Students Participate in Medevial Foam-Fighting

During warm weather, it is not uncommon to see students dressed in medieval clothing, fighting with foam swords on the fields near Debot, participating in Belegarth.

Benjamin Vogel, the  secretary for the Belegarth club, said it is a medieval fighting sport with weapons being foam shields and swords.

“We try and get a lot of people to try it out,” Vogel said. “We usually have 20 to 30 people who come to practices once in a while. It’s fantastic when the die-hards show up all the time.”

Vogel considered the sport to be recreational because, unless there is a competition, no one wins.

“It is a physical work out,” Vogel said. “People will come in and be exhausted after five minutes.”

A belegarth battle. Photo courtesy of belegarth.com

A Belegarth battle. Photo courtesy of belegarth.com

Kathy Kling, the president of the Belegarth club, organizes practices and ensures other officers keep up with their positions.

Despite the heavy workload, Kling enjoyed seeing her hard work pay off. She explained the difference between Live Action Role Play and Belegarth.

“It’s not really a L.A.R.P.-ing kind of situation,” Kling said. “Belegarth itself is just the sport factor of it. We all dress up for it, but that’s more because we are doing medieval fighting.”

Kling said students in the club are from all different majors, but it is open to community members as well.

“Belegarth is international,” Kling said. “You can find it anywhere you go. It’s a large community. I plan on continuing doing Belegarth outside of college.”

 

Caroline Chalk

Reporter

cchal845@uwsp.edu

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