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Well folks, it’s time to wrap up 2013, BoN. Yesterday the 21
x21 team shook the foundations of the event with it’s very close 4th place win. The fights with Belarus and Ukraine could have went either way. Everyone at the event knows this and told us so. The Captain of Belarus (3rd place) came over and made a speech to our team with his team standing behind him. He told us that he was very impressed with the performance of the USA and presented me with his personal 3rd place medal to remind me of how close we came.

After closing ceremonies, gifts were exchanged between the teams and those of other teams. The general spirit of the event was very high and folks from every country gave their congregations and good will to our team, with NO exceptions. Last night the team spent their last evening in the town, eating and drinking with each other, while the leadership had meetings with interviewers and BoN leadership.

Thank you are needed for so many people and I will forget some name unintentionally but here are some that stood out among a group of people who ALL worked hard. First and foremost to all of those who worked hard all year long to make this happen, my command staff. Special thanks to Brad Schaive, Jaye Brooks Sr. and my division and region commanders for helping keep the group organized on and off the field of battle. Susan Frappier for all of her hard work on the administrative issues both before and during the BoN and also taking care of me personally during the fights. All of the support staff who worked at home, like Brian Fields and his wife, Lilli Haicken and superfan, Mr. Ramón Maldonado who is a master researcher and provided us all with more info on this sport. To all of the support staff who came with us, we are humbled by your self sacrifice to your national team and paying to help us out of your own pockets. We love you all!

As we pack and leave France, we do so with a bit of sadness as the party is over for this year and it came and went too fast. There is alo a feeling of excitement when I think of what we an do with another year of training under our belt. We will continue to recruit new blood and fill our ranks with the best the nation has to offer.

Thank you lastly to all of you who watched with care as your loved ones and countrymen struggled in your name here in the sands of Aigues – Mortes. Not a day went by when we did not feel your presence with us on these fields of glory.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you Momma’s out there, especially to Tara Schomber-Sinou and my Momma, Beverly Sinou. I waved especially to you ladies yesterday on the camera as you were on my mind.

Be well. We all look forward to being with our loved ones.

The Boss
May 12 at 10:42pm via mobile

Appeared the day the tournament started:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/sports/battle-of-the-nations-a-holy-grail-of-battle-re-enactments.html?_r=0

They also used the articles as an assignment on their students’ page

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/an-international-full-contact-medieval-battle-tournament/

Ars Technica: Story and videos during the tournament:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/05/22-countries-engage-in-vintage-armored-beat-downs-at-battle-of-the-nations/

CNET: Similar to Ars Technica with “Game of Thrones Comparison:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57583990-1/countries-square-off-with-swords-at-battle-of-the-nations/

MSN Now: Quick hit featuring the words violent and nerdy:

http://now.msn.com/battle-of-nations-medieval-reenactment-tournament-starts-today-in-france

SF Bay on Stephean Fick:

http://sfbay.ca/2013/05/14/swordplay-students-get-the-point/

Jaye Brooks’ interview on New Hampshire Public Radio:

http://www.nhpr.org/post/battle-nations#.UZUmC9VT3zI.facebook

Right This Minute

http://www.rightthisminute.com/video/larping-whole-new-level

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/05/08/sports/08battle_ss.html?ref=sports#1
A slide show of the people who do this!

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I wanted to take some time to personally thank all of you for your support. During the course of the year, I do not post much on this list as I do not work with a computer all day long and time is preciously spent getting armor together and organizing the team. I appreciate all of you who have supported your United States National Team. We will be thinking of our friends in the United States as we carry our National Ensign on the field of Battle in France. We will fight with honor and good sportsmanship. Know that we fight for our country and all of our friends and family who are back home watching us.

Thank you also to our friends from other countries who have helped our fledgling team get it’s start. All of the people who work with HMBIA, especially Natalia Trubnikova and Anton for giving us the opportunity to compete. To all of the nations who welcomed us at the BoN and to our good friends in Canada who have trained with us and treated us like family.

In 2 weeks, we will test our mettle with that of over 20 countries of the world. We will fight with every last ounce of strength. Our team is strong and our divisions are well led. We hope to bring American spirit and good sportsmanship to the world stage and show the rest of the world that America has it’s share of warriors as well.

Andre Sinou,
USA Team Captain

Until recently, historical medieval battle was just a hobby. People having the same interests organized tournaments, attracted participants, but nothing was more or less official. Most spectators even now think that festival buhurts are staged battles. But the situation has changed after the official registration of HMBIA.

Historical medieval battle, due to the registration of HMBIA, has actually become an official international sport. It’s not an Olympic sport, and HMB format is not for the Olympic games, but there is one thing that is present in any official sport and which should, in theory, become the next step of the HMB development, namely ranks and titles for the athletes.

Nowadays a fighter is known by the audience only due to his successful and frequent participation in the tournaments and championships. We know the best fighters of Russia, Poland and Ukraine, because they get prize-winning places in “Battle of the Nations”, and they are announced according to their titles.

But any more or less developed sport has the system of titles, which help to determine, with relatively high accuracy, the level of a fighter. If we consider boxing, it offers such titles as candidate master, master of sports, world-class master of sports, etc. Everyone understands that a holder of the first grade is weaker than a master of sports and it’s unlikely someone can be better than an international master of sports.

HMB has no such system at the moment, and the tournaments are held usually due to the principle “all vs all”, very rare admission to the tournament is given due to the level of “championship”. Though, there are such cases, for example, the selection for the category “1 vs 1″ in Russia, where only prominent fighters are allowed.

Holding of such tournaments would be very good for the development of sports. Newcomers would be motivated by the fact they should earn the right to take part in them, while famous athletes would know that the tournament they attend is of the highest level and all the competitors are very strong. Tournaments of champions always attract a lot of attention of the audience and they are long discussed, even if the audience understands nothing about the sport.

But what is an objective way to select such champions? How to choose the men of about the same level for the tournament to be held on equals, but have a clear and objective selection? That’s the point we need ranks. For example, the lower level of “candidate master” admission would show that the tournament is held among the very serious fighters, while the “pre-candidate master” level would mean that the tournament is held not for the famous fighters, in fact, it would be for beginners. And the concept of “championship” is very relative without such titles, since a fighter can have no tournament victories, but take the second and third places competing with the fighters like Ukolov or Waszkielis that would show the highest skills of a fighter, even though he would not win. Or, a fighter can win a local tournament fighting against his pals, which does not show an international level of a fighter.

But we do not have ranks and titles at the moment. And what they could be? Well, of course, we will have no dans like in karate, but several ranks, including the master of sports, candidate master, master of sports of international level may be introduced.

We do not know what changes we’ll have after the forthcoming “Battle of the Nations,” but there’s no doubt it will provide the next stage of development for our sport. Something new and useful will be introduced, and it is likely HMBIA will pay attention to the fact it’s time for HMB, as an official sport, to obtain its ranks and titles, and will deal with it. We are waiting for the championship and hope “Battle of the Nations” will again surprise us with some ambitious ideas.