It is safe to say that it is uncommon to see classmates battling it out with medieval-styled weapons, but a group of CFHS students is doing just that. Students have started a group known as Belegarth.
Belegarth is an activity where students create foam weapons and armor from the medieval time period, then use them in battles of varying size and type. The weapons are usually made with a core of either PVC or wood, depending on the size of the weapon. The weapon is then surrounded by either camp pad foam or swimming noodle foam secured by special glue that doesn’t melt the foam.
Belegarth was started in 1975 by a college student who had read J.R.R. Tolkien’s, Lord of the Rings. The book inspired him to start a group that catapulted its members into intense medieval battle.
Scott Sesterhenn tried to explain the rules in simplest terms. “It’s a war game, except no one gets hurt.” he said.
The adult leader of the group is industrial tech teacher Linda Sneed, though she was not the one to start the Belgarth group. Michael Ingersoll was the creator of the CFHS Belegarth.
“I started playing Belgarth at camp, and it was blast, so I started a local group,” Ingersoll said.
Students heard about it over the summer and joined the medieval battling. As of now they have weekly Monday practices at Pfeiffer Park. They also occasionally battle against the UNI Belegarth group.
“My favorite thing about Belegarth is coming here and killing people with no consequences,” said Sesterhenn, “It’s exercise for nerds.”
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