Lexington Lightsaber League ‘Star Wars’ training lights up Woodland Park weekly
Members of the Lexington Lightsaber League are serious about one thing: having a good time.
“Once you embrace how ridiculous it is, it’s just magnificent,” said Williams Atkinson, one of the group’s teachers.
Every Wednesday, the club gathers at Lexington’s Woodland Park for a class that’s something of a hybrid between a live-action role playing game and a martial arts course. Participants do stretches and other warm-up activities before going through a series of reps that help introduce newcomers to, and remind returnees about, the basic techniques of lightsaber combat.
Yes, that lightsaber, as in the iconic weapon wielded by Jedi and Sith in the multi-billion dollar Star Wars franchise.
The swords brought to Woodland Park don’t feature plasma blades powered by kyber crystals, nor can they slice through metal with ease, but they’re several steps removed from the plastic imitations you’ll find on toy-store shelves. The blades are made of polycarbonate plastic, embedded with LED lighting, and attached to hilts made of high-grade aluminum. An affordable, basic lightsaber will run you about $100; higher-end models — which can feature sound and higher-end metals — can reach upwards of $5,000.
There are competitions, too. The Saber Legion, which bills itself the “MMA of Saber Combat,” hosts dueling tournaments around the country, and has been featured on ESPN, NPR and other national news outlets. It’s not outlandish to think that, someday, lightsaber dueling — which in official settings is akin to fencing — could be featured in the Olympics; the International Fencing Federation in France in 2019 officially recognized it as a sport and has since hosted competitions.
What the Lexington Lightsaber League teaches
While combat techniques are taught, the Lexington Lightsaber League’s goals are more artistically motivated (there are choreography-based competitions, too). They release weekly videos of performances on their Instagram page, and it’s difficult to tell that most are barely scripted.
“Real sword duels, they last five moves, 10 seconds at the most,” said Atkinson, who has a background in ballet and other dance. “Our duels last for minutes, and it’s because we train people to keep going and keep looking pretty. Make it theatrical.”
“It’s more about the style than the pure functionality of it,” said Mike Thompson, another instructor whose background is in theater. “So if it looks nice but it’s not entirely accurate, we’ll iron out some of those kinks.”
Lexington Lightsaber League requirements
Aside from the easy-going, artistic-minded attitude of its leadership, there’s a relatively low barrier to entry. There are spare lightsabers on hand for people who might be on the fence about taking the plunge, and there’s no admission or class fees. The class atmosphere is inclusive, and there’s no age requirement to participate — an elementary-aged student was being trained alongside adults in a meeting recently attended by the Herald-Leader.
One doesn’t even need to like Star Wars, though it probably helps. There’s just one requirement to join.
“To do this, you have to have that sort of child-like wonder,” said Thompson. “When you’re doing it out here, it’s gonna take you a little bit to not feel overly embarrassed about swinging glow sticks around. But after doing it a while, that embarrassment flows out, and you’re doing it because it’s fun and you don’t really care what other people say.”
