The Jousting Life is Interviewed for an Article about 'Jousting in the 21st Century'

Editorial note: I must admit that I do feel a little odd talking about myself so much in this article. I generally try to avoid inserting myself or my opinions into the articles that I write for The Jousting Life. However, in this case, I think it is relevant.

As the creator of The Jousting Life, I was interviewed for an article recently published by the news website Ozy.com. Although I was slightly misquoted, I am still very happy to see a professional journalist reporting on the growing popularity of the sport of contemporary competitive jousting. Here is an excerpt from the beginning of the article:

Jousting in the 21st Century
by Zara Stone


Jousting (photo by LevonBliss/Getty)

"It is a scene ideally suited for Medieval times. A dark knight adjusts his visor, raises his lance and focuses, laserlike, on his opponent, the “white” knight, sitting astride his mount. The flag goes down and they charge, lances straight, bodies tensing against the weight of their custom-fit armor — often 200 pounds of solid steel. The bout, though, isn’t old; it’s happening at the Scottish Highland Games & Celtic Music Festival in Mississippi in November. And lest anyone forget that we are in modern commercial times, Guinness (one of the festivals sponsors) has its logo on both knights’ armor.

Looking for a new form of entertainment, or considering the next crazy physical challenge? Jousting is growing in popularity in the U.S., both at Renaissance fairs and formal tournaments."

To read the rest of the article, follow this link.

Here is the section of the article based on Zara Stone's phone interview with me:

"Zhi Zhu, an Austin-based jousting supporter and chronicler of the sport, has been documenting the sport on The Jousting Life since 2012. Some of her friends jousted and she discovered there was no online compendium that covered “everything” — many troupes reported on their successes, but she wanted a larger overview of the sport. “I wanted to talk about contemporary competitive jousting, as opposed to choreographed jousting at Renaissance fairs,” she says. She’s noticed a sharp rise in the number of tournaments over the last few years. Zhu gets a thrill from watching it, “when you catch them going tip to tip and breaking their lances. It’s the skill and the athleticism I really enjoy.”

Zhu hopes that jousting can become part of American life, similar to how mixed martial arts (MMA) was adopted. “I could see this being part of equestrian events, like dressage,” she says. “Historically a rich noble held jousts, and the equivalent today would be a venture capitalist holding one and putting money in it.”

The journalist actually got most of what I said correct, though there were some minor inaccuracies. Based on what I have heard from jousters complaining about being horribly misquoted by professional journalists, Zara Stone did a good job of not seriously misrepresenting anything that I said. She did leave out that I stated how much respect I have for the skill of those who do choreographed jousting shows, but that they were already being reported on as entertainment in blogs and websites about renaissance faires. I wanted to report on and promote competitive jousting as a sport.

And I did not say that I noticed a sharp rise in the number of tournaments.  I said that a few more tournaments were added each year.

In the quote “When you catch them going tip to tip and breaking their lances. It’s the skill and the athleticism I really enjoy," she took two separate phrases out of context and combined them. "When you catch them going tip to tip and breaking their lances," was from a discussion of photographing jousting and how exciting it was to get a good shot.

Jousters Sarah Hay(left) and Stacy Wasson(right) strike their lances tip to tip and break them during the Grand Tournament of St Charles 2013. Tip to tip hits happen more often than you would think(though they are not exactly common), but catching one in a decent(if a bit blurry) photograph is still exciting. (photo by Zhi Zhu/The Jousting Life)


Another exciting shot that I caught of a double unhorsing with jousters Eddie Rigney(left) and James Johnson(right) during the Sherwood Forest Faire Jousting Tournament 2014.
(photo by Zhi Zhu/The Jousting Life)

The quote "It's the skill and the athleticism I really enjoy." was from a discussion about mounted melees, which I personally enjoy watching more than the tilting/actual jousting part of a tournament.

As for the rest of the interview, she got that right. I do hope to see jousting tournaments added to other equestrian events, such as dressage shows. (I think those who practice dressage could definitely benefit from watching some of the best riders in the jousting world doing mounted melee.)  I also believe that it would greatly help the sport of jousting to have a few rich individuals(or wealthy corporations) put some serious money into creating professional jousting teams (like football teams) and holding a series of tournaments where those teams compete.

But overall, it is a very nice article about the sport of jousting, and I am flattered to have been included in it.

Related articles:
An Interview with Arne Koets, Jouster and Organizer of the Grand Tournament at Schaffhausen

An Interview with Toby Capwell, Champion of Tournament of the Phoenix 2014

An Interview with Andreas Wenzel, Chairman of the Destrier Jousting Troupe