"This is probably the coolest community of nerds I've been with." "I like swinging the axes, and the kinetic feel of it, as well as the competition," Harris said. While many participants describe themselves as nerds, the sport also attracts people who've played other full-contact sports like football, rugby, wrestling and martial arts.Ĭharles Harris, who came to the Minnesota melee from Fort Worth, Texas, said it appeals to his nerdy, video gaming side, but has similarities to football, which he played for years. Richard Chin Video (02:25) Armored knights from around the country recently gathered at an indoor arena in Ramsey, Minn., to fight each other in a sport called armored combat. The team was formed about eight years ago. The Wyverns (named after a mythical dragonlike creature) currently have 26 dues-paying members, said Patrick Lockren, a 31-year-old electrician from Eden Prairie. There are about 27,000 members in the U.S., according to the Armored Combat Sports website. I think it's the greatest thing I've ever been part of."Īrmored combat is also called steel fighting or buhurt, from an old French word, béhourd, which, depending on the source, means "tournament" or "to wallop." The sport, which got its start in Eastern Europe in the late 1990s, has been gradually spreading around the world. "I always wanted to be a knight growing up," said Berg, 45, of Minneapolis. "It's full speed, full steel, full contact," said Josh Berg, a vice captain of the Twin Cities Wyverns, an armored fighting group. The win goes to the team with the last knight standing. It's a real - and violent - sport in which teams of combatants outfit themselves in medieval-style armor and bash each other with blunted metal weapons. This isn't cosplay, reenacting or Renaissance Festival entertainment. Since there weren't any dragons to slay, they spent the better part of the day punching, kicking, head-butting and hammering on each other with broadswords, axes and clubs. Nearly 70 knights in shining armor from around the country gathered at an arena in ye olde kingdom of Ramsey.
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