Status/Info report 6/1/21
THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE, IT HAS BEEN A LONG WAIT DUE TO COVID, BUT WE ARE GETTING CLOSER TO REAL ACTION
Based on the openings of businesses and public areas on 6/15, we should start practice in June. We have been hiring and our new armorers have been building uniforms and helping brainstorm innovations. We have helmets built and a good inventory of chest protectors and other armor for arms and legs.
Work with our pursuit dogs continues, our horse mounted archers await either the League buying a mount or leasing one. We have some funds saved for this but it is expensive purchase, and we are cautious spending for big ticket items. We are lucky there is a local business that teaches people to shoot from horseback. This resource hopefully will help with a solving a difficult objective for this part of the game.
We are looking for a few fighters before practices start to test equipment and for film work. Contact us for details,
We used this Covid restriction time build improve our a field. We will suit up and stretch here, and probably walk to the nearby high school for full practice. Our field is adjacent to the Russian River. Fighters can bring family to practice.
Moreover, we have surprise developments in the pneumatic (air bag) technology upgrades…really cool stuff, stay tuned.
Practice will concurrently be used to produce a marketing video with music and real fight scenes, long passes, running backs and hopefully with horses and canines. If you want to apply to join the team, please go to the contact page and fill out the form.
Here is more info, some of it outdated by the above:
Dear Warriors,
If you are a female, please excuse any pronouns in the body of this statement that are male directed, you are welcome to fight alongside men. WB is weapon based, size and strength is not as vital as skill.
Before I go on, please don’t lose sight that this is still football, with same formations and most of the rules, but even more visually active, more artful and safe. Martial Arts experience is not required, this is a new sport, with few limitations as we grow and learn together.
Our air bag devices that impair the knee and elbow joints is past the prototype stage but I can’t figure out how to mount the hardware in a back pack. It’s a very harsh environment for the equipment to function in. The sport is playable without the air bags, but not as safe. I have a handle on it but its a budget thing right now. Update: backpack is gone, we have moved all air canisters to into hip mounted holsters – literally pistol holsters like a gun fighter would wear- to disable legs via a short tube to the air bags around the knees. We will focus on getting this ready after the video.
The devices need to be miniaturized and hardened so I spend half my time trying to partner the NBL with someone with broadcasting and engineering skills like Disney and Apple streaming divisions.
Consequently, I have a relationship with many top level people all over the globe, but without live play, these efforts are stalled right now.
On the subject of being safe, understand that simulating a injury that would occur in real combat is the main premise behind the devices. Our patented helmet, air bags, and numerous others (such a nanotechnology smart garments to stiffen upon impact) still in development all impair vision or movement without harming the recipient of a strike on these devices.
So, the logic behind these simulations produces this game rule:
If you swing your stick, hand or foot to the head area with more force than necessary to trigger the visor or the LED’s smash button, you will be ejected.
Updated rules: Payload ™ penalty…it is a penalty to exert more force than necessary to complete the task at hand. For example, if you are a much larger person and oppose a much smaller one, it is a penalty to use more force than necessary to put him or her on the ground or move them away from the play. We want to encourage women and smaller people to play. We also have style points, judged by a panel for each play. These points can be cashed in to get first downs or eliminate a penalty, but will not be used for winning a game by point total. If a fighter exhibits a particularly artful move, his team will be awarded points. So the score may look something like this: USA 21/4 Mexico 17/5. The style points will fluctuate downward and upward in value as they are “used up” or awarded.
Any strikes to the knee by stick or leg is also a penalty. It is possible to swing fast then arrest the speed or force at the last second, though this is an acquired talent. The sensors in the thigh pads also require minimum impact to trigger the air bags, and we also will place sensors in chest and stomach that will disable the legs.
Or not, the game may be too boring to play so that is why we are heavily armored in chest and leg area to allow heavy strikes there. To the fans, however, it is entertaining to watch air-bag disabled fighters struggling to continue with one or both of their legs impaired.
Speaking of rules and safety, to tackle a ball carrier requires another rule:
Your first move must be a special stick move -not a hand or leg strike – to impede his or her progress. This is not a stick strike – you lay the stick across the runner’s waist or chest to slow him, and, of course he will be using the bangball he is carrying to block your staff. The exception is it is ok to target the visor, the smash button on the face mask, or the bangball as your initial move. (I may allow certain martial arts strikes as initial contact in the future but as of now this is not allowed)
The idea is to ensure the play of Warball stays weapon based, we dont want tackling like regular football.
