Zorikh, age 37, describes himself as a natural ham, as well as a lover of history, so sword fighting in homemade armor in Union Square Park is just the thing for him.

In the SCA, the type of fighting that we do is armored, European weapons combat from the Middle Ages, more-or-less-kinda-sorta. We don't actually use steel, we use weapons made out of rattan, and we don't grapple, bite, punch and kick, which makes it less realistic but much safer. But we are going full speed, and we are going as hard as we have to go in order to hit somebody as if it were a real weapon going through real armor.

We're doing it because we enjoy the sensation of doing it, we're doing it because we enjoy challenging ourselves to become better athletes, and, um... you know, sometimes I like to imagine that I'm in a movie or something.

I've always loved history, so that's part of the fun. I get to learn more about history, and then I get to put on the garb and the armor and go to events and try to feel out what it would have been like to live like a person in those days. Or like a person in those days should've lived.

I'm a natural ham, so I love to play to an audience. However, here at Union Square practices, it's sometimes annoying because audiences here are people who just happen to be walking by and they don't know what they're seeing, so either you have to take the time to explain to them what it is, and once you've gotten through like 30 seconds, they don't care anymore, or you get hecklers who will shout very annoying and disturbing and distracting things to you. Or you'll get people who don't even notice you, and they'll just try to walk straight through, not even noticing that you're having a sword fight.