Sport must be for everyone. The opportunity to participate in sports should not be tied to social class, background, income, or wealth. ACA actively advocates for registration fees and membership dues of its clubs to be as affordable as possible, to enable people from households with fewer financial resources to engage in Medieval Combat Soft-Sword training. Striving for barrier-free training locations is also part of this package of measures.

One of our main goals in this regard – once the sports federation receives funding at the federal level for sports – is to subsidize the acquisition of competition equipment, thus enabling more athletes to participate in tournament events.

Equal treatment starts with language usage. Therefore, ARMORED COMBAT AUSTRIA strives for inclusive language in its documents, publications, and interactions. We use inclusive language with ":innen" to facilitate readability for individuals with disabilities, especially visual impairments. Step by step, we aim to fully implement the guidelines of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 (WCAG 2.2) WAI / W3C for accessible documents and websites.

Medieval Combat, like most combat sports, remains strongly male-dominated in 2024. However, ambitions in sports and the willingness to volunteer are not limited by gender, origin, or religion – ARMORED COMBAT AUSTRIA promotes the participation of underrepresented groups, thus providing all athletes and officials with fair opportunities and equal development possibilities. We encourage individuals to actively engage in Medieval Combat (in any form), because in armor, we are all equal anyway.

ARMORED COMBAT AUSTRIA is a member of the Netzwerk Genderkompetenz of 100% Sportthe Austrian Center for Gender Competence and Safe Sport. More information can be found at https://genderkompetenz-sport.at/ and https://100prozent-sport.at/

ARMORED COMBAT AUSTRIA Gender- Representative

Heinrich S. Wurzian, BSc
heinrich.wurzian@armoredcombat.at

An essential aspect of fairness/fair play is the integrity of sports. Doping and substance abuse have no place in our sport as well as in ARMORED COMBAT AUSTRIA. Those who dope not only harm their bodies but also damage their sport.

Anti-doping work is carried out based on the World Anti-Doping Code and the Austrian Anti-Doping Federal Law. The goals are to protect the health of athletes and the right of athletes and support personnel to participate in doping-free competitions.

ARMORED COMBAT AUSTRIA supports the work, mission, and goals of the National Anti-Doping Agency Austria (NADA Austria) and has incorporated key provisions of the Anti-Doping Federal Law into its federation bylaws.

In its commitment to doping prevention ACA has clarified its perspective on doping and its handling in close cooperation with NADA Austria. Information on the topic as well as offerings from NADA Austria for Medieval Combat athletes and officials are also included therein.

Once ACA achieves its goal and becomes an associated member of Sport Austria, the next step will involve NADA conducting a risk assessment for Medieval Combat and Medieval Combat athletes being included in a national testing pool. Based on the risk assessment, a comprehensive prevention concept and action plan for the sport will be developed in close collaboration with NADA.

As long as there is no sport-specific risk assessment, ACA has decided, as a first step, to make it mandatory for the Austrian national team (athletes and coaches) to complete the NADA e-learning and participate in training conducted by NADA as part of the National Team Training Camp.

As another measure to raise awareness of "clean sport" among a broader Medieval Combat audience, ACA has decided to require the leaders of the coaching committees of Medieval Combat clubs in Austria to participate in NADA e-learning and training sessions on the topic (at least every three years).

For further information on doping prevention, please visit www.nada.at 

ARMORED COMBAT AUSTRIA Anti-Doping Officer
Alexander Steinbock
alexander.steinbock@armoredcombat.at

ARMORED COMBAT AUSTRIA's events come in many different forms and sizes, ranging from training workshops, informational evenings, and organizational meetings to competitions and championships. The workload for conceptualization, planning, and implementation varies greatly depending on the objectives, size, location, and a variety of other parameters. Making an event sustainable requires good preparation and is equally complex under these circumstances.

ARMORED COMBAT AUSTRIA strives to live up to the principles of ecological, economic, and social sustainability in the context of its events. Therefore, we organize and conduct our events based on the criteria of the Vienna Eco-Eventcertification and comparable regional initiatives of the Green Events Austria.This means that we think about climate-friendly, socially fair, and barrier-free implementation already in the planning phase. For example, we aim to facilitate environmentally friendly travel for our participants, provide regional catering for our guests, minimize waste production, and consider the prudent use of resources.

For more information on sustainability at events, please visit www.oekoevent.at and www.greeneventsaustria.at/initiativen

ARMORED COMBAT AUSTRIA Event Officer
Heinrich S. Wurzian, BSc
events@armoredcombat.at

Although Medieval Combat is a martial art that can trace its origins to the martial European Medieval Ages, violence and radical ideologies have no place in sports. ARMORED COMBAT AUSTRIA is apolitical, does not promote ideologies, and actively advocates for the prevention of violence in all forms. We follow the guidelines of the Respect and Safety Handbook for Sports Clubs by 100% Sportthe Austrian Center for Gender Competence and Safe Sport. We have developed our own prevention concept and a code of conduct for the Medieval Combat Sport with the guidance of the Safe Sport e-Learnings.

The ACA has appointed a prevention and protection officer, who, with the immediate support of the ACA presidency, will establish a network of contacts for violence prevention at all levels of the federation within ARMORED COMBAT AUSTRIA. These individuals will not only serve as the first point of contact for those affected in case of incidents but also act as multipliers to raise awareness within the clubs.

Following the Safe Sport Standards, ARMORED COMBAT AUSTRIA aims to conduct regular and comprehensive analyses of the sport-specific and inherent risks of Medieval Combat to develop targeted measures and, if necessary, tighten regulations. In this context, collaborating with organizations such as Safe Sport and vera* is of particular importance to us.

For further information on violence prevention in sports, please visit https://safesport.at/ , https://vera-vertrauensstelle.at/ and https://100prozent-sport.at/

ARMORED COMBAT AUSTRIA Prevention and Protection Officer
Amelie Shirin Öhlinger
safesport@armoredcombat.at