Steven Potter
Practicing the art of saber and sword combat.
With a couple of quick steps, Elizabeth Braatz advances on her opponent.
Raising a glowing white sword above her head, she attacks with short swipes, twisting her arms slightly from side to side as she brings her weapon down on the enemy.
Her opponent, Zach Bell, uses his bright, cyan-colored saber to block her strikes — each time a sharp-but-short clash can be heard as the two swords meet — before the fighters quickly step back and reset to their starting position.
Securing her footing, Braatz again goes on the offensive, using her short stature to get in closer to Bell and swing her sword at his upper body. This time, she attacks on the right, and when she’s briefly blocked there, she pivots and strikes again at Bell’s left side. He tries to match her movement but his blade just barely catches hers and Braatz lands a hit.
“Arm!” acknowledges Bell with just a bit of disgust in his voice after being struck.
“Good honor,” replies Braatz, thanking her opponent for admitting he’d lost that round.
From a nearby picnic table at Vilas Park an observer yells “Time!” — a signal to Braatz, Bell and another pair of fighters that their duels have come to an end and they should take a break.
This ragtag crew of a half dozen fighters assembled on a recent Tuesday night in October are members of the small-but-active Madison chapter of The Saber Legion, a global community devoted to practicing and perfecting the art of sword and saber combat.
Dressed in heavy, dark-colored protective gear, the fighters wear a mix of hockey and sparring equipment, including gloves, shoulder and chest pads, and leg coverings. Braatz and Bell also have fencing-style helmets that not only protect their heads but add a bit of intimidation and mask their facial expressions.
Refueling on apple cider and chocolate chip cookies, the fighters are out of breath after their five-minute bouts. They use the break time to talk over successful attacks, good defensive tactics, and any surprises that come up during their fights.
“It’s like a game of tag, but with swords,” explains Bell, 25. “Essentially, no hands and no feet and obviously, no groin shots, but everything else is a solid hit. And when someone gets a hit, you stop and start over.”
While the participants in these one-on-one battles draw techniques from various fighting styles of fencing, kendo, kenjutsu and other martial arts, they don’t use traditional swords or wooden staffs. They use weapons made mostly of clear, hard plastic. Their swords light up from the hilt to the tip of the blade — it’s a luminescent saber. A lit saber. A lighted saber.
The fighters can’t call their weapons “lightsabers,” as that term is trademarked by Star Wars movie franchise creator George Lucas and his company Lucasfilm Ltd.
“We call them glow sticks,” says Braatz, 28, who organizes the Madison chapter’s weekly saber combat meet-ups.
In this evening’s battles, most fighters are using standard-sized swords about 3 feet long. One has a double-bladed weapon. As he attacks, his red and blue blades swoosh through the dark night, creating a pinwheel effect of light in motion.
“It can be hard to defend against,” notes Bell after another bout. “But using that style of saber can also leave you open to attack because of the effort and skill it takes to wield.”
Beginners who don’t have a saber or any protective gear can still battle using a “boffer” — a padded sword made out of some PVC piping, a foam pool noodle and duct tape.
There’s no skill level required, nor do members need to know all of the Star Wars universe trivia, though most share a significant level of fandom. “You can pretend you’re a Jedi or a Sith — you can even get dressed up as one of the characters,” explains Braatz. “You can take it as far as you want to go.”
Some take it far. Bell, who has been into saber combat for nearly a decade, travels to tournaments with other Saber Legion chapters whenever he can. “There’s a small rush of adrenaline when you’re in the middle of it,” he says. “Getting hit and then evading hits — it’s fast-paced and you learn a lot in a short amount of time.”
The club’s weekly saber combat meetings are casual, with participants squaring off for a couple of hours. Says Braatz: “We’re just a bunch of nerds who enjoy hitting each other with sticks and getting some good exercise out of it.”
The Saber Legion-Madison Chapter meets on Tuesday nights from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Neighborhood House Community Center, 29 S Mills St. in Madison.
Wisconsin Saber Legion chapters:
Madison, Milwaukee and Wausau
Types of light-up sabers:
Daggers, swords, double-bladed saberstaff, short-blade shotos, knight sabers, duel tano sabers
Saber components:
Aluminum hilt, LED light and a polycarbonate blade
Cost of sabers:
$100 and up
Websites to purchase sabers:
Saber Hutt, Ultra Sabers, SaberForge
Saber combat styles used by Star Wars characters:
Shii-Cho (most Jedi), Makashi (Sith – the bad guys), Soresu (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Ataru (Yoda), and Niman (Darth Maul)
