Stav fighting from the Vikings. What do you think about these guys?

**spathophile** · Posted On: 4/01/2007 2:39am

Folks, I've made some dumb posts in the past, but I wanted to show you these guys, I've done some online research on them in the past.
http://www.stavinternational.org/indexflash.html

Their "art" is called stav, the word stav is norwegian for stick, he claims it's been handed down through his family since the times of the vikings.

From what I've been told there weapon techniques resemble Japanese Kenjutsu,

Well from what research I've done they smell bogus, first they say they teach viking martial arts, and yet they don't seem to ivolve Glima(wrestling which has been preserved in Iceland uptil now, and is there national sport.) second off, none of there stuff it seems to involve a round shield, which was the most common form of protection used on among the vikings

and this guy says he's an earl of some sort

so hey like I said these guys like bullshido to me,

any thoughts?

**Question!** · Posted On: 4/01/2007 3:30am

I seem to recall an old Bullshido thread on this, have you tried the search function?..... I mean VIKINGS! **** YEAH!

Ask them if they play metal (specifically Viking metal) while training. If yes, enroll IMMEDIATELY!

**Toby Christensen** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 1:21pm

You're much better off with these guys http://www.ulfhednir.dk/uk/kamp_freestyle.html

Close as we're going to get

Plus, they're Danish!

**Toby Christensen** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 2:22pm

Tak, min bruder

**DdlR** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 3:50pm

IIRC, Stav was thoroughly discussed from a very skeptical POV on the "Western Arts" YahooGroup email list a few years back. The consensus was "no comment on the fighting, but we don't buy the lineage/history claims".

**theardri** · Posted On: 4/04/2007 10:40am

Originally Posted by Question!

I seem to recall an old Bullshido thread on this, have you tried the search function?..... I mean VIKINGS! **** YEAH!

Ask them if they play metal (specifically Viking metal) while training. If yes, enroll IMMEDIATELY!

I posted a thread about this last year. It's shite. I got the books (I had spare cash at the time) and joined the mailing list.

Stav is filled with racists who think that a runic pretzel meditation and some bad unarmed comabt makes one a viking (when does one Vike these days?)

Slan

Dr Gar Gar

**theardri** · Posted On: 4/04/2007 11:41am

Originally Posted by spathophile

Folks, I've made some dumb posts in the past, but I wanted to show you these guys, I've done some online research on them in the past.
http://www.stavinternational.org/indexflash.html

Their "art" is called stav, the word stav is norwegian for stick, he claims it's been handed down through his family since the times of the vikings.

From what I've been told there weapon techniques resemble Japanese Kenjutsu,

Well from what research I've done they smell bogus, first they say they teach viking martial arts, and yet they don't seem to ivolve Glima(wrestling which has been preserved in Iceland uptil now, and is there national sport.) second off, none of there stuff it seems to involve a round shield, which was the most common form of protection used on among the vikings

and this guy says he's an earl of some sort

so hey like I said these guys like bullshido to me,

any thoughts?

It IS bogus.

Asatruar ( heathens (neopagans with a germanic slant)) consider Stav practioners to be racists, and there is a large % of the members (or so the mailing list showed me) who are elitists. They attacked me as a LARPer because I am a "neopgan druid" (we apparently are make beleive while they are not).

Similarly, I am trained in Combatives (back off guys the time to debate this is in another thread). The "unarmed" combat skills are bad BAD BAD adaptions of eastern arts (the current "grandmaster" of the style learned these in Japan. The ARMED section (and Stav says it is all about the armed and not so much unarmed) had to be revamped early last year by an SCA guy (he ran the US branch, then got chased out by the hard core ludites that call stav home). What does that tell you about it? SCA? I'm ARMA, and still think what I learn is roleplay, but compared to SCA I'm "legit". Oh and they use the "long sword" (two-hander) as the sword of choice, not a viking style, also a small weighted hammer on a chain/rope... sigh

Stav is deluded, but also mostly harmless. No one after reading a book uh pamphlet actually (not enough there to make a book) on it would take it seriously as a martial art, or self defence form. However bullshido it is! There are some surving "viking' fighting arts (belt wrestling for one) and manuals on how to use a sword. If one wants to fight like a "viking" one could learn from better sources than this.

Slan

Dr Gar Gar

**DdlR** · Posted On: 4/04/2007 6:13pm

If Stav is funny, Stavit was hilarious ...

About eight years ago there was a breakaway group from Stav in the UK, who decided to call their martial art "Stavit". They set up a website promoting themselves as a hardcore neo-Viking security team and were laughed off the Internet within a month or so.

**Zendetta** · Posted On: 4/04/2007 6:24pm

Stav is baloney. Its sword techniques are from kenjutsu.

If you want to be a modern Viking, apply to join a Biker Gang.

**Toby Christensen** · Posted On: 4/05/2007 5:09am

Originally Posted by roly

but people want to be ancient vikings,

but kinda give up and role play because its probably actually very hard work to swing around a heavy sword

Viking swords were very good steel

"The halt can ride
The handless herd
The deaf can fight with spirit
A blind man is better than a corpse on a pyre
A corpse is no good to anyone"

-Late Viking Era poet