The substantive portion of my quarterly report to the Society Youth Combat Marshal is attached below.
— Mathghamhain, East Kingdom Youth Earl Marshal
As usual, Pennsic was the high point of our year, with seventy kids from across the Known World taking the field for nine open list sessions, three tournaments, a Night with Knights, and the culminating castle battle. We are indebted to the dozens of marshals, MITs, MOLs, and other people who pitched in throughout the week to make this all run smoothly. Circumstances prevented me from attending this year, so I am especially thankful that I could rely on the handful of Easterners who ran this enormous event from start to finish.
Back here in the East, our youth combat events continue to be lightly attended, with fewer than a handful of kids showing up to each of our three events this quarter. We continue to seek new ways of bringing new youth into the program, as well as trying to engage our less-active marshals and still-in-training MITs, so that youth combat can be offered at more events. Local practices may be a key to future growth; we currently have a couple of groups holding successful gatherings every month, but most of the kingdom lacks local opportunities for kids to armor up.
Over the coming quarter we’ll work to bring our kingdom handbook up to date with the recent changes at the Society level, and update our system for youth authorizations.
My sincere thanks to the East Kingdom team that ran youth combat activities at Pennsic this year — especially, Eikaterine tin Elliniki (Youth Battlefield Coordinator), Karrah the Mischievous (Youth Armored Combat Marshal in Charge), and Carrick MacSeáin (Deputy MIC) — as well as the dozen other marshals, MITs, and MOLs from the East who helped to make this a success.
