What do we do at SCA?
Saber Combat Academy Ltd. is a company based around the truthful recreation of the combat forms for the lightsaber. We are all fans of the Star Wars movies and wanted to create a fast-paced, intricate and entertaining combat system that allowed performers to fight competitively against one another without the need for full body armour, while also keeping true to the visual aspects of the lightsaber itself. Classes operate weekly across the South West of England and focus on the training of ‘The Seven Forms of Lightsaber Combat’ as intepreted and created by our lead instructors. If you attend a class, you will learn basic sword skills, alongside footwork and structure that is transferrable to other sword skills. We also train orbits and flow, saber tricks and choreography for stage and theatre.
What weapons are allowed in class?
For all SCA class, we recommend the use of combat-grade sabers with duel ready blades. Typically, these are made from aluminium and have polycarbonite blades. Lightsabers can be in-hilt (RGB) or NeoPixel style for classes but we ask that strobing effects are kept to a minimum for safety. We recommend two distinct brands depending on your budget.
SaberTrio – High end combat grade sabers that are, in our opinion, the best duel-worthy sabers on the market. Our class sabers are from SaberTrio and they are amazing. Well built, robust and able to withstand a lot of abuse with minimal issues.
ES Sabers – Budget options with high end specs. Plenty of designs to pick from with the option of designing your own from available, interchangable parts. Perfectly capable of withstanding duelling and great for those on a budget as a saber can be purchased for as little as £70.
Due to the contact nature of our classes, we cannot allow the use of toy sabers, flick-outs, hasbro replicas and home made sabers. Combat worth is based on the quality and assuredness of the build and materials used in the construction of the hilt and blade. This is based on experience and expected quality.
What sort of blades do you use?
We usually only use Heavy Grade blades in our class sabers, these are at least 3mm thick at the wall and provide excellent longevity and sturdiness over time. However, we have recently seena lot of improvement to Mid Grade blades from ES Sabers, they are very strong and withstand well in duelling but do tend to flex and whip move than Heavy Grades.
The choice is yours, but we recommend wrapping the top three inches of the blade and tip in clear tape to prevent cracks and shattering at the weakest point on the tip of the blade. Speaking of tips, we only allow rounded or ‘parabolic’ blade tips. Please no pointed, sharp or completely flat tips.
We cannot allow flat blades, such as ‘Ripper’ blades as these are often made of acrylic and will shatter.
Are we restricted on colours?
Absolutely not, any student may purchase a saber of any colour. We do not use the blade colours to differentiate between grades, experience or good/bad affiliation. The blade colour is personal, just as the hilt design is, to you. There may be some friendly banter in classes regarding this, but ultimately the choice is yours.
Blade Effects are restricted, please nothing too flashy/strobed as this can cause upset for those with photosensitivty issues. And blade effects that create a ‘pixelating’ effect when spun are not allowed as it makes tracking the blade in flow difficult.
Can we really fight with these sabers?
As these combat level sabers are designed to be hit, and hit hard, they will survive the contact we put into them. As our swings are never armed (swung with intent to injure), we are making contact at a far lower level than the sabers are designed to take, therefore meaning they should rarely break. We have never had a blade snap or shatter, tips do come off which is why we tape them in place. These are not toys, at the end of the day, they are weapons and should be used with respect as they can cause damage if used incorrectly.
I have my own saber, can I use it in class?
Asbolutely. So long as one of our instructors can see it in person, test it an check it over for potential issues, there is no reason why a personal saber cannot be used in tournaments and classes, providing it meets our regulations regarding saber design. You are free to use whatever saber you like, so long as the blade is Heavy Grade, rounded and the hilt meets our requirements. But, you cannot use home-made sabers as there must be a quality controlled manufacturer’s guarantee on the saber.
Saber Combat Academy Ltd. 