Recruitment in the SCA

Guten Tag!

There have been some really interesting discussions in the Barony of Aneala and the wider WA SCA community lately about growing the SCA in WA and perhaps moving towards a Principality (where we get a Prince and Princess of our very own!).

Of particular interest has been the discussion of growth, and what it actually means. Having a look through various definitions of the word, I have decided that my favourite is the following:

"A progression from simpler to more complex forms".

What I really like about this definition is that it allows for all kinds of growth. Why does this appeal to me? Because in all of the volunteer groups I have been a part of (yes I'm a committee junkie!), growth has to many people meant one thing and one thing alone - MEMBERSHIP!

And that's definitely a form of growth, no one can deny you've grown when you're bigger right? But I'm interested in the issue of complexity. Do we grow to become more complex by getting bums on seats? Certainly we have to plan more for the influx of new people. It was certainly more complex to cook for 100+ people than for 30ish! But what happens when you can't service all these people? Should you be servicing these people? Is the SCA about helping newcomers? Is that growing the complexity of our game? Certainly I wouldn't be an active participant these days if I hadn't of had lots of help on the way. And this is where the bums on seats mentality fails me. We can't adequately service that many people. Looking after newbies is hard work.

While I may be crucified for saying it, I'll reiterate: NEWCOMERS ARE HARD WORK! That doesn't mean they're not worth it! But what it does mean is that we need to recognise that it's hard work, and not bite off more than we can chew. I didn't join the SCA to be a service provider, I wax lyrical about fighting to newbies because I love to talk about it. I help someone learn the basics so that they can join in the fun. I don't do it to tick off another member on the roster.

And, while it sounds really harsh and uncaring, when I'm looking after a newbie, I'm sacrificing time I could be doing something else. But when I'm helping an impassioned and active newbie, it's greatly rewarding and probably gets me to learn about all kinds of new things as I help them through their journey. Now there are some people who will argue that I'm saying that we should ignore newbies and I'm not. In fact I'm saying quite the opposite. What I'm suggesting is that we invest lots of time in newbies, but only take on what we can reasonably accommodate and give each newbie the best possible chance of becoming a "lifer" and contributing to our game. In essence, I would rather spend all my effort helping out one passionate newcomer than try and hold the interest of 30 sorta-kinda-maybe interested types (quality over quantity and all that...).

This way newcomers can find their feet in the SCA (which we all know is not the easiest of processes) and contribute to that growth in complexity that we are all looking for. We all want our game to improve, we all want to see more fighting, more arts and sciences, more of everything. But I don't think we get that from a purely numbers based membership drive.

I guess my major concern is that we all seem to forget that the SCA is a group of people who have similar interests, not an organisation tasked with hunting out those who might be willing to join us and doing anything we can to keep them. As my lady Cinara so eloquently put it, "we're not a service organisation". We help newcomers because they enrich our game, not so we can make our membership statistics look good.

And yes, this is just my personal opinion, but that is the conceit I'm allowed through operation of a blog. Have a different opinion? Let me know in the comments. I'm actually really interested in this, because I dearly want to see the SCA in WA grow to be more complex, rich and exciting for all.

Thus endeth the rant,

Bechtold (the mildly opinionated)

Teaching the art of combat

Guten Tag!

So recently my attempts at getting back into the combat scene have been somewhat derailed by a flood of new fighters who want to learn how to hit people with bits of furniture cane for fun and profit.

As a relatively long term newbie to the fighting arts I seem to have become an impromptu teacher for these fighters, which is interesting considering my extremely limited participation in actual armoured combat to date and my long term injuries. It got me thinking, why do these fighters seek me out for training instead of the more experienced fighters? I've come up with a few reasons below, but what do you think? Am I a fraud for teaching them? Should I send them on to more experienced teachers? Should I just suit up in my armour and ignore the newbies? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Why people might be seeking me out for training

1. They're intimidated by the long term fighters - I can definitely see this, since I'm still intimidated by them! These fighters seem to prefer the pain-based reinforcement strategy for training where they keep whacking you until you wise up and start blocking them. Effective, but when you have no idea what you're doing, getting whacked continuously is no ones idea of fun.
2. I can't help but talk about fighting - GUILTY! Being an old hat at martial arts in general and an avid fan of armoured combat, weapons and armour of the medieval period, I don't really shut up and have an opinion on anything. So if a newbie asks me a fighting question, three hours disappear while I wax lyrical on every subject vaguely related, show every shot and block I can think of and reminisce about the few fights I've had.
3. I'm actually a good teacher - Not sure about this one, I'm certainly an opinionated teacher. With my background in Speech Pathology I can certainly talk people's ears off but I don't know that I actually teach them anything practical...
4. I'm procrastinating to avoid getting back into armour - Yeah probably... I'm still not confident that I won't break like a dried out twig when I get back into it and the newbies need help and I wouldn't be very nice if I abandoned them... insert increasingly implausible excuses here!
5. I'm just unbelievably good looking and charismatic and people can't help but be drawn to me - You keep dreaming there Bechtold...

