Safety Concerns

[Jaron Bernstein]

Your helmet and bucklers have taken more abuse than equipment has a right to with our study group and they have held up very well.

Jaron

[Cooper Braun]

I bought riot gear leg protectors for $30 online. They work great--just enough sting gets through to make the point that I was hit, but nothing lasting. Plus, the knee is fully protected, since that's the part that can actually get damaged.

Hey Jason, where did you get your riot gear? I have a bad right knee that has unfortunately taken a few of the afore mentioned "tip-across-the knee" hits, and I am looking for something with full knee protection.

[Sal Bertucci]

I did a quick search on ebay and found a pair, if you're interested.

[Jason Taylor]

I bought riot gear leg protectors for $30 online. They work great--just enough sting gets through to make the point that I was hit, but nothing lasting. Plus, the knee is fully protected, since that's the part that can actually get damaged.

Hey Jason, where did you get your riot gear? I have a bad right knee that has unfortunately taken a few of the afore mentioned "tip-across-the knee" hits, and I am looking for something with full knee protection.

This is the pair I got: http://www.gearzoneproducts.com/index.a ... rodID=1722

Sorry--I thought they were $30; maybe the price went up. Still, it's rock-solid knee protection. Plus, the knee cop is textured so that you can kneel on concrete or hardwood or whatever and not slide.

They've also got some other cool pieces of riot protection, but I can't really afford anything more right now. I was looking at a pair of forearm guards, like what Stacy talks about, just to reduce the impact enough to avoid any low-grade injuries.

[Stacy Clifford]

I've just been using football forearm pads that you can get at any sporting goods store, though I'll be trying out a pair of thick leather bracers to see how they do also.

[Jonathan Newhall]

Please don't start sparring with wood. Wood can kill, it's not a joke. A simulator like the ones suggested on the ARMA website isn't that expensive and it's very much worth your life and limb.

Same dangers are involved, though. Hitting somebody hard enough with anything can cause injury or even death, without at least a modicum of control (which I am assuming we will have by the time we start at anything above half speed :p) all the safety equipment in the world is useless, eh?

As people have already pointed out control is essential. Something I would like to point out that you may not know but is really important: if you want to do contact sparring with a simulator and hit your opponent with speed don't try to cut through your opponent i .e. don't maintain a firm grip as though you were cutting a target. You should relax your grip at impact. It will still sting but it will greatly reduce the chance of any real injury.

Thanks for that tip, by the way. I had figured there was something like it, as using the same cutting motion would obviously hurt, even with padded foam, much less wood or metal.

Thanks for all the recommendations, guys. The plan is to start with slower normal sparring, then work our way in steps towards normal speed free-sparring, focusing on control while we get there.

[carlo arellano]

Currently I use a gambeson with a fencing mask, hockey throat protection, cutter lineman's gloves and escrima forearm protectors for use against a steel blunt with my regular partner but i used it as well with a wooden waster whenever I get the chance to play and learn with the Orange county guys. My opponents did not have gorgets at the time so I thrust slightly off center and did not aim for the throat. There is no substitute for control.

[Mike Cartier]

Contril is something Meyer gives us tools to gain skill in.
He has cutting types of full and half and opposition to help get pinpoint skill in moving and stopping your blade. he also tells us that Zucken is the beginning of all deceptions.

a full cut goes thru the target and a half cut stops the cut on the target, opposition is a mix of half and full

[Jonathan Newhall]

I'm having a hard time finding any way to procure a suitable Gambeson - can you guys recommend where to get one?

[Sal Bertucci]

one of my future fun prodjects is to make one.

[Jonathan Newhall]

Hah, well, unless I can have yours, I need a place to buy one

[Stacy Clifford]

Do a search for "gambeson" here on the forum, there are numerous threads about them with links to makers.

[Sal Bertucci]

Hah, well, unless I can have yours, I need a place to buy one

You could buy mine for the right amount of money...