michaelfencing.com:what is fencing |
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What is fencing? |
What is fencing? You may think of Zorro or the Three Musketeers. People hanging from chandeliers and duels to the death. It is true that modern fencing has its origins in similar situations, the actual atmosphere was probably closer to the showdowns in old westerns than to the glorified heroes such as Zorro. Fencing is a sport, a martial art, a career and for some, and a philosophy. Fencing is the modern sport translation of swordfighting (most directly of dueling) through the ages. The first evidence of fencing was found to be from ancient egypt. For thousands of years armies have used swords in battle and people have used them to settle arguments. As early as the 15th century dueling to the death was a popular, if unhealthy pastime. At one point, more Noblemen were being killed in duels than in war. Duels to the death thankfully became unfashionable when an increasingly powerful legal system could send the winner to jail or to execution for killing his opponent. So in the 18th and 19th centuries, duel became more a contest than a fight, ending in a crippling blow to the arms or legs instead of in death. Fencing evolved more and more away from it's violent roots until the first Olympic games, where foil and sabre were introduced as pure sports. The last widely publicised duel to settle a grudge occured in 1959 and ended in a scratch to the arm. Modern sport fencing is known as Olympic fencing and is regulated by the FIE (Federation Internationale d'Escrime). There are three FIE regulation weapons. The Foil is a light point weapon (also called a thrusting weapon) which has a small target area and a set of regulatory rules called "right-of-way". The Sabre also makes use of right-of-way, but it is a cutting weapon rather than a point weapon. The third weapon, the Épeé, is the heaviest, has no right-of-way rules, and uses a full-body target area. These weapons are fenced on a narrow strip in matches called "bouts". An expert official acts as director, the referee for fencing who directs the action and judges which fencer gets the touch (the point). Fencing is not a dangerous sport when done with the proper saftey equipment, and can be both very athletic and very fun. |
Equipment |
Fencing, like most sports, relies heavily on the equipment. Just as you cannot play soccer without a ball, shinguards, and a pair of cleats, you can't fence without at least your weapon, mask, jacket and glove. There are two basic sets of equipment in Olympic fencing. Which set you use depends on how that match is being scored. For most competitions you will need to fence electric . This means that an electrical current is passed through the blade which is connected to a machine that tells the judges when a touch (a hit) has been scored. Most competitions use electric scoring. I will elaborate on fencing electric later. In practice and some competition the equipment that is used is called dry , because it uses no electricity. We'll start by learning the equipment used in dry fencing. |
Parts of a "dry" weapon |
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The weapon used in this example is a foil, the weapon that most fencers learn first, but these parts are in all three FIE weapons. Where you hold the weapon, with your strong hand. Usually the grip is made of wood with leather or cord wrapped around it but some may be made from plastic. The grip shown in this picture is called a French grip, and is the most common, but other grips do exists, such as pistol grips or the Italian grip. The French grip is held firmly with the handle resting on the second joint of the index finger. The thumb should press firmly against the other side with the other three fingers resting lightly on the grip. The grip also includes the pommel which holds the parts of the weapon together and helps to balance the weapon. This is the part of the weapon that protects your fingers. It is the most distinctive difference between the different weapons because they have such different defensive needs. In epee and foil this serves to move the point to hit the opponents target. In sabre this is the part of the weapon that must contact the opponents target area in order to score a touch. It can be divided into three areas based on strength. The third of the blade closest to the guard is the forte, the strongest point of the blade, the third in the middle is the medium which is moderately strong, and the remaining part of the blade at the end is the foible, the weakest section. This is located at the end of the blade on the foible. In Foil and Épeé, the point weapons, it must contact the target area for a touch. In these weapons the point is covered by a plastic ball or rubber cylinder. In sabre the blade is bent back at the very end. |
Specific weapons |
Each weapon has it's own specific features that make it work better within the rules that it is fenced by. The target area of a weapon is the parts on an opponent's body you may score points (called "touches") by hitting. A hit elsewhere on the body is called "off target". Click on any weapon picture to see an animation of that weapon from all sides. |
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