need some help

[WilliamThomas]

I really wasn’t for sure what section to put this in, so I will start here and move it as needed. I am wanting to start a local fighting/sca group in my area. I have a group that is about an hour away, but they are not really supportive of fighters and also have some very strange ideas on the SCA in general. I guess my questions is this, where should I start, what are some ideas, and directions to go. What I am looking for with this is just some things that folks have done that works.

Thanks for the help,

William Thomas

[Joachim]

Greetings,

Ok, this is strange. Searching about for Staunton I found either you are in Illinois in the Barony of Shattered Crystal or in Virginia in the Shire of Isenfir.

I would say, personally, your locals don't have funny ideas about the SCA, they just have a different idea about it. The middle ages without war and religeon...OK, yes that is strange.

I would suggest you contact your Kingdom marshal about finding and authorizing a marshal for your shire or authorizing a marshal-at-large to oversee your practices. If the shire doesn't wish to participate, the Kingdom should at least give the interested parties an opportunity at your side of the game.

I hope this helps and pray I give no offense,

Joachim
Companion, House Bloodguard
Resident, Shire of Anglespur, EK

[jester]

I really wasn’t for sure what section to put this in, so I will start here and move it as needed. I am wanting to start a local fighting/sca group in my area. I have a group that is about an hour away, but they are not really supportive of fighters and also have some very strange ideas on the SCA in general. I guess my questions is this, where should I start, what are some ideas, and directions to go. What I am looking for with this is just some things that folks have done that works.

Thanks for the help,

William Thomas

Call one person that lives in your area and get together and fight in your backyard. Next time, you each invite one other person. Now you have four people. Encourage everyone to invite a person. Once you have 4 people for a month talk to your local group about becoming an official practice. Politics may be involved. Maybe not. You will probably need to become a deputy knight marshal (which isn't a big deal) so that you can be the official person at the practice. That's for fighting.

To form an entire SCA group in your area you will have to deal with politics. Repeat the above process for any activities that folks have an interest in. If you don't have four people willing to step up and do this sort of thing, then you don't have enough people to set up a canton. If you do have enough people, then you need to get everyone together and and talk things out. If you're still on speaking terms after this discovery go to your local SCA group and ask them how you go about submitting a request to form a canton. Enjoy the politics.

[freiman the minstrel]

Hello and welcome.

I am freiman, and I am mostly useful for giving wrong answers. I give answers to the best of my ability and get something wrong, folks correct me, and thus you have the right answer. It's a wierd system but it works.

first, it would really help to know where you are. Somebody on this archive knows somebody that is local to you. Somebody here is probably on a first name basis with your king. Somebody here has done this in the same kingdom you are in.

Second, get five guys. To start an official SCA group you have to have all the "great offices" covered. Those "Great offices" are Seneschalle (group president), Reeve (treasurer), Herald (Not really an analog, but it might be called the secretary), and either one or the other of Knight's Marshal (fighting coordinator) or Minister of arts and sciences (it's best to have both). Each of these folks needs to be a paid member, with access to a kingdom newsletter and a phone. Web access is a real plus. It helps if everybody has a car.

Then you get in touch with your kingdom, and let them know that you want to start a group. They have an officer that is responsible for helping you in this, probably attached to either the Chateleine (Helper of newcomers) or the Kingdom Seneschalle's office.

To start an unofficial group (usually called a household), you need to say "hey, I'm an unofficial group". The rest of that part is up to you.

Please don't give up on your locals. It may be that there are folks who think like you. You just might not have met them yet.

Good luck, and welcome.
freiman

[WilliamThomas]

Wait I think I have given the wrong impression here. I already play in the SCA and I am squired to Sir Bryce, a knight that post here on the archive. I wanted just to promote growth of the SCA in my area. The shire.. in Virginia, actually has some folks that play, but what I mean by strange is they don’t play on a Kingdom level and the are very much isolationist that don’t like heavy fighting. There has been a practice started in the shire by a knight that I attend. But all of those activities are an hour away and what I am trying to do is stir up interest in my town.

Hope that clears things up a bit.

William Thomas

[Ldy Wu]

OK now THAT makes more sense.

What part of Virginia are you in again? I am in Bristol TN.

Probably the quickest course of action, since Atlantia has a marshall-at-large situation in place and Meridies doesn't, would be to call your KEM and inform them of the situation. They will probably appoint a deputy or marshall-at-large to cover your practices and you should be fine.

[BdeB]

Actually, no, we do not have a Marshall-at-Large type marshall anymore. All marshalls are group or deputy marshalls. And no, the Kingdom Marshall will not 'assign' you are marshall.

What William is trying to ask is how to get interst in the SCA, and espically it's armoured combat started in his remote part of the world so he can get another practice going. He had heard many local opinions on it and is trying to get different ideas from all around the SCA.

[Ldy Wu]

Oh I didn't realize they had changed that. Well, that will teach me.

[InsaneIrish]

What William is trying to ask is how to get interst in the SCA, and espically it's armoured combat started in his remote part of the world so he can get another practice going. He had heard many local opinions on it and is trying to get different ideas from all around the SCA.

