Chris Shelton loses a sword fight to a small child at Tekko 2022
Before I get into this story, some of you may be wondering …
“Is this HEMA related?” - No
“Does this have anything to do with the club?” - No
“Why the hell are you writing about this?” - Because I wanted to share a valuable lesson I learned about underestimating people from other martial backgrounds just because they don’t fight with steel weapons.
Now with that out of the way, lets get started. On July 20th, I (Chris Shelton) went to the Tekko 2022 anime convention in Pittsburgh PA. I’ve been going to this convention religiously every year with only a few exceptions (*cough* COVID *cough*). Every year, there are a group of sweaty people on the 2nd floor called the “Sleeping Samurai” guys. For those who don’t know, they fight with padded katanas, knives, spears, and other Japanese inspired weapons in a way similar to us HEMA folks but with a couple of exceptions.
No one wears helmets, so hitting in the face is expressly not allowed.
If you get hit in the arm or leg, you put that arm behind your back or kneel. If your other arm or leg gets hit, you lose and your opponent gets a point.
If you get hit in the chest, you lose and your opponent gets a point.
First player to get to 3 points wins.
Since I picked up HEMA 8 years ago, I’ve always loved fighting those guys because I felt my training was superior. Granted, I had that inflated sense of ego because I only ever fought the other people who paid $2 to try it out for a round. This year was different. When I paid my usual fee there weren’t any newbs around so I fought one of their veteran fighters. He was so confident that I was outmatched that he agreed to fight me with just one hand. When I inevitably kicked his ass, he asked to fight me again. My issue with this fighting style (and any that practices without helmets) is that it trains people not to protect their head; meaning that when I’m fighting them I have to resist every urge in my body that tells me to go for the face. So I played defensively. I kept my distance, waited for him to over extend, then struck at one arm, then the other to clench a second victory.
It was at this point that he and I became fast friends. He told me about how he’d been doing this for years, and I told him I run a fencing club. After a lengthy conversation he encouraged I buy my own sword and jump into the Rising Star Beginner Tournament being held that day. That once I bought my own weapon I wouldn’t have to pay $2 ever again to jump into the ring at any future conventions. Considering that I did enjoy the fight immensely, I figured … eh … why not? At the very least it’d give me something todo besides buy things all day.
Once my new weapon was acquired, I jumped back in the ring and fought the guy running the event. During our fight I recall him giving me “advice” like “Be more aggressive! Follow through on your attacks! Strike harder! Strike faster!” All of those pieces of advice would be perfectly acceptable if my opponents didn’t have the same strategy. When two opponents are hell bent on attacking each other, what typically results are doubles. And when neither opponent is wearing a helmet, it doesn’t take much for a blow to accidentally smack someone in the face. Considering my opponent’s health and safety were in my hands, I elected to keep my defensive strategy; however, I was curious how he’d respond to a little more … pressure. After ramping up the intensity of my attacks I was pleasantly surprised when he blocked the vast majority of them. Even more so when he struck at my head but pulled the shot inches from my face! This was not some ill-trained blowhard at an event for equally ill-trained preteens living their weeaboo fantasies. The lack of protective equipment didn’t make him reckless, it forced him to be even more cognizant of his opponent’s safety and exhibit even more control. It was a that moment that he’d earned my respect.
The tournament went about as well as I’d expected for the first couple of matches. When I faced opponents with katana’s I played the distance game and sniped at arms and legs; prioritizing my safety and theirs over trying to win. The winning was just a happy byproduct of my strategy. Things changed however when I faced an opponent with a spear. In this match I knew I’d have to do a krump-hau to the spear, ride along the shaft, and strike my opponent in the torso. Thankfully I came out on top of that fight. Finally I made my way up to the finals. At this point I whipped off my vest to reveal my school’s t-shirt. When I won this tournament, I wanted everyone to know what school I came from. Boy was I in for a rude awakening!
My opponent was a kid who was probably about 13 or so. He wielded a katana, but also had two knives in his belt. Throughout the tournament I saw him open the fight by stepping back, throwing the knives at his opponents, and his opponents try in vain to bat them out of the way. He’d gotten to the finals by basically besting his opponents at baseball, not fencing. I was confident I’d be able to rush him before he’d be able to get his knives out of his belt.
I was wrong!
During our first exchange I did surprise him by rolling up and slashing him in the arm before be was able to grab the knife, but every bout after that he started back peddling and gained the distance he needed to grab and throw his knives. Towards the end, I chucked my katana at him. A move I knew wasn’t allowed, but by that point I’d conceded defeat. They mentioned there would be a katana only tournament later that day, but by that time I’d already committed several hours to fighting and was desperately behind on my shopping.
I did return the next day though to show off my fencing jacket and fight some more bouts. It just so happens that my outfit caught the attention of a videographer who wanted to include me in his video of the event! So now I have several reminders of this wonderful convention: a new sword, a lesson I’ll never forget, a bag full of swag, and this cool ass video!
A video from Tekko 2022 in which I got featured!