In other words unless you target the visor, smash button, or the bangball as your initial stick move, you cannot stick strike the ball carrier anywhere else. It is a tool to slow him. I envision several sticks on him once yours is, too. Once slowed, you are free to use your stick, hand, elbow, knees or feet to trigger the helmet devices, or heavy strikes anywhere else, such as a elbow to the chest or knee to hip or thigh. The latter strikes are to slow him further, and work your way to get to the head, where you can trigger the lights or visor. That act by rule halts the play by whistle of the ref.
HOWEVER, knocking him to the ground with a shoulder strike, leg sweep or certain grappling moves also can halt play. Like regular football, just one knee hitting the ground is a ‘tackle”. But remember the rule: Your first move as a defender when making a tackle must be with your stick. After that you are free to use certain authorized strikes and holds.
We are building uniforms now and have 20 helmets in stock, 10 completed with LED/visors, 4 more half done, with goal of about 30. Probably about 10 uniforms have been built though we are getting a little short on funds. Remember we are a certified non-profit corporation, any donations are tax deductible, or you can buy an ownership interest in our professional league. More info at our website.
We need to raise capital for our first game against Mexico in 2021. Next is China or Japan. We intend at this time to use US based fighters of Mexican or Asian heritage or immigrants for the foreign teams. But of course if they are American citizens, they can play for either USA or the “foreign” team.
Someday we will have actual WarBall combat against China, the country. That will be something, but you all better practice hard or Team USA will get its heads handed to it. n
As to animals, someone or a student from California Centaurs in Petaluma will be used for horse mounted archers, though I have not spoken to them in a while.
Or course, if one of you has a horse and wants to be an archer, you can board it here in Geyserville or trailer it to practice.
I have been looking to buy or exchange for free boarding the League getting its own mount, as I have space. I am training my two pit bull females, it’s going okay.
You may want to be a canine trainer/game handler who also gets a bow to shoot the ball carrier, Using your own TRAINED dog would be fine too. At this time, canines are trained to go after the bangball, and by rule a runner cannot overtly try and move the ball so they can not reach it.
Any part of the dog touching a fighter or ball halts play, though ideally I want the dog to make heavy contact with the fighter’s body, crash into him or her…that is difficult to train..
Practice is at the High School with set up on club property in Geyserville by the bridge, the school is within walking distance. I will block out Sunday afternoons for practice, you can bring your family, it is adjacent to the river. If you want leadership and friendship from your team’s management and other fighters, you will find it here.
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You should go to youtube to learn about bo staff fighting, the bo is WarBall’s primary weapon.. Grab a stick to practice with, a broom stick is fine but eventually you want one larger in diameter and cut to slightly shorter than your height or slightly above. I am working on my Black Belt in Bojutsu, I am at Orange level right now, you should start on this, too. I don’t know your Martial Arts experience otherwise but you should start /increase your training there, too.
Speaking of Martial Arts, Wing Chun is the League’s preferred style, best known for its close in fighting techniques, and Master Wong on youtube is the best and most fun to learn from. We will probably start each practice with Wing Chun “sticky hands” sparring.
There are 6 archery positions in WarBall, so not everyone needs to be an archer. We use traditional shorter longbows in WB ($75.00 on ebay or amazon) I recommend a 50 lb bow though many people struggle with this at first and may want to go lower in pull back poundage. Search under Mongolian Horse bow.
You might want to stop by Tara’s backrooom archery store on Santa Rosa Ave. for advice. They have some cheap 20 pounders. We have special foam rubber safety tips for your arrows.
Please look out for and recruit a QuarterBack (IPMan) and LARGE Offensive linemen for me as these types of fighters (we dont have ‘players’ in the NBL) are the hardest to find.
I will board a horse for free in exchange for WarBall use, so please keep an eye out for that, too, and for any volunteer coaches, team managers, etc.
I also look forward to you shooting me, and vice versa lol.
Keep Fighting,
W
PS private message me with your email so I can bulk mail you and your future teammates all at once with League news and updates. Namaste!
“I strive for poetic movement, so please set up dramatically, strike with precision and grace, and finish with a flourish of emotion” – WarBall’s Founder and Creator