Question(s):
Do you want interest from existing SCA players?
Or are you wanting to recruit new blood into the SCA locally?

Do you just want to start a fighting group?
Or do you want to start a contact group in your home town?


The reason I ask these questions is you go about doing each of these things differently, and I need to know how to respond.

[WilliamThomas]

Question(s):
Do you want interest from existing SCA players?
Or are you wanting to recruit new blood into the SCA locally?

Do you just want to start a fighting group?
Or do you want to start a contact group in your home town?


The reason I ask these questions is you go about doing each of these things differently, and I need to know how to respond.

I am looking to recruit new blood into the SCA locally, and I want to start a contact group in my hometown.

Hope that helps sorry for all of the confusion

WT

[Joachim]

Errf..mmmnnfff...

Boy it's hard to type around the knee when my foot is in my mouth. Sorry for my misinterpretation.

'Scuse me while I go chew on my big toe for a while longer.

Joachim

[InsaneIrish]

Ok, well then first thing you need to do is contact your kingdom Chataliane(sp?) and find out exactly what the qualifications/requirements are for a contact group.

Then its time to ask for help. Look at your local, is there any festivals, fairs, public gatherings happening soon? IF so contact them and see if they would be reseptive to you putting on a demo. Here is where the help comes in, getting friends, and people from nearby groups to help you demo.

Talk to people you know locally who might be interested in this type of thing. Alot of times, people are hesitant to join an established group because they won't know anybody, but the chance to start their own group my intice them.

You are basically going to have to "sell the SCA" al la recruitment style. convince people it is fun, probably have to put in some time taking people to events to get them hooked. Once people are interested they will offer up to help, but you have to convince them first.

Ask fighters from surrounding areas to travel to your local and practice in a public park once a month, have a table set up with flyers and contact information there about the SCA and your proposed local group. Talk to ANYONE who stops and watches. You will have to be the salesman trying to make a cold sale on the spot. You will get more mild interest and no shows than you will people who stick around so, the more people you talk to the better chance you will have to get more members.

[Karen Larsdatter]

Keep in touch with Isenfir's chatelaine and seneschal. (Every SCA group is "strange." There is no "normal" or "mainstream" SCA group. It's a group of weird people in general, doing weird things for weird reasons. Of course each group will exhibit its own particular blend of weirdness, which mutates over time.)

At last check, Isenfir has regional chatelaines, who may also be able to provide you with assistance in recruitment. (Their former castellan produced an excellent newcomers' handbook, which you may find useful for distributing to interested folks.) Tell them that you're interested in recruiting for SCA in your area.

You may find it useful to consult the chatelaines' handbook, specifically the sections on attracting newcomers and demos. (Since you're in Staunton, you might be able to work on demos at the Frontier Culture Museum or Blackfriars Playhouse.)

Again ... and I can't stress this enough ... work together with Isenfir. Creating an antagonistic relationship with your local group will work against you and your goals in the long run. Encouraging your preferred set of activities & aims will create a regional identity, but an "us-vs.-them" atmosphere will end up poorly. At best, it'll just create bad blood between you and the shire on an ongoing basis; at worst ... well, let's not think about that.

Diplomacy.

Tact.

Please.





(As a postscript -- you cannot run a SCA demo without the specific permission of your group's seneschal; see line 1.6.5 of Policy. See? Working together with shire officers will benefit you in the short run, too!)

[freiman the minstrel]

I am a big believer in the one keg, three fighters and ten buddies method.

It does not bring the most "classy" folks to the SCA, but it does bring a reliable number of newbies to the fold. That is essentially how I was recruited.

get phone numbers, and make sure that you have at least a full suit of loaner gear (I hate loaner gear).

Eighties bubble gum metal on the boom box seems to help too. Twisted Sister in particular.

I'm not joking.

freiman

[Christian Thomas of York]

William,

One of the most effective ways that I have found to market the SCA is to find your local nerd hangouts like bookstores, D&D places, comic books hut, libraries, etc. You have a product and that product is the SCA it is easy to sell the idea if you find the right market. I know you well enough to know that you posses a very nice kit and a very nice loaner kit that is porbably better than most fighters kits out there right now. If you present the ideals of the SCA and stick to the knowledge a new person can attain from this society these too would be very beneficial.

Look deep into the areas where others might hide. There is a fighter in everyone but not everyone fights. It is a hard task but you have a good sounding block from your knight and your friends. play to the strong points of the SCA, romance, courtly love, chivalry, etc. find artisans like local musicians, singers, costumers, candle makers, soap makers, or local brewers as i have found these folks often make a great transition into the SCA, and from that the fighters will eventually come.

Good luck with this and if there is anything I can help you with like a demo or some thing let me know.

Lord Christian

[Hew]

Ask fighters from surrounding areas to travel to your local and practice in a public park once a month, have a table set up with flyers and contact information there about the SCA and your proposed local group. Talk to ANYONE who stops and watches.

Practising in the park is great. Passers-by don't have to feel they need an invitation to watch and ask, and they can leave any time without worrying about looking like they're being rude.

And do encourage the lady fighters in particular to show up for for these practises. It shows that it's not just a boys club.