First off, I am doing a post a day on the blog this month. This one is going to be short and sweet as I am starting to close to the deadline of finishing this by the end of the day for the first day. As I have noted elsewhere, I have jousted with a group call the International Jousting Association. They are a great group, very authentic, safety aware, and yet willing to actually hit with a piece of wood. It truly is an international group and has had a few stop and goes here in the United States. That is currently in the process of changing as the organization is, well getting organized here in the U.S.

Currently there is a movement to make the membership money from those members residing here in the U.S. stay here in the U.S. to support the IJA stateside and get it really going. This involves a number of things, including the creation of non-profit corporation status with the U.S. and the ability to get an umberalla liability insurance policy to be able to tap into for events. That last one is going to be a major step toward really moving forward with the organization and having a regular group of events spring up at various places.

To that end, as is the case with so many things in this world, the seed money to get that process going is simply just not there right now. I know that more than a few of the readers of this blog are probably interested in eventually taking things to the next level. Currently it has been suggested that membership will run $20.00 per person annually. Further, in order to get the funds to be able to proceed with things like formation of the corporation, getting things in order on the insurance and a few other things, like websites, that perhaps a five-year membership be made available. Further it has been even suggested that perhaps if anyone that wanted did that move they could get the remainder of 2009 membership for free.

I realize this not apply to very many people, but if you have ever though you may want to go there eventually (think really good-looking period armour, full wood lances with balsa tips, and perhaps 1000′s watching jousting competitions and exhibitions) then I would encourage you to inquire so you can get in the ground floor of making this grow in a major way.

Tags: ija, international jousting association, joust, jousting, tournament