague at work show some interest.

So the FFE are making an impact here.

While the lightsabers I purchased may "only" have been Apprentive V4 Stunt Models compared to a FIE Electric Foil they are quite inexpensive. The jury is of course out on blade replacements.

[AstraVlad]

Well, then its no longer a "first hit" type of rule set. The point is many rule sets are first touch with no after-blows etc.

Yes, it is so. And that is exactly what makes them too abstract. We can take Kendo as an example: one of the fighters hits another a couple of milliseconds before he is also hit and gets his Ippon. That's why Kendo fighters are extremely fast (I really envy their speed every time I see Kendo sparring) but in a real fight, they would be both dead.

As you can see, I do not advocate this kind of rules. They are not what makes a fight interesting or realistic. Luckily we have a lot of other rulesets to take inspiration from.

Following a rule of priority does help one start to get out of their own head and paying attention more to the opponent. You are now looking for specific things on which to capitalize. 

I do not see it this way. I've never been an Olympic fencer but we have a club in our town and I visited them to see what we can learn. I have to admit, they are extremely impressive in their technique and have a great methodological advantage over HEMA but as with Kendo, their attacks are suicidal. I could not stop thinking that if those guys were to fight with sharp swords they would be instantly dead.

To make this post a bit more balanced I can say that "right of the way" is not a modern invention. It was used as early as in the Early Renaissance period in the first unarmoured fencing tournaments we have a data of. The rules of that tournaments were as abstract as of the modern foil fencing if not more. For example, a winner of the previous match had a huge advantage (written into the rules) in the following fights. So, I can imagine that this discussion is as old as the fencing itself .


"Judges, help! He violates the "right of the way" rule!"

[Lord Neomorph]

Hi All,

So we decided to give this a go at Sydney Sabre Centre a few weeks ago and recorded a couple of bouts and our resident referee put a compilation explaining the rules as we understood them at the time, we originally thought was that only the tip of the blade had to go behind the spine not the whole hand. The guys at Academie de Sabre Laser have since corrected us regarding this. Please let me know what you think.

https://youtu.be/0Brh02tyFC8

Any feedback would be appreciated

[amanal]

Slowly working my way through figuring this all out, the TPLA Shii-Cho videos and a few penny drops here and there have been most educational.

With the French rules in mind how would I execute a Beat Attack or a feint?

The feint could be like Darth Mauls Jink, but it also seems that a swift "orbit" or flourish with your wrist would allow the sword to avoid the parry and then attack a new line.

As for the beat I have no clue where to start because if you arm the attack and beat it is most likely to look like a parry rather than a beat.

[Cang Snow]

Heyo friends. Just wanted to share with you my lastest video not discussing the rules off FFE lightsaber but the possible effects on public health and traditional fencing. Enjoy!

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[Darzik]

Hello everyone.... Darth Telos here (Anthony Iglesias) from The Gathering of Sabers and instructor with TPLA. When these rules first came out of course I had reservations but as I read more I saw exactly the "why" of it all. As a martial artist for 40 years now... 38 of them in weaponry... and a professional martial arts instructor since the 90's I don't see this as an issue. It's just another rule set among many. Whether you want to take the point of view that this diminishes the "martial" part of martial arts that's up to you. But what I have learned is to not sweat it and just do what makes you happy. If this sounds like something exciting to you then you should by all means pursue it. But if you take issue with it then walk on. I think Cang Snow did a very good job with his original video on these new rules in comparison to other sports. And we must keep that in mind..... this is sport. Is boxing any less a sport then MMA? Of course not. So pick the sport you like and go with it, have a great time... and HAPPY SABERING! 

[janx]

Thanks for all the analysis of the rules.  I'd prefer more unification (at least a smaller list of rule-sets) so more people are playing in the same style.

As a fellow martial-artist (black belt in Ish In Ryu), I appreciate wanting the saber fighting to be real/practical value.

However, as a gamer and one who's designed LARP rules, I can tell you that in all processes, games included, you get what you measure.  By making rules and scoring systems, you will get non-realistic behaviors to optimize within that system, not real life.

So I'm of less concern that light saber fighting style and rules aren't real enough for if we had real laser swords.  Because we don't have laser swords.  I'm happy if this sport takes off enough to keep some form of sword fighting alive as a sport and entertainment for more people.  People who want real skills in killing people with swords can branch out and study that.

[chalion]

Thank you for the break down and explanation of the rules for this, Cang Snow. Point to you. Both videos are well thought out and are very helpful.

I would very much like to see this become an internationally accepted sport, but there will probably be a lot of growing pains and rule changes/re-interpretation before that could happen.

[Master Seblaise]

I am watching the finals of the Women's Saber and Men's Foil team of the world championships in Budapest ... and they spoke a lot about lightsaber and the possibility to have lightsaber for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris ...