In France, the Force is strong with lightsabre duelling
BEAUMONT-SUR-OISE :Master Yoda, dust off his French, he must.
It’s now easier than ever in France to act out “Star Wars” fantasies, because its fencing federation has borrowed from a galaxy far, far away and officially recognised lightsabre duelling as a competitive sport, granting the iconic weapon from George Lucas’ saga the same status as the foil, epee and sabre, the traditional blades used at the Olympics.
Of course, the Led-lit, rigid polycarbonate lightsabre replicas can’t slice a Sith lord in half.
But they look and, with the more expensive sabres equipped with a chip in their hilt that emits a throaty electric rumble, even sound remarkably like the silver screen blades that Yoda and other characters wield in the blockbuster movies .
Plenty realistic, at least, for duellists to work up an impressive sweat slashing, feinting and stabbing in organized, three-minute bouts. The physicality of lightsabre combat is part of why the French Fencing Federation threw its support behind the sport and is now equipping fencing clubs with lightsabres and training would-be lightsabre instructors. Like virtuous Jedi knights, the French federation sees itself as combatting a Dark Side: The sedentary habits of 21stcentury life that are sickening ever-growing numbers of adults and kids . “With young people today, it’s a real public health issue. They don’t do any sport and only exercise with their thumbs,” says Serge Aubailly, the federation secretary general. “It’s becoming difficult to (persuade them to) do a sport that has no connection with getting out of the sofa and playing with one’s thumbs. ”