Fivel the Shade

Essay Contest 1st Place – Josh Weinberg

My name is Josh. I am a 34 yr old Caucasian Male with a desk job… but no, that is not really me. I am Fivel the Shade of the Horsemen and I hail from High Spires. That is just the tip of what foam fighting, in my case Dagorhir, is to me. Foam fighting is a magical thing. It is escape, therapy, acceptance and community. For these reasons and more, I am a foam fighter.

“Foam fighting is a magical thing.”

Close your eyes. Imagine the armor protecting your body and the weapon(s) in your hand. Your heartbeat begins to race. Your comrades, brothers and sisters in arms, stand ready next to you. You hear the call “LAY ON!!!” as you surge forward into a dance of chaos. Enemies strike at you, but your clan has trained well and rebuke their attacks. You see the scene before you play out in your mind and you know what to do. Block, parry, strike. An enemy charges you as you deliver a death blow to his brother. Your shield brother raises their shield and knocks them back as you take their leg. The chaos continues, and it is glorious… You find yourself one on one with their champion, her reputation proceeding her. You have fear, but are brave and fight on anyways, matching her, strike for strike. Now you see the opening and strike for her leg… it was a bait and you feel the deathblow land. You cry out one last time hoping with your last thought that your shield brother finishes what you can not… Later that evening, you feast with your shield brother, you share drinks with the champion that struck you down, and laugh in merriment at the newbies you killed earlier as they gaze wide eyed and in wonder, for this is their first event.

“…get away from the real world for a weekend at a time. “

I have not the words to explain how wonderful these moments are. To get away from the real world for a weekend at a time. The therapy of hitting and being hit, in a safe and fun environment, then laughing about it later. The acceptance and love shared between thousands of people world wide. People think that we are strange or weird. I tell them we are, it is one of the strangest and nerdiest things I have ever done. It is also one of the most fun and rewarding things I have ever done. I get to hang out with amazing people, exercise, and live a fantasy. I then ask those same people, “So… When are you coming to practice with me?”

Fivel the Shade
Of the Horsemen
Realm of High Spires
A.K.A. Josh Weinberg

See the rest of the Essay Contest winners here.