So, what do you think is the reality of the situation? Advice needed, loyal followers (follower? Can you say followers if you read your own post and force your significant other to do so as well?)

Bechtold (the horribly unqualified teacher of heavy combat)

Award of Arms

On the weekend I had the honour of receiving an Award of Arms along with my lovely fiance Cinara. From now on I shall be known as Herr Bechtold Vollarc. Huzzah! While I've heard the theory that by the time you receive an Award of Arms you should be so indoctrinated in the SCA that you need no awards, I wanted to post a couple of awesome things about being armigerous in the SCA.

1. Explicit acknowledgement of belonging - I guess the best thing about being given an award of arms is the knowledge that at least someone in the region believes that I am making a significant contribution to the barony and that I'm likely to hang around for a while. It's bizarre but receiving that award has done so much to dispelling any feeling of being an outsider in the group.
2. Right to bear arms - Okay so I could have previously born my heraldic device with impunity but it is so much cooler to have the right to display your "coat of arms". I've wanted a coat of arms since I was about 7 when I saw the Disney Robin Hood movie!
3. The Title - Ok so I'm vain but being called Herr Bechtold is just awesome. Now I just hope that people realise that the word "herr" has nothing to do with Nazi's.
4. Being called up in court - Yep, I'm really vain but there's nothing like being acknowledged in front of the group for your contributions. I've also realised that you can tell a lot about what people think of you by the number of spontaneous Huzzah's generated from the crowd as you are acknowledged by the B&B.
5. Presence in the Lochac Order of Precedence - I've got a Kingdom award! Now I feel like I actually exist in greater Lochac. So I might be X thousandth in the order of precedence but I'm there damn it :)

And so ends my entirely self-indulgent post on my award. Yay me. Aren't blogs great?

Bechtold (who REALLY can't call himself a newbie to the SCA anymore).

Newcomers

Ah being a newbie in the SCA. That wonderful feeling of terror coupled with an intense desire to join the people beating each other over the head with whacky sticks...

There's been a recent flurry of discussion in Aneala about newcomers and whether the SCA is encouraging and supportive of them. While debate has been focused on some particular individuals and their experiences, I thought that as someone who has recently emerged from newbie status (at least in my own mind!), that I would offer some advice to newcomers. So without further adieu, here is my undoubtedly biased, decidedly unscientific advice for newcomers to the SCA:

Bechtold's Rules for Newcomer's to the SCA (beta*)

1. SCAdians are, as a general rule, SHY - Your average SCAdian is not the most extroverted person in the world. Lots of SCAdians are the grown up versions of the kid who was picked on in school for being a nerd (that was me!). Remember this when you're at an SCA event and don't feel bad if someone doesn't come and talk to you. They're probably just as afraid of talking to you as you are of talking to them.
2. SCAdians are, as a general rule, OBSESSIVE - Your average SCAdian has a few medieval topics for which they could write a thesis on. Some of the amateur recreations produced by SCA members rival those produced by professionals and I'd argue some of the research conducted by SCAdians is more thorough than that produced in academic circles. This means that if you see someone doing something cool, if you ask them about it they won't be able to help themselves and will talk to you for hours! The heavy combatants in the SCA may disagree with the research obsession but ask any of them about their opinions on fighting and be sure to have a comfy chair to sit on, you'll be there a while!
3. The SCA is just as political as anywhere else, no more, no less - Don't come into the SCA thinking you can avoid politics completely. You can't. It's human nature to scheme, and play politics at every opportunity. Don't think you can avoid it, just try not to take it so seriously.
4. No-one knows what you are thinking - One of the big mistakes newbies make is to think that people know what they are thinking. For example, newbies will complain that people saw them standing around and didn't come and talk to them. For all everyone knows you might like to be alone for a while. Many SCAdians need a break from people every so often so if you're standing around by yourself people will probably assume you're happy with the situation. I fell into this trap a lot (still do!) so if you're feeling lonely, just go up to people otherwise they won't know. Can't find anyone to talk to? Go to the Baronial pavilion. The Baron and Baroness are typically stuck in their pavilion for much of the day and would probably welcome the company.
5. The SCA Award System Sucks!!! - Probably just sour grapes here but the SCA award system is slow, unscientific, often unfair and not particularly transparent. For example, some of the people who received Award of Arms before me had joined the SCA at a tournament I was simultaneously autocrating and heralding. Try to judge your success at integrating into the SCA in terms of the reception others give you rather than the awards you receive. It was a big moment for me to realise that people were sad when I didn't go to an event and that feeling of being valued was far better than a pretty scroll.

Well there's lots more I can think of but this post is already in danger of becoming a patented Bechtold "monster post" so in conclusion I'll just wish newcomers the best of luck. The SCA is awesome but I can sympathise with those who feel that its the world's largest clique. To some extent it kind of is, but stick with it and soon you'll be a valued member of the coolest clique around.

Bechtold (the not so newbie anymore)

*I use beta here in the sense that Google does with GMail in that this is actually a final release version but if anyone criticises it I can just say "but it's only a beta!". Nice work Google!