Sport of Kings XLI/2007
Sport of Kings will be August 16th through the 19th, AS XLI, 2007.
What follows is Jarl Ulfred's welcome and introduction.
The SCA started with a tournament.
It found the romance of living in an age where Chivalric Ideals were real. Oh what a joy! A social event where everyone was a Lord or Lady of high station, and for an enchanted moment, forgot the dirt, grime, cares, duties and strife (the realities) of everyday life.
Roll forward in time to stand on a glorious field and see banners flying, hear heralds booming forth in eloquent phrase. The lady swoons for her Hero as he strides forth to combat - or if you please - the proud Lord grins as his Lady Champion takes the field. Colorful characters show their prowess, each with a distinctive flair to inspire the gallery to cheer their banner, or generate good humor and laughter, or occasionally act the villain role - but always with nobility. We see no losers - for to take up arms and stand steady within the lists, to put one's body at risk, to test skill against another and leave the list with nothing held back of will and might - this creates a victory. Dress well, speak well, be humble and proud, move with grace and ease in the lists, always grant your opponent charity in judgement - be worthy of praise and honor.
Take not the view that the tournament exists for the combatants alone. Think not that those who plan and toil before, during and after do so as a path for recognition of service. The glamour and spirit of the ideal lives not in the reduction of the competition to a brutal, efficient execution of a series of contests. Rather the ideal is theatre where the audience is the cast, and the cast has many talents. How do we teach our children and new friends to reach for the illusion and poetry of elsewhere? By our participation in its creation, by our living it, and by teaching our knowledge and skills of the living theatre. Show them how to paint the scenery, sew the wardrobes, define the characters, set the stage for drama, adventure, comedy and fun.
Sport of Kings started as an effort to be more direct in teaching, not only teaching how to be an excellent "swashbuckler," but passing on skills to heighten the romance of the tournament. We seek to engage all the populace in the roles of noble Ladies and Lords at play.
Welcome to the Sport of Kings.
Jarl Sir Ulfred