Low-profile spears, the latest trend in foam tech, are becoming more and more popular. The new pear type is proving very effective, and thus gaining popularity very quickly. The week long summer Belegarth event Chaos Wars saw a large amount of these new spears on the field this year.
As with any new effective weapon there was a lot of "complaining" from fighters on the field, many comments were along the lines of: because the head is so small compared to a traditional poof football head you don't see them coming, they just appear out of no where! And they hurt a bit to. The murmurs of whether they "hit to hard" could easily be chocked down to players no being used to the new technology. After all, most new techs that come along get similar questions at first, but nothing come of it and in a few years it is an acceptable part of the sport that when it has been adjusted to, is no longer as lopsided an advantage as once thought.
 |
| Low profile spear construction brake down from http://geddon.org/ |
Now the question that is bingeing to be asked around the country and from sport to spot is not only are these spears safe? But, how do we make sure they are safe? Are new rules necessary to govern the new tech? Or is this a unfortunately poorly timed case of "sometimes stuff happens and people get hurt" for a innocent new technology?
I would guess that the weapon was thrust harder on the field than it was by the weapon checkers. Either the checkers need to up their hit-testing or the fighter needs to dial his aggression down. We only need to deliver enough impact to drive a sharp bit of metal into flesh(that is what our boffer weapons simulate after all), not enough to cause injury with a padded blunt object.
ReplyDeleteDude, absolutely not. We hit as hard as we can, most of the time. Or, if you don't large sections of the game throughout the midwest do.
ReplyDeleteYour first point, about weapons being checked at the highest levels of force, is absolutely spot on. We all know who the biggest, hardest-hitting fighters are on a field. Those are the guys running check, if we want to keep the sport safe. Handing weapons to some 100lb teenager to hit-test isn't going to do much if the guy picking them up from the pass pile is three times his size with excellent body mechanics.
Lo-pro spears are perfectly safe, if they're made by experienced smiths and checked properly. If it's your first weapon, make something simpler with more room for error for a while. I know I don't consider myself good enough to make one of these, but I've used 'em all over the place on high-profile field. I used one in the Olympics spear tournament, for example. But I sure as hell borrowed one from somebody who knew how to make 'em right.