You don’t have to feel a disturbance in the Force to know how great Star Wars has become. The phenomenon that began in 1977 with that space adventure film devised by George Lucas gave way to a giant of popular culture that includes nine main films, television series, books, comics, video games, and an infinite amount of merchandising that goes from action figures and clothing lines to Chewbacca masks. Out of all this amalgam of commercial products and fandom creatives, Ludosport was born , a sport based on lightsaber combat .
What at first many will consider a simple invention of fans of the saga to fulfill a little dream and feel like a Jedi or a Sith wielding that legendary weapon that is the lightsaber, turns out to be a well-defined sport with rules and values such as any other. This project was born in 2006 in Italy , where Simone Spreafico, Gianluca Longo and Fabio Monticelli decided to unite their passion for George Lucas films with their experience in various combat and martial arts disciplines . They designed their own methodology and technique (with nine different fighting styles) based both on what is seen in the Star Wars saga and on fighting sports such as fencing or kendo; all this applying it to a series of values necessary in all sport.
The passage of time has caused Ludosport to spread to dozens of countries (including Spain) on three different continents and to become a sport in its own right, with its own regulations and national and international tournaments or championships . The standards first pass through what could be called the “regulation weapon”, a lightsaber with an aluminum grip and an 87-centimeter polycarbonate blade that can present some variants (two short daggers or a saber-cane with two blades in its place). Points are awarded based on where the saber hits : forearms, hands, knee-length legs, and saber hilt are non-mortal targets (IH) while the rest of the body is deadly targets (OH). Only OH hits award points, while IHs break the opponent’s guard.
These basic rules during combat are reinforced with principles applicable to any sporting competition such as the Olympic values and a particular philosophy, the SeCuRi . This term comes from the Italian words servizio , cura and rispetto and carries principles of loyalty, discipline and companionship. Servizio refers to the “will of each of the members of this sport to help, support and encourage others”. Cura focuses on the “control of techniques so that they are not dangerous when fighting.” Finally, rispetto is the “treatment of consideration and deference towards all the companions, and obedience towards the instructors” .
