This video is actually from the Fencing Senior World Championships in Moscow back in 2015, but it is also the coolest video I could find. The School of Saberfighting (represented in the video) is one of the first teams in the world that specializes in the public performance of duels inspired by Star Wars, which is, purely on an aesthetic level, super rad, but it also provides training for those who wish to learn this form of stage fencing, people who want to pretend they are Jedi and just people who make the lightsaber noises as they swing the blades around or watch the movies.
The French fencing federation has officially recognized lightsaber dueling as a competitive sport, and you can (hopefully) expect a lot more of these types of videos to crop up in the future. The reason for the sudden legit-ness? Kids are lazy, and overweight. Serge Aubailly, the federation’s secretary general has this to say about the official recognition:
“With young people today, it’s a real public health issue. They don’t do any sport and only exercise with their thumbs. That is why we are trying to create a bond between our discipline and modern technologies, so participating in a sport feels natural.”
Watch the video. It's awesome.
