The Saber Legion is a ‘Star Wars’ fan’s dream sports league

Saber duels from a galaxy far, far away are now here on Earth.

Fact: Lightsaber duels are awesome.

Anyone who’s seen Star Wars could tell you that. But Charley Cummings is more than just a casual fan.

“I would go see a movie about Obi-Wan Kenobi going to the grocery store,” he said.

Unlike most fans, Cummings wasn't satisfied simply marveling at the elegant weapons wielded by Jedi Knights in a galaxy far, far away. So he got his own saber, made a set of armor, and turned his fandom into a sport.

By day, Cummings is a 45-year-old father who works at U.S. Bank in Minnesota. But when night falls, you’ll find him dodging the swings of opponents’ glowing sabers as a member of The Saber Legion.

“An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.”

Cummings is the vice president and co-owner of The Saber Legion, a competitive saber dueling league founded by Terry Birnbaum in 2015. Since then, it’s grown to over 4,000 members with chapters in many U.S. states, Canada, and the U.K. While it wasn’t the first saber dueling organization — local groups have existed for years — its rapid, international growth has made it arguably the most successful.

Saber dueling is a hybrid sport,drawing participants from three distinct groups: Star Wars fans, martial arts athletes, and LED saber enthusiasts (there are over 30,000 collectors, according to Cummings.)

For legal reasons, these aren’t “lightsabers,” but members of the Saber Legion are definitely Star Wars fans. The Legion is heavily influenced by traditional sword sports like fencing and kendo, a Japanese blade-based martial art. But it’s not bound by the rules of any one form.

“There is that sort of fantasy element in it, but the minute that match starts, all of that is out the window,” Cummings said. “You do get hit. For the longest time my wife used to call it ‘Saber Fight Club,’ cause I would just come home with bruises.”

And, yes, it’s every bit as cool as it sounds.

“Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

“Our goal is for it to be the MMA of saber combat,” Saber Legion founder Terry Birnbaum said.

This might sound like a lofty plan, but The Saber Legion has grown from a group of friends dueling in Birnbaum’s backyard to an international company built on the competition in just two years. It holds several tournaments every year, and many chapters, including the original Minnesota group, hold weekly practices. Some of the league’s best competitors train five times a week with the dedication of any other athlete.

In other words, it’s a real thing.

The Saber Legion

“I definitely see it as a sport. I do my training, I eat right, I make sure I go to the gym,” said Ryan Kappes, runner-up in last May’s TSL championship fight. “In the end it’s all fun... but still, there are rankings; it’s competitive.”

"In my experience, there is no such thing as luck."

The sport is actually pretty simple. Two “saberists” face off in a 25’ by 25’ ring. Combatants wear protective gear often crafted to look like something out of the Star Wars universe. The sabers are made of the same material as police batons and often cost hundreds of dollars. They can be up to 52 inches long in standard competition. The matches last up to 10 minutes, and competitors score points with direct hits to different parts of the body. Hits to the head, torso, arms, and legs are all worth a point — and the first duelist to 10 wins. It’s a little different than fencing — where more emphasis is put on using the tip of the weapon — but the general idea is similar.

“There is no better experience of exhilaration,” Cummings said. “It really is a chess match when you’re up against that other duelist: ‘How am I gonna get in there; how am I gonna tag him without getting tagged myself?’”

The duels don’t look much like the choreographed, acrobatic fights of the Star Wars films. The matches are quick, cerebral competitions — everything happens in fast bursts of aggression broken up by frequent points and stoppages. And while online commenters have been quick to dismiss the sport as looking more like a costumed kendo match than a sci-fi scene, that doesn’t stopcrowds of excited fans from showing up to tournaments, which are like a Star Wars fan’s dream. With combat and dramatic, trash-talk-filled entrances, it’s part pro wrestling, part “real” sports and part comic book convention. In other words, it’s the ultimate in fan service.

The Saber Legion

“Always in motion is the future."

The Saber Legion is also something that probably couldn’t have existed more than a few years ago. Birnbaum used social media to grow the league, allowing individual chapters to expand while remaining attached and organized. The league’s popularity also coincided with another trend: the rising popularity of nerd culture.

“This is kinda the golden age for nerds right now,” Cummings said. “Because for most of my life I had to hide that stuff, what a big Star Wars fan you were... and now you can grow and let your nerd flag fly free.”

And for Birnbaum, TSL is the perfect balance between two of his biggest interests.

“I wanted to combine my fandom and my desire to be active and participate in the same thing, so that’s how TSL came about,” he explained. “We’re offering a sport to people who are not necessarily into football or baseball or soccer because that’s not appealing to them; maybe they’re a little nerdy.”

Which, in Birnbaum’s vision, is what sets The Saber Legion apart from other sports. While the competition is the main element, it’s also grown into a community — thousands of sabers strong and growing. And that atmosphere is one of the reasons he expects TSL to keep growing, too:

“It’s very inclusive; anyone can come in. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from...you’re gonna laugh, you’re gonna have a good time, you’re gonna be like ‘whoa!’”

And on top of that, lightsabers duels are just awesome.