So I have a question (yes another one) my young man is going to grow to the 23rd power and he is worried his height will be an unfair advantage to those he might face on the field. He is seriously considering "taking a break" from growth spurt to 18 when he can fight as an adult heavy.

I am looking for the fighters to chime in here, if my boy dose end up being 16 and nearly 6 feet 6 and going is it fair to keep fighting when you have a natural ’unfair’ advantage? He is wanting to do the chivalrous thing here and mom wants to help anyway she can.

Digital Geisha wrote:
So I have a question (yes another one) my young man is going to grow to the 23rd power and he is worried his height will be an unfair advantage to those he might face on the field. He is seriously considering "taking a break" from growth spurt to 18 when he can fight as an adult heavy.

I am looking for the fighters to chime in here, if my boy dose end up being 16 and nearly 6 feet 6 and going is it fair to keep fighting when you have a natural ’unfair’ advantage? He is wanting to do the chivalrous thing here and mom wants to help anyway she can.

Bigger doesn’t always mean better. Unless he continues to practice, the dedication of others will overcome his height and reach. He can be chivalrous and fight, fight to win even, without going out of his way to embarrass his foe. Remember he has to learn to protect more target area than a shorter opponent.

I find being shorter is an advantage (I’m 5’8"). But then I like to fight up close and personal when I fight, but getting there against a taller fighter can be a problem sometimes since their reach can be their advantage. I’ve just learned to be quicker in getting inside their reach.

The bigger a person is the more of them there is for an opponite to hit.

Every advantage has some disadvantage also. Like a pole arm works well at a distance but not so well in close so are long arms, the reach is an advantage at distance but a depriment in close.

Brian

In Atenveldt he can fight heavy at 16.

If he is fighting boffers, he can bow out if the opponent is much smaller for a match, but he should at least keep in practice against people of all sizes.

Adult fighters come in all sizes as well.

If Boffers haven’t examined this issue, perhaps it is time. Size disparity is going to be more of an issue in the teens than after fighting adult for several years due to experience.

At any rate, he is to be commended for considering what would be honorable in this instance.

If he is concerned about height advantage then he should adopt weapon styles that he is less familliar with. If he uses sword & shield, use a smaller shield. Learn glaive/spear. Try new techniques and experiment.

The worst thing he can do is to stop fighting if he is serious about fighting after he turns 18. Even adults must face opponents with wide range of heights. We have a lady fighter in Trimaris who is barely 5’ tall and uses a war shield. What makes it worse is that she crouches too! There just isn’t anything to hit!!! Her favorite opponents are guys over 6 feet tall.

I run youth combat in my barony and we have petite 8 year olds facing 13 year olds that are almost 6 foot tall. I often put on my helm to do some sparing with the kids too so they can see different styles of fighting. As long as everyone uses the same rules to gage their shots its fine.

thank you all for your advice and input!

"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?"-Yoda

speaking as a 6 foot 4 fighter , we have our advantages and disadvantages. I don’t think he should worry about it at all, experienced fighters of smaller size have ways of dealing with us giants such as coming in under our guard. The first time a really good short fighter rings his bell he’ll stop worrieng so much of having an "unfair advantage". Just my two cents.

Wulf

Just put him in a great helm. I learned to hate them this last weekend. Once they start to throw a shot you can’t see where it’s going. I will never wear one again. I was a walking pell the whole day. On the up side I will have a new helm made this week.

I’m 5’3" 117 pounds....I can only jump so high for a head shot, but, the tall ones come down to size once you take out their legs....then you can reach their head.

yup thats about the size of it. (yuk yuk yuk) Did I mention that my teacher was about a head shorter than me? One of the first real lessons about SCA heavy combat that I rapidly took to heart is this. " Never, ever, ever underestimate ANYONE no matter how short, tall, young, old, male or female." underestimating an opponent for any reason is a good way to get stomped into the dirt.

Consider this angle as well: Is it not somewhat unchivalrous to deny your opponents the opportunity to test themselves against you and to begin learning as early as possible the skills they will need to fight taller opponents? I have been fighting less than a year and my practice is attended by a lot of knights, dukes, advanced squires and other people who are WAY better than me. I lose a lot. But I also learn a lot, far more than if I only competed against those who were at my own level. Interestingly, it is only the more novice fighters at practice who ever offer to tone down their game in order to help me practice. While I am sure I don’t always get everyone’s full-out ’A’ game, those with more experience don’t insult me by condescending to play at "my level".

An arse-whoopin at the hands of a knight or other member of the chiv is a valuable lesson, and no the lesson isn’t "don’t fight sir so an so." once the helmets on you get to see first hand how he or she moves, watch their stance watch the form of their shots. If their nice, and most of the chivalry that I’ve met are really helpful to less experienced fighters like myself, they may even talk to you and teach you what they know. It’s like my grandfather always said keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut. The best fighter is’nt the strongest guy or the fastest, he or she is the person most willing to learn as much as they can from every possible angle.

The other lesson I’ve taken from the SCA, other than not underestimating an opponent is this, the fighter who can leave their ego in their armor bag is most likely the fighter who will triumph. Over the years I hope to add many more lessons to these two.

Wulf