I'm sure some of you have heard me mention Belegarth before. BMCS is a group similar to the SCA (Society of Creative Anachronism). Basically, it's a full-contact combat sport. You may have even seen us on the news or read about us in the paper.
We make weapons out of closed-cell foam. Don't let the foam part fool you...these things hurt a bit. Ever see blue camp pad before? We cut that up, DAP it to PVC or fiberglass rods and whoop each other. Just keep one thing in mind. This is not LARP. This is a combative sport. It's a great way to exorcise, make new friends, work out stress...Belegarth will cure whatever ails you.
Rules are elementary. Get hit in the arm, lose that arm. You drop whatever's in it and put it behind your back. Get hit in the leg, lose your leg. You go down on one knee. A hit to the torso (chest, back, hip, thigh, buttock, groin, etc) is death. Lose two limbs, death. Hitting in the head with a melee weapon is not allowed. The objective is to kill your opponent before they kill you. There's a huge variety of weapons. Swords, clubs, spears, flails, greatswords, javilins...even rocks! All of them made safely to BMCS standards.
Of course, accidents can, will and do happen. I've been fighting for close to two years and the worst injury I've seen has been a sprained ankle, but sometimes people do get hit in the head and face(which we apologize profusely for and make sure whomever was struck is okay). Don't worry, though, we have insurance just in case something serious happens.
For information about Belegarth rules, events, etc., here's a couple websites for you to visit:
http://belegarth.com/http://www.geddon.org/index.php/Main_PageThe Belegarth Realm in Rockford is called Khador, which you can find at the second link. We have a complete Open-Door Policy. Anyone of any age can come out onto the field and fight. Fighters fifteen and younger are taken aside to fight with their age-group (with various restrictions), while older than that goes out and gets mauled by the other adult fighters. No fee, no weapons required. All you have to do is show up and you can join the fun.
Khador meets every Sunday at Ruben-Aldeen park in Rockford at 1PM. (Usually 2PM, but daylight savings and all made us push practice back.) There isn't much time before cold weather hits us and we move to an indoor facility, so come check it out soon, or else you may end up waiting until spring!
