Greetings!
We are rolling out a new Youth Boffer Combat Handbook. This replaces the one from 2015, and is available at https://tinyurl.com/y97d8o2k. It updates the rules to bring them in line with last fall's new Society handbook (available at https://tinyurl.com/ybtxzbnn), and introduces a significant change.
Until now, the boffer combat rules in Northshield have forbidden adults from sparring with or fighting youth combatants at a practice with two exceptions: boffer marshals can fight children, and parents can fight their own children. We are adding a new authorization to change this: it will allow adult armored fighters to spar with youth combatants. This sparring can ONLY happen in the presence of boffer marshals, and only at practices (not at events). The authorization requires that the adult demonstrate that they have read and understood the rules, and that they can practice and differentiate between the different calibrations of youth combat, and does not require that the adult pass a background check. Please note that fighters can only receive this authorization from a boffer marshal. (To see a list of marshals, go to the KEM page (http://northshield.org/Officers/Display.aspx?ID=10) or the Kingdom Youth Boffer Combat Marshal page (http://northshield.org/Officers/Display. aspx?ID=19) and click 'List of Marshals'.) The Midrealm has been doing this for a couple years to great effect, and I anticipate that we will have at least a few fighters who request this authorization.
If you would like to have boffer combat at your practice or event, please let me know and we can work something out. And, of course, please let me know if you have any questions.
Abelard