Recently our man Oliver got a concussion sparring with Charles. They were not hitting hard, and Oliver can eat power shots to the head easily when boxing. So why did he end up with a goose egg on his temple and signs of a concussion after taking a moderate power shot to the fencing mask?

For signs of a concussion consult this resource and access the site at the link below.

Typical symptoms of concussion include:

- Headache

- Difficulty concentrating or feeling "foggy"

- Slower reaction times

- Dizziness, lightheadedness

- Nausea

- Difficulty with bright lights or loud sounds

- Irritability

- Changes in sleep patterns, either insomnia or sleeping more

In 2011 I sustained three concussions in what I think was two weeks sparring with Charles but they typed as boxing and football concussions:

1. With my face strapped into a tight saber mask I stepped into a perfect lunge stab to the chin which put me out on the floor for about 2 seconds.

2. The second concussion was another boxing type, a rotational blow to the head, when he smashed me in the temple with a spinning hammerfist and I was out on my feet but soldiered on.

3. The third concussion was typical of football and car accidents, in which he face planted me into the pavement from a clinch and I went out when my forehead hit the pavement. By the time he knew something was wrong I was getting up, being out for maybe three seconds.

In all three instances we were going full power but trying not to injure each other. He asked me if I was okay and I said yes and continued. He did not even know I was concussed and I didn’t care.

So this carelessness on my part resulted in the same bad outcome as the much more controlled session between the Evil-Sticked One and Oliver.

What happened?

The saber mask was too tight. The saber mask is the thickest-walled fencing headpiece, but is not significantly padded, especially on the side and is designed for gracile, narrow European heads of the aristocratic type, not Oliver’s stupendous Afro-Irish dome. Oliver’s head widens at the top and causes a pressure point. When he was hit on the temple it was as if he had a screen pressed against his skull over a cloth and had it hit with the stick—the focused blow, which was a smash—not a slash—even though not full power, put the energy into a small area of the head and caused a bruise to the brain.

Tight gear offers less protection.

Gear with pressure points sets you up for specific injury.

With tight gear, where a pressure point has developed, a smash or tip dump is more dangerous than a slash.

Oliver avoided sparring for a few weeks and will be using other head gear for sparring until getting a larger size saber mask. The WEKAF head gear is highly recommended for sparring. Also, he would have been better off wearing one of the cheap foil masks that fit loose and tend to spin against rotational blows and in clinches.

Do not forget the protective value of air pockets with impact equipment and the hazard of wearing tight head pieces that do not have built in air pockets and cushions such as hockey helmets and WEKAF head gear.