Errol Flynn focuses on his other blade skills?How could you start a fencing craze in the u.s.?
That's along the lines of what I was thinking with my post above.Anyone watch extreme fighting or whatever they call it...take the "button" off the point and you might get a rise out of the jaded asshole segment of the population...
How could you start a fencing craze in the u.s.?
Exactly. The trick (unless you want something more future and less alt-hist) is kickstarting HEMA earlier, like I did above.A more HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) type approach combined with a canny entrepreneur or local TV station could make it happen. Professional wrestling back in the 60's was quite different than today, with mostly local stations carrying it. ID'ing participants is no big deal, that's what heraldry was for anyhow. Symbols/numbers on shields or tunics solves it nicely. Fencing isn't popular today because it is so ARTIFICIAL. Historical fencing OTOH was done with actual weapons or drill weapons to approximate them, and done as a martial art, and it isn't nearly as boring or unrealistic.
Per the Leon-Paul website... FIE level (i.e. national and international competition level gear) starter kit is around US$1000. Add another could of hundred for the spare weapons and blades you need for serious competition.Fencing is also frickin' expensive if you want your own kit.
As a baseball amateur you don't need a several hundred dollar bat at all. Ice Hockey is stupidly expensive, no argument there, but schools pay for football pads and helmets. A thousand dollars per athlete is prohibitive for public schools.Sure, that isn't cheap but it's not horribly expensive in comparison to the gear you need for serious level Cricket (a good quality bat set you back several hundered dollar); Baseball (ditto);Murder-On-IceIce Hockey (sticks don't seem too expensive but all the protective gear...);Time Out Brain Damage Hand EggAmerican Football (near to dress up as a small tank... and that's before factoring the cost in lost brain cells) or horse riding
That's a downside in itself. In the most popular sports, soccer, basketball, etc. you can just jump right in with fairly simple instructions. If you need expensive equipment and extensive practice, which I have no idea if it's true or not as a non-fencer, it will be hard to get it to be mass market.There will be a long interval of time from starting to when you actually start swinging at someone
Yeah, that's not starting kit, but rather as close to professional gear as you'll get OTL. A decent starter kit runs ~US$100-150. Varies a bit for HEMA fencing, but in a TL where HEMA's more popular, prices will come down.Per the Leon-Paul website... FIE level (i.e. national and international competition level gear) starter kit is around US$1000. Add another could of hundred for the spare weapons and blades you need for serious competition.
Sure, that isn't cheap but it's not horribly expensive in comparison to the gear you need for serious level Cricket (a good quality bat set you back several hundered dollar); Baseball (ditto);Murder-On-IceIce Hockey (sticks don't seem too expensive but all the protective gear...);Time Out Brain Damage Hand EggAmerican Football (near to dress up as a small tank... and that's before factoring the cost in lost brain cells) or horse riding.