By Sara Oppenheimer
For Charleston Gazette-Mail
A group of people ranging from 10 to 40 years old gathered at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Charleston on Wednesday to practice sword fighting skills, create choreography and duel each other — all involving lightsabers.
The group was a weekly class of the Kyber Kai Academy, a nonprofit combat group started in 2018 to teach martial arts interpretations of fantasy fighting styles, primarily those featured in the “Star Wars” movie series. The group was started by Akaya Robey, a Charleston native, and is open to all ages and skill levels.
Younglings, padawans and masters are all welcome.
“This is somewhere I want people to be comfortable to be nerds while being active,” Robey said. “Honestly, we’re athletes by accident.”
The Force awakens
Robey moved to Brooklyn from St. Albans at the age of 12, where he began practicing and performing with the New York Jedi — the first lightsaber stage combat group, according to the New York Jedi Facebook page — for four years before returning to West Virginia. Lightsaber combat groups had popped up across the country by the time Robey returned. When he learned that West Virginia had no groups, he decided to change that.
“I didn’t want people to have to travel to Kentucky just to go practice this.” Robey said.
Even though he was frustrated with the lack of options in West Virginia, Robey originally did not want to start his own group. After a Dungeons and Dragons session board game at Robey’s house turned into an impromptu lightsaber group battle, though, Robey knew the group had to be created.
“We had 13 people fighting each other with lightsabers on a street in the middle of the night in St. Albans,” said Anthony Wazelle, who has been with the group since its inception, “It’s been seven years, and it’s still the same fun.”
Wazelle joined the group in 2018 for a good workout but had no combat training. Since joining, Wazelle reported being in noticeably better physical shape and is now ambidextrous, at one point earning the highest-ranked saber fighter in West Virginia within The Saber League, the world’s largest LED saber combat organization.
“This is just a more fun, nerdy activity than pumping weights in a gym,” Wazelle said.
Kyber Kai functions as a class, competitive combat group and performance group, blending canonical lightsaber technique with armored sword fighting and stage fight choreography. The group competes with other groups in tournaments in surrounding states and also does choreographed performances. For many members, such as Katriel Litvin, it’s also a community.
‘I love this little nerd empire’
“When I started out, the closest thing I had to athletic experience was show choir,” said Litvin, a veterinary technician in Charleston and the current championship title holder of the group. “This has made me so much more social and more active than I was before. I love this little nerd empire.”
Members of the group range from children to 50+, although no one under 18 is allowed to take part in combat. The group is open to everyone no matter their level of experience, according to Robey.
“We’ve had people here with martial experience, veterans and people who have never worked out a day in their life,” he said. “I never want this to be a place where people don’t feel welcome.”
Read more from HDMedia, here
The post ‘Be nerds while being active’: Kyber Kai Academy combines working out and nerding out appeared first on West Virginia Press Association.