LED Saber Safety

[Darth Nonymous]

It would be nice to meet everyone from the forums and have sparring matches.

And this is the point. With minimum protection of a fencing mask and hockey or other suitable gloves, any of us can get together with any others of us and spar without limitation or fear of injury. That way neither party is limited in their techniques and it never becomes play fighting.

We have tried those gloves with the knuckle protection. They offer little if any protection from hand strikes with the weapon since the primary targets are the fingers and thumb. Not to mention, even with hockey gloves on folks still bruise their Finger tips.

This is an open invitation: Anyone who wants to come practice and spar with us here in Ann Arbor is welcome to do so. Just remember that our rules for sparring protection are as follows: full head and eye protection, heavy padded gloves for hand protection. We have the gear so feel free to contact us and stop on by. But we practice safe and protected. All we do is put the gear on and go.

Protection, like armor, is always a compromise. In this case, the compromise is with dexterity. Many of the techniques we teach cannot be done with heavy gloves, so most of the practicioners wear airsoft gloves or light motorcycle gloves. With midgrade blades it's OK in my opinion, though I wish the thumb were better protected, as you correctly pointed out. Finger tips, on the other hand, due to the way we handle the blade, are not a target. Me, I add volleyball finger protections to the index and middle finger, and I feel I have a good compromise.

I used to believe that too. I will post a video performing forms and techniques wearing full gear. We have not found and limitations in dexterity, limited movements, or range of motion when using this gear. The fencing helmets do NOT obstruct any of your field of vision and provide very good protection. The fact of the matter is, anything you can do in sparring can be done with the gear on.

Regarding the Lacrosse masks which somebody else mentioned, ...

Lacrosse masks may be good for practicing velocities or kai kan, but not for sparring. Fencing masks and other sort of things are easy and relatively inexpensive to find in Europe.

I also know that there are hockey players in Europe and the gear is very similar to Lacrosse. We use the street hockey and lacrosse gloves because they are usually cooler to wear.

Here are some European places for hockey equipment:
http://www.hockeyoffice.com
 http://hockeycorner.de/
http://rexhockey.com/en/
http://www.Greatskate.se/

[Ander]

Thanks for the tips about the shops Nonymous, I am actually considering an hockey helmet for the next tournament; fencing masks are too dark for me to see well, I have already tried them.
As far as gloves are concerned, with the blades we are using (midgrades and school blades, which are even bendier then midgrades), I think we are fine, but I am open to trying new things.
However, I don't believe that fully gearing up is the answer. The answer is teaching the students control (which I am sure you do), not using heavy blades (I can't find any reason to use them), and adopting reasonable protection (possibly a little more than what we do now). I believe we will keep disagreeing on this and I can't actually influence much my school practices (for now), but it's nice we can do this discussion in a respectful manner, which is sorely lacking in other forums.

I have actually been in Ann Arbor, back in 2006 for a Naval Architect conference in the local University. Too bad I didn't know about lightsabers back at the time.

[Master VorNach]

However, I don't believe that fully gearing up is the answer. The answer is teaching the students control (which I am sure you do), not using heavy blades (I can't find any reason to use them), and adopting reasonable protection (possibly a little more than what we do now).

Ander, leaning control is only one level of safety (among the other things that it promotes) in this regard. It's a relevant and important skill to have but it in no way reduces or removes the importance of safety gear in some practice situations and in any sparring setting. This holds true even for mid-grade blades, which are just as capable of delivering accidental damaging impacts to places like the eyes, throat, mouth and even the hands.

There are 2 major reasons to use safety gear. First it allows you to practice at speed, with commitment and power without worrying about breaking your training partner. It permits about as close to actual combat practice as we're going to get without actually fighting.

If you (that is anyone reading this) are engaged in any kind of blade on body related activity and you are not using safety gear then someone is going to get hurt at some point, regardless of how good everyone's control is. The is the 2nd major point: Accidents happen which are beyond anyone's level of skill to prevent. Having even minimal safety gear will reduce the likelihood of some potentially horrific, life altering accidents. 

Even if anyone here is working with a group that is not interested in full speed, non-choreographed saber fights goggles and gloves are important for a minimum layer of protection against accidents. I refer readers back to the news article; a supervised group practicing non-contact stage combat and still there was a dangerous injury that was easily preventable.

I believe we will keep disagreeing on this and I can't actually influence much my school practices (for now), but it's nice we can do this discussion in a respectful manner, which is sorely lacking in other forums.

Agreed. I am continually impressed with how civil and thoughtful not only the conversations are but even the disagreements.
I think if you are inclined you could have a greater influence, in a sublet fashion, simply by showing up in better protective gear. Demonstrate it's ease of use, protective nature and others might be more inclined to consider using it as well.

[Darth Nonymous]

Safety first! I'll post it here as well.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0_KRx1LqzY" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0_KRx1LqzY</a>