What is Sabratact?

Sabratact is a full-contact, martial team sport. The scoring system is based on weapon blows delivered to targets located on the body armor of opponents. As a martial sport Sabratact would be similar to Karate, Kendo, Escrima, Boxing, or Fencing. As a full-contact team sport, Sabratact would be similar to Football, Hockey, or Lacrosse. Sabratact creates the athletic combat experience of the edged weapon battleground.

Why was Sabratact developed?

Modern martial arts and full-contact team sports are derivative of the edged weapon battlefield. Both ancient martial arts and historical contact sports developed as battlefield training tools during the periods prior to the use of gunpowder arms by infantry soldiers. The edged weapon battleground was an infantry-intense place. This arena was dominated by muscle-power, the boldness of youth, and athletic discipline. The military motives for such martial arts and for contact sports have been lost. For modern contact sport athletes, therefore, the ultimate game of warfare has gone missing. Sabratact was developed in order to recapture the historical, edged weapon battleground as a modern full-contact, martial team sport.

How was Sabratact developed?

The fundamental engineering problems to be overcome in the development of Sabratact involved the design of an appropriate target-weapon system. The weapons needed to be heavy enough to be satisfying for the athlete to swing, to thrust, and to throw. The weapons also needed to be light enough so that they would not break bones or cause concussion injuries to the players. Such weapons needed to be rigid enough to aim and strike at targets effectively, flexible enough to absorb the follow-through forces of a thrust, and controllable enough to parry with. The action of the blade needed to be recoverable in order to thrust the weapon immediately following a parry.

The targets need to be mechanically sound so that they will not break incidentally if a weapon strike has not been delivered. However, the targets must break every time that a successful weapon strike is made. Such a target system must record injuries, reward the progressive damage of multiple injuries, and be able to score a kill. This combat system must be easy to understand, intuitive, and athletic. Martial training, discipline, and teamwork must be advantageous. The rules of the game should not interrupt the flow of play. As a full-contact, martial team sport Sabratact must be safe. Sabratact is fun to play, is easy for spectators to follow, and creates powerful visual images.

Sabratact weapons are lightweight, constructed of Delrin plastic, and similar in their flexibility to Fencing weapons. They are heavier than epees and sabres, however, and may be handled more like kendo or escrima sticks. Targets are shallow, stainless steel cups that are bolted into leather armor with the open mouth of each cup covered by self-adhesive tape. A strike with the weapon-tip penetrates this paper surface and will always rupture the target. Scoring requires visual confirmation by a Field Judge that the target has been broken.

Targets are carried on the front and back torso, the upper arms and hips, and on the helmet. Only one such target, the Heart Target scores a kill. Fighters employ a variety of weapon designs, including missiles, and they often carry a shield.

When was Sabratact Developed?

Concept studies were initiated during the 1970's. The Sabratact target-weapon system was completed in 1983. An ABC Television Sports Special about Sabratact was filmed in New Haven, Connecticut in 1984 and released Nationally into ABC's Electronic Daily Feed in 1985. An article titled Score One for Sabratact appeared in Issue 100 of the Dragon Magazine, also in 1985.

Who developed Sabratact?

Forest Baker. He may be contacted by email.

Has he studied Martial Arts?

Forest is a student of Kenpo Karate studying under Professor Richard Lewis in the Bay Area of Northern California since 1995.

Where is Sabratact being played in 2002?

At this time, only in Silicon Valley, California.

Is Sabratact a sport?

Yes. Sabratact was created as a martial team sport. The target-weapon system and the sporting goods were developed to support the concept of martial combat between large-scale teams of highly trained athletes.

Is Sabratact a Martial Art?

No. The Martial Arts carefully train and discipline fighters in order to develop a high degree of combat excellence with and without weapons. The one-on-one fighting implied by the practice of Martial Arts is not representative of edged weapon warfare because the high rate of casualties with dueling would be unacceptable during a military campaign. Therefore, Martial Art sports do not reflect the combat experience of large-scale battlefields.

Sabratact was designed to allow the martial athlete to enjoy the athletic experience of such warfare. Sabratact is compatible with Martial Arts training. The skills and the disciplines of Martial Arts are well applied during Sabratact contests in the same way that they were intended to prepare fighters for the real battleground.

If Sabratact is a Team Sport, why is there no ball?

In the arena of contact team sports an attempt is made to model the flow of play on an edged weapon battlefield. As in such a sport, opposing teams on the battleground interacted continually for a period of hours but individual fighters were personally engaged in full-contact combat only for brief periods during each battle.

A human athlete is able to work at maximum effort for 1-2 minutes. Or with some pacing for 3-4 minutes before his aerobic capacity is exhausted. When a fighter is inside the kill zone on the battlefield and engaged with the enemy he will be fighting for his life with maximum effort and he must, therefore, be rotated out of full-contact before he tires. Alternatively the kill zone itself may be shifted by the Field General to an area of the battleground with fresh fighters.

If the two battle units in a fight are below a certain size threshold, then their numbers will be smaller than the capacity of the kill zone and all of the fighters will be fighting, all of the time. Therefore, armies must be some multiple of the number needed to populate a normal kill zone or fighting will not be sustainable for longer than a few minutes.

If the minimum size of the open field kill zone is about the distance that a man can enter, engage, grow tired, and withdraw from, then it might be imagined that such an area of contact could be no smaller than the space to accommodate perhaps 30 fighters. Outside that location would be unengaged battle elements standing by to enter the kill zone. Creating, sustaining, limiting, and managing the kill zone would be the defining tasks for a Field Officer.

For daily training purposes an inter-squad scrimmage would involve teams smaller than full scale armies. In order to model the flow of play and to develop aerobic capacity the mechanism of a ball was useful. A group of soldiers could be divided into two teams and the athletes would only be engaged when they were in the vicinity of the ball. Away from the ball, they learned to recover and to conserve their strength. They would be deployed to support the kill zone around the ball and to take control of the kill zone when in possession of the ball. Success at the ball game was subordinated to the process of training athletes to be good soldiers. The Big Game they were all preparing for was not in the ball yard, of course, but on the battleground.

With Sabratact, we return to that original battlefield. Full scale Sabratact teams will include hundreds of fighters and contests will be outdoors at large facilities. For the moment, our teams are smaller. We often practice indoors. Sabratact contests have timed combat rounds with brief recovery periods as in a Boxing match.

Does Sabratact have a web site?

Yes. www.sabratact.com

  Forest Baker is a student of Kenpo Karate studying under Professor Richard Lewis in the Bay Area of Northern California since 1995